Alberta Child Health and Well-being Policy Dialogue Forum
The School of Public Policy and Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute are hosting a Dialogue Forum on Child Health and Well-being Policy and Monitoring in Alberta. The event is taking place on June 5th at the School of Public Policy (University of Calgary Downtown Campus).
Improving child/youth health and well-being involves various actors and sectors. Different policies, service delivery and measurement efforts have been undertaken in the last decades to improve legal and regulatory frameworks, service delivery and data collection/sharing with the objective to ultimately improve child health and well-being outcomes and system performance in Alberta. In April, the Government of Canada announced its investment of $125 million in the University of Calgary’s One Child Every Child initiative, bringing together researchers, community partners, health-care providers, equity-deserving groups, educators and Indigenous communities.
The recent Alberta Child and Youth Wellbeing Review and Action Plan outlined a range of challenges and corresponding objectives, touching on issues of collaboration, alignment, measurement and data availability. One of its objectives is to develop a dashboard of child well-being data, with the purpose to better inform policy decisions. Recent initiatives by community organizations and researchers have produced an increased understanding and knowledge on the needs of children, families and stakeholders, what wellbeing means to the community and what policies, measures and data exist to allow for effective monitoring mechanisms in Alberta. Our team carried out an environmental scan to gather information on policies, initiatives, data and actors related to child health and wellbeing in the Province. Findings are available in form of a comprehensive draft policy brief and summary infographic.
Objectives of the event are to:
- Create a shared vision for improved and aligned child health and well-being policy-making that aligns with One Child Every Child
- Identify policy principles and priority areas for action to advance the shared vision
- Discuss and validate the findings from the environmental scan on child health and well-being policies, initiatives, partners and data
- Achieve consensus on key considerations and specific actions that can be taken immediately following the Forum