The Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance is a collaborative group of organizations whose mission is to improve the health of Ontarians through leadership that supports collaborative action to promote healthy living and to address the determinants of health necessary for chronic disease prevention. OCDPA is committed to work together with governments on a chronic disease prevention strategy.

The OCDPA partnerships began in February 2003. The partnership includes Canadian Cancer Society Ontario Division, Canadian Diabetes Association, Cancer Care Ontario, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, The Lung Association, Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse, Ontario Public Health Association, and Osteoporosis Society of Canada. Affiliated membership also includes The Kidney Foundation, Canadian Arthritis Society, members of the Ontario Health Promotion Resource System, Ontario Heart Health Program, academic members including the Centre for Behavioral Research and Program Evaluation, as well as representation from Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Ministry of Recreation and Tourism, and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

There is an urgent need for a comprehensive, coherent, well-resourced, systematic effort to prevent chronic disease at a population level in Ontario.

Why prevention makes sense now!

• Health care costs: chronic diseases, notably cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and respiratory illness, account for more than 75% of Canadian deaths. According to recent calculations this equates to 28 billion dollars of health care costs.
• Risk factors are modifiable: modifiable risk behaviours (notably tobacco and alcohol use, nutritional and physical activity patterns, and obesity), and risk conditions (e.g., physical and policy environments that fail to support healthy behaviours) are widespread.
• Substantial cost/benefit: evidence demonstrates that serious action will yield substantial benefit. For instance, Finland mounted a prevention effort that, within 25 years, reduced (age standardized) cardiovascular disease deaths by 55% and cancer deaths by 30%. California's exemplary tobacco control program accelerated reductions in tobacco use, and within 10 years reduced lung cancer deaths and CVD. Strong action can affect population health and disease patterns in a decade or less.
• Rapidly rising burden: given the aging of the baby boom generation, and the growth of the Canadian population, combined with the prevalence of risk, we are facing a rapid rise in the burden of chronic disease.
• Reducing capital expansion: if we take no serious action on prevention, we will need to invest in capital expansion of the health care system (e.g., to increase beds, diagnostic and treatment facilities, professional training programs) to meet demand as the baby boom generation ages. Given the demographic profile of the population, this enlarged system will no longer be needed after the baby boom peak.
• Cost deferral: we can offset the cost of investment in prevention now if we can defer cases from the boomer cohort to a lower point in the "health care demand" cycle, thus avoiding capital expansion costs, as well as lowering system operating costs during the coming decade.
• It is not too late: it is not too late to defer cases in the boomer generation. Peto et al, for instance, have demonstrated that smoking cessation even at age 60 results in substantially reduced risk of lung cancer. As well, the many other diseases that show earlier reversal of risk with cessation are also prevented or deferred.
• Targeted focus has BIG payoff: by addressing a small number of critical risk factors we can prevent many major chronic diseases. Figure 1 demonstrates the relationship between risk factors and the major chronic diseases.

We are gaining momentum

Translating the evidence to impact the health of all Ontarians requires the coordination of research, surveillance, intervention development and evaluation, advocacy and public policy activities. OCDPA is working to create an enabling physical, social, and policy environment to attain and maintain healthy Ontarians, regardless of income, education, geography, ethnicity or gender.

To find out more, contact:

Maria Grant, Manager, Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance
Telephone: 416-367-3313 ext. 251 or 1-800-267-6817 ext. 251