The New Brunswick Health Council (NBHC) is excited to release the 2017 edition of “My Community at a Glance,” which highlights data on factors influencing health as well as health outcomes for the NBHC’s 33 communities in the province.
“Information at the local level has the greatest impact on citizens and health service providers, “said Stéphane Robichaud, CEO of the NBHC. “When people see the health outcomes that affect those around them in the community, they are strongly motivated to reflect and identify areas for improvement.”
The NBHC’s 2011 Primary Health survey, which received more than 14,000 responses, led the Council to consider the possibility of results at a more local level. This led to the division of the province into smaller areas, called communities, which were related to the province’s seven health zones.
In 2017, the NBHC has worked with more New Brunswick sources of data, done additional analysis of its survey results and worked with Statistics Canada to help them provide more data at the community level.
New information is also available for the first time in 2017 including results on youth sexual orientation, environmentally healthy habits, mental health hospitalization and memory problems in adults.
Having this additional information will support local health services planning efforts, wellness initiatives by non-profit organizationss and municipalities as well as provide members of the public with a better understanding of how their community influences their health.
“Improved population health and health service quality are a challenge shared by all New Brunswickers,” said Robichaud. “Information on the factors that impact health enables everyone to share their concerns and work for change, personally and at the system level.”
My Community at a Glance is available for download at nbhc.ca
The NBHC has been established as an independent organization that measures, monitors and evaluates New Brunswick’s health system performance through a citizen-centered dual mandate of performance measurement and citizen engagement.
MEDIA CONTACTS
New Brunswick Health Council: Frank Vandenburg, 506-869-6728, frank.vandenburg@nbhc.ca