Aligning Pan-Canadian Disease Specific Strategies 

With Pan-Canadian disease-specific strategies (cancer, diabetes, heart, stroke, respiratory) currently in place or in development, it is more important than ever to align priorities and activities in primary prevention, and collaborate on an integrated, population health approach to addressing the common modifiable risk factors associated with several chronic diseases.

In the Cube Project (officially entitled The CUBE: Facilitating Alignment of Primary Prevention Priorities across Comprehensive Chronic Disease Strategies), CDPAC will coordinate the coming together of stakeholders from the strategies and a cross-section of chronic disease stakeholders, including provincial/territorial and risk factor (e.g., physical activity, nutrition, tobacco) perspectives. The group will map prevention activities and priorities and achieve consensus on an initial framework for going forward.  The project is taking place over the coming year. Deliverables include a national scan of prevention activities, a broad stakeholder meeting to confirm and identify priorities and gaps, and a report with recommendations for achieving an aligned and integrated system for primary prevention.  A searchable database of primary prevention investments in Canada will also be developed and made available on CDPAC’s website. 

Knowledge Exchange: Increasing our Capacity

CDPAC received funding to launch the Enhancing KDE Capacity project.  This project was to develop and pilot web-based tools to enable CDPAC members to interact, collaborate and exchange knowledge and best practices in chronic disease prevention. The project was being funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada Best Practices Observatory, and its official title was: Enhancing Capacity for Knowledge Development and Exchange (KDE) for Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention. Key activities included conducting a membership survey and establishing an expert advisory group to help identify which types of tools were most relevant and would have the greatest potential impact for CDPAC members. Tools are being developed and piloted over the coming year.