Protecting Our Community’s Health
Public health care has saved your life today
Public health agencies across our province have a huge role in health protection and health promotion for our community.
Although it is not always obvious, we are often working in the background unnoticed as people go about their daily routines:
- we test local water supplies to ensure there is safe drinking water,
- we inspect your favourite restaurants and bars to ensure safe food,
- we immunize infants, children, and adults to protect from illness and disease,
- we provide prenatal programs and breastfeeding and infant feeding classes to support positive parenting and healthy childhood development,
- we advocate for policy for smoke-free public places, bike lanes, public transportation, and shaded green spaces for you and your family to live, play, and work.
The work we do keeps you safe and healthy.
We care about the health of our community.
Public health works hard to prevent and promote healthy living for everyone.
If we wish to keep our population healthy, active and productive, and our health care systems strong and resilient in the long term and reduce the increasing pressure on provincial health care budgets, we need to focus more on disease prevention and health promotion to save future spending on direct and indirect health care costs such as treatment, cures, and lost earnings and productivity.
Public health works on all these issues to prevent costs to both the health care system and your health:
- Physical inactivity
- 47% of Ontarians 18 years and older are inactive, costing the Ontario government $6.7 billion in health care costs
- Healthy eating
- 61.1% of Ontarians eat less than five servings of vegetables and fruit each day, causing 170,000 hospital stays, costing the Ontario government $335,000,000
- Alcohol
- 43% of Ontarians consume alcohol at a rate that puts their health at risk, costing the Ontario government $5.3 billion in health care costs
- Tobacco
- 19.6% of Ontarians who are 20 years old and older smoke, costing the Ontario government $7.5 billion in health care costs
- Cannabis
- 45.3% of Canadians have used Cannabis, costing the Ontario government $839.3 million in health care and criminal justice costs
- Radon
- 10% of lung cancer in Ontario and 16% of lung cancer in Canada is due to radon exposure, costing the government $398,480,803 in health care costs
Investing in health protection and health promotion is fiscally responsible, and the right thing to do.
Every dollar invested in mental health and addictions saves $30 in lost productivity and social costs.
Every dollar invested in immunizing children saves $16 in health care costs.
Every dollar invested in tobacco prevention saves $20 in future health care costs.
Every dollar invested in early childhood development saves $9 in future spending on health, social, and justice services.
To maintain value for money invested in health care, as a province, we need to:
- Maintain connections to local communities.
- Have local capacity for surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment.
- Focus on prevention and cost avoidance in both short-term and long-term.
- Ensure communities with specific needs are not overlooked or lost.
- Provide timely and quality core services to everyone in our communities.