Item No. 7.1.5

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January 17, 2020

Dear Minister Elliott: 

On January 16, 2020, the Windsor-Essex County Board of Health passed the following Resolution regarding the Children Count Pilot Project. WECHU's resolution as outlined below recognizes that the Children Count Pilot Study Project, Healthy Living Module, is a feasible approach to fulfil local, regional and provincial population health data gaps for children and youth:

Windsor-Essex County Board of Health RECOMMENDATION/RESOLUTION REPORT – Children Count Pilot Project January 16, 2020

ISSUE

The behaviours initiated in youth create a foundation for health through the life course (Toronto Public Health, 2015). Supporting student achievement and improving overall quality of life for children and youth is a priority shared across multiple sectors, including health and education. Both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have identified the importance of this stage of development through the Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS) and the Ontario Curriculum (2019), and the interrelationship between health, well-being and educational outcomes. Collecting, analyzing and reporting data at the local level is essential for the planning, delivery and evaluation of effective and efficient services that meet the unique needs of students and ensure the responsible public stewardship of the resources allocated to these services (Windsor-Essex, 2017). The lack of a coordinated provincial system for the assessment and monitoring of child and youth health that meets local needs has been the focus of many reports, including the 2017 Annual Report of the Ontario Auditor General. The Auditor General's report identified that children are a public health priority population and that epidemiological data on children are not readily available to public health units for planning and measuring effective programming (Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, 2017).

In the initial report, Children Count: Assessing Child and Youth Surveillance Gaps for Ontario Public Health Units (Populations Health Assessment LDCP Team, 2017), public health units and school boards identified a need for local data related to mental health, physical activity and healthy eating for school-aged children and youth. In 2017, the Children Count Locally Driven Collaborative Projects (LDCP) Team convened a Task Force of leaders in education, public health, research, government and non-governmental organizations to explore solutions and make recommendations for improving assessment and monitoring of child and youth health. The Task Force recommendations have been endorsed by many organizations including the Council of Directors of Education (CODE) and Council of Medical Officers of Health (COMOH). In their report, the Children Count Task Force (Children Count Task Force, 2019) recommended building on existing infrastructure by using the Ministry of Education's mandated school climate survey (SCS). The SCS provides population level data for children and youth grades 4 to 12 and represents a significant opportunity to understand local health needs of students.