Nova Scotia’s health report card comes up short, highlighting gaps in access to quality care, critical health services, and a lack of attention to the inequities that exist across our province. Although we are far from receiving straight A’s in areas related to health, our current government aims to improve the overall health of Nova Scotians through Action for Health, a strategic government plan to better the health, health care and work conditions of those within the system.
Focusing on Solution Six
Action for Health is made up of six intertwined solutions that can be reviewed in detail here, with the last solution – Solution Six – arguably the most important for improving the overall health and well-being of Nova Scotians. Solution Six addresses the factors affecting Nova Scotians’ health and well-being – these being the structural and social determinants of health, like poverty, insufficient housing, racism, and food insecurity. We have known for decades that these upstream determinants are behind the poor health outcomes of our population, yet to put strategies in place to mitigate these factors involves a shift in our focus from a health “care” system to a health system that creates the social and environmental conditions necessary to live a healthy and fulfilling life.
“The system is built to support sick people, rather than to keep them healthy.”
Actioning Solution Six
To begin to action Solution Six, I attended a summit on October 18, 2023, called “Reaching Six: Working Towards a Collective Approach to Action for Health.” This one-day event was hosted by the Nova Scotia Alliance for Healthy Eating and Physical Activity and brought together like-minded leaders across sectors to share knowledge, explore gaps and identify opportunities for collective action in moving Solution Six forward. Public health thought leaders spoke about the importance of upstream approaches to address the “wicked” problems that impact health and quality of life, shared stories of working on the frontline of poverty and food insecurity and the importance of investing in cross-departmental, intersectoral actions for health. The afternoon discussions meant the collective group left reenergized and inspired to rally their work around strategies needed to address Solution Six.
Empowering community engagement, providing equitable and inclusive income supports, promoting sustainable and inclusive community design, developing clear communication and information processes, fostering child and youth leadership, and supporting inclusive health behaviours were some of the ideas shared to help move Solution Six forward. To learn more about the summary of the event and next steps, keep your eyes open for the Nova Scotia Alliance for Healthy Eating and Physical Activity summit review.
Aligning Solution Six with Child and Youth Priorities
Child and youth priorities are woven throughout the Action for Health plan, and Solution Six places prominence on intentional strategies to address health issues related to younger people. Of note, Solution Six aims to expand public health services for youth, continue youth service model integration, promote updates to the curriculum related to physical activity and healthy living, as well as a strategic focus on addressing child poverty. As I have shared before in a past blog, young people are often not consulted about the things that matter to them. Making sure that they are involved in the consultations around Action for Health and Solution Six is essential.
Evidence demonstrates that when we invest in public health and school health promotion, there is a return on investment of $8-14 for every dollar invested in future health and social care cost savings. Thankfully, there are ongoing activities in Nova Scotia that support the health, well-being and engagement of our children and youth. The release of the One Chance to be a Child data profile in 2022 included input from young people and made six recommendations that are all well aligned with the objectives of Solution Six. Added, the UpLift Partnership is a school-community-university partnership designed to catalyze the provincial Health Promoting Schools model through child and youth engagement. We already know what works – now it is time to action for health!
