Background

The Healthier Food, Healthier People Project was initiated by the Atlantic Regional Office of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC Atlantic) in the form of a proposal submitted to the Health Canada Innovations Fund for the year 2005-2006. Shortly after the proposal was submitted, one of the program consultants involved joined Health Canada's Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB), and the project became a joint initiative between the two governmental bodies. The project was approved and was carried out between January and March 2006.

The need for this project was identified in a report completed by PHAC Atlantic that presented an analysis of the role that PHAC Atlantic has played in supporting action on food security between 2000 and 2005. The report, A Review of Public Health Agency of Canada, Atlantic Region, Supports for Action on Food Security, outlined how PHAC Atlantic has addressed food security through:

• support to community-based organizations (e.g., funding programs including the Population Health Fund, Community Action Program for Children [CAPC], Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program [CPNP], Aboriginal Head Start [AHS], AIDS Community Action Program [ACAP], and the Diabetes Prevention and Promotion Contribution Program),
• knowledge development and dissemination activities (e.g., publications), and
• intersectoral collaboration initiatives.

The report recommended that PHAC Atlantic further enhance efforts to address food security and specifically called for opportunities for regional stakeholders to enhance relationships and collaborations and learn from each other.

The overall goal of the Healthier Food, Healthier People Project was to build capacity to address food security in Atlantic Canada. Specifically, the anticipated outcomes of this project were to:

• increase knowledge of food security and its impacts on the determinants of health,
• increase support for networking and collaboration, and
• enhance understanding of and ability to address gaps in policy, research, and community capacity.

In order to achieve these outcomes, the following activities were proposed:

• to enhance intersectoral partnerships among food security stakeholders or food stakeholders with an interest in food security in Atlantic Canada by hosting a meeting of stakeholders in the region and initiating discussions to develop a regional food security strategy,
• to increase knowledge of food security research initiatives across the Atlantic region by including opportunities for information sharing and discussion at a regional stakeholder meeting as well as by conducting a scan of key food security stakeholders, initiatives, and documents in the Atlantic region through a review of existing documents and lists, as well as through a survey via telephone conversations and email correspondence, and
• to enhance collaboration and coordination of food security initiatives across the region by beginning the development of a strategic plan for addressing food security in Atlantic Canada.

The Healthier Food, Healthier People Project aimed to enhance existing work by intersectoral groups in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as active organizations in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The project also helped broaden the scope of impact throughout Atlantic Canada, fostering new links and information sharing for addressing food security. New collaborations were discussed to include a broad range of food security stakeholders from community organizations, all levels of governments, and universities across Atlantic Canada .

 

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