Student video for Health Innovation Challenge submission

Laura Stymiest, from Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS), entered the Health Innovation Challenge in the health policy category with an entry called People Assessing Their Health (PATH) & Community Driven Health Impact Assessment (CDHIA): an innovative public policy initiative. She also submitted a video about the project. Check out the video below, as well as the abstract for her entry.

The video:
"The PATH/CDHIA video was filmed at the Coady International Institute in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Several people involved in founding and facilitating the project were interviewed along with community members who had participated in the process. The interviewees reflected on their experiences, the impact of the project and how they envision PATH/CDHIA affecting health and healthcare policy in the future. We hope the video captures for the 2011-2012 Health Innovation Challenge the innovative potential of PATH/CDHIA and the amazing work of those who are involved. "
- Laura Stymiest

Entry Abstract:
There has been an increasing recognition that the social determinants of health must be considered as critically important in health policy and, in turn, in structuring healthcare services and programs. Historically, empowered and educated communities and civil society organizations that give “political expression to their needs” have driven major policy action on the social determinants (Irwin & Scali, 2010, 252). This submission explores how People Assessing Their Health (PATH) and Community Driven Health Impact Assessment (CDHIA) as a public policy initiative provides an innovative way to teach, empower and work with communities to change perceptions, practices and outcomes of healthcare. PATH/CDHIA can assist policy makers in developing healthcare policies and programs that are locally relevant, supportive of the social determinants of health, and fully representative of the needs of all community members.

Key Words: Social Determinants of Health, Health Promotion, Innovative Practices