Health in All Policies

Health in All Policies (HiAP) is a strategy that calls on all government sectors and their partners to collectively contribute to establishing healthy public policies.

Given the need for consistency in government decisions when dealing with complex public health issues, the need to act quickly to reduce rising health care costs, and the challenge of mixing horizontal and vertical governance mechanisms, a number of governments and international organizations have declared their support for this strategy and have developed innovative initiatives in this area. Several Canadian government organizations have adopted an intersectoral approach to address multifaceted issues such as obesity, school dropout rates and poverty at local, regional, provincial and national levels.

Intersectoral partnership that promotes the advancement of healthy public policies is not a new idea in public health. The HiAP strategy, however, encourages more direct involvement in the governance mechanisms and fosters conditions that ensure ongoing collaboration in population health among all sectors of government, and between government and non-governmental actors. In other words, by participating in this strategy, public health actors are involved in both the process (mechanisms, structures and measures implemented to promote collaboration and shared responsibility) and the content of intersectoral policies.

ActNow BC is a prime example of a HiAP initiative that has adopted an intersectoral action approach. This cross-government initiative seeks to improve British Columbians' health by taking steps to address common risk factors and reduce chronic disease. ActNow BC supports schools, employers, local governments and communities to develop and promote programs that make healthy choices the easy choices for all British Columbians.

Dr. Nancy Edwards, Scientific Director of the CIHR-Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH), notes, "Research on intersectoral initiatives remains scarce, despite the fact that academic scholars and those working in government have consistently called for intersectoral collaboration on health issues."

Research that examines intersectoral implementation options can be considered an aspect of population health implementation systems research. Examining implementation systems for population health interventions in public health and other sectors is one of four CIHR-IPPH strategic research priorities.

The CIHR-IPPH and partners have funded a number of research studies that examine intersectoral initiatives. Here are a few examples:

• Promoting health through sustained intersectoral action: The case of ActNow BC in British Columbia – Principal Investigator: Robert Geneau
• Smoking on the Margins: An Equity Analysis of the Outcomes of an Outdoor Smoke-free Policy – Principal Investigators: Chizimuzo T. Okoli and Ann P. Pederson
• Natural Experiment: Investigating Manitoba's new policy for physical education for secondary students – Principal Investigators: Jonathan M. McGavock and Catherine Casey
• A Natural Experiment Study of Off-leash Areas: Toward novel insights into how health is generated in urban settings – Principal Investigators: Melanie J. Rock and Gavin R. McCormack

HiAP is one of five Conference themes at the 2011 Canadian Public Health Association Annual Conference

Please read the CIHR-IPPH Strategic Plan for more information on its strategic research priorities