Health in All Policies (HiAP) is an approach to health governance that recognizes the importance of addressing the social determinants of health to improve population health and equity. Using a HiAP approach means coordinating on-going collaboration across government sectors and with organizations outside of government, which can be challenging for a variety of reasons.
To date, HiAP approaches have been used in many parts of the world at the national, provincial, and local (regional/municipal) levels of government. Within Canada, several local and provincial governments have engaged and/or are engaging in a HiAP approach to public policy.
Between 2019 and 2021, the HARMONICS research team, led by Dr. Ketan Shankardass and Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, investigated how HiAP was being implemented and sustained in five local governments across Ontario and Québec, including: Sherbrooke (Québec), Regional County Municipality des Maskoutains (Québec), Elgin St. Thomas (Ontario), Chatham-Kent (Ontario), and Peterborough (Ontario). The results of this research are presented as a series of recommendations for implementing HiAP at the local level in five policy briefs that were co-produced with partners in these local HiAP initiatives and disseminated to all participating organizations.
The NCCHPP was a partner of the project and provided expertise and support to the HARMONICS research team for the production of these five policy briefs that may be of interest to anyone engaged, or planning to engage, in a HiAP initiative at the local level.
This research was supported by a Project Grant from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
To learn more about the challenges of HiAP implementation and the approach used by the HARMONICS team to study it: Strengthening the implementation of Health in All Policies: a methodology for realist explanatory case studies.
