Healthy Living

Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy
	Integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy diagram
	Background Information
	Stakeholder Organizations

What Is Healthy Living?

Healthy living applies to both the population in general and to individuals. At a population level, healthy living refers to the practices of population and sub-population groups that are consistent with improving, maintaining and / or enhancing health. As it applies to individuals, healthy living is the practice of health enhancing behaviours or living in healthy ways. It implies the physical, mental and spiritual capacity to make healthy choices. Healthy living means making positive choices about personal health practices such as healthy eating, not smoking, building a circle of social contacts, and staying physically active. These choices are strongly influenced by the environments where people live, work, learn and play.

What Is The Integrated Pan-Canadian Health Living Strategy?

The Integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy includes a conceptual basis for sustained action over time that includes a vision, goals, guiding principles and strategic directions for action. Links will be created among existing strategies around healthy living, strategies that are under development, and new strategies to be developed. Phase I of the Healthy Living Strategy development emphasizes healthy eating, physical acivity and their relationship to healthy weights.

Through its overall integrative approach, the Healthy Living Strategy will link to existing strategies such as tobacco use and control, diabetes and chronic disease prevention. Partnerships and collaborative action are an initial priority. The overall Healthy Living Strategy is characterized by a collaborative effort for health promotion, and disease and injury prevention based on a population health approach.

As a key principle, integration will involve mobilizing action and engaging partners across jurisdictions, the health system and other sectors; working through the determinants of health; targeting common risk factors for multiple diseases and injury; and consolidating promotion and prevention efforts where people work, live, learn and play.

• View a diagram illustrating the Integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy Framework.

To get background information, including the background document Taking Action on Healthy Living: Background Information on the Integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy and A Discussion Document for the Healthy Living Symposium click here.