The Project

This project was formally a partnership between the U-links Centre for Community-Based Research, Haliburton Highlands
Family Health Team, HKPR District Health Unit, and Trent University through the Department of Geography and the
Trent/Fleming School of Nursing. In addition, the following organizations joined an advisory committee to provide guidance
and input into the project: Community Care Haliburton, Point in Time, SIRCH Community Services and Consulting, and
Ontario Early Years. Health, social service, education and other community professionals who saw some major areas of
need, but were unable to find data to support what they saw conceived this project. There was also a need to integrate
information that had been collected in various reports from community organizations into one useable source. The purpose
of this report card is to provide some information on how the region is doing on the social determinants of health indicators
and how these results compare to Ontario data. This research process also involved a survey of health and social service
professions in the region.
It should also be stressed that this report is only a starting point. Further research to confirm some of the results in this
report and to look at some of the information gaps identified is definitely needed. This report is meant to integrate existing
information and identify areas that require more research.
The Structure of the Report Card
There is an emerging trend in the health sector that health is not just the absence of disease, but includes total physical,
mental and spiritual well being. The Public Health Agency of Canada says, “Health is determined by complex interactions
between social and economic factors, the physical environment and individual behavior”1. These factors are known as the
social determinants of health. The Public Health Agency of Canada lists the social determinants of health as: income and
social status, social support networks, education and literacy, employment and working conditions, social environments,
physical environments, personal health practices and coping skills, healthy child development, biology and genetic
endowment, health services, gender and culture1.
This report is divided into sections for each social determinant, with some additional determinants added that are of
particular concern to the region. Each determinant is examined by using indicators, which are areas of each determinants
and help to show how Haliburton County compares to Ontario in general.

To view the Social Determinants of Heath: Report Card Click Here