Toronto Public Health. Image credit Facebook page of Toronto Public Health
Toronto/CMEDIA: Toronto Public Health (TPH) is releasing Toronto’s Population Health Profile: Insight on the Health of Our City and will be presented at the next Board of Health meeting on Tuesday, February 21.
“The Toronto Population Health profile is a timely update…comes at an important juncture in our City’s history. As Council considers the 2023 Budget… government to invest in solutions for a healthier and more prosperous city for all Toronto residents including transit, housing, and mental health and addictions supports,” Dr. Eileen de Villa, Medical Officer of Health has said in a news release.
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After three years of living with and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the updated report, building on the 2019 ‘T.O. Health Check: An Overview of Toronto’s Population Health Status’, would provide a snapshot of Toronto’s oronto’s current health status based on key data points.
Designed to focus community partners and all orders of government on the complex issues affecting the health and wellbeing of Torontonians, the report would facilitate the City of Toronto to assess the short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the city’s wellbeing.
With an aim to address health inequities, the findings of the Population Health Profile will inform future decision-making to improve the health of all Torontonians.
Key findings of Toronto’s Population Health Profile include:
- Torontonians are aging and increasingly diverse
- Torontonians are negatively impacted by the effects of an increasingly expensive city
- Climate change presents a significant and growing health risk despite improvements in Toronto’s natural and built environments
- Mental illnesses and mental health worsened during the pandemic, with some groups more affected
- Opioid overdoses reached record levels in 2021
- There was a significant decrease in testing and screening for many sexually transmitted infections during the pandemic period
- Chronic disease and its risks are increasing, as is the number of Torontonians who are overdue for health screening
- Infectious diseases will continue to emerge globally, presenting threats to Toronto’s population
“The data and findings in the Toronto Population Health Profile…Stakeholders, government partners and all those involved in health care…need to be engaged and at the table if we are going to make improvements on these dire situations.” Councillor Chris Moise (Toronto Centre), Chair of the Board of Health has said in a news release.
TorontoPublicHealth
