(From the ISHN Member information service) Another Canadian youth health survey was released in January 2015. This one is from the province of Manitoba, with data collected in schools in 2012/13, and sponsored by the Manitoba cancer organizations. This is the second time the survey has been done, with a promise of another round in 2016-17. The news story suggests that this provincial survey is unique in Canada but it is not. Several provinces already have similar surveys and Canada participates in the HBSC survey every five years. As well, there are provincial surveys on alcohol/drug use and other federal surveys with youth data. While the survey is a good one and there are questions unique to cancer risks (eg tanning beds), there is something wrong with the picture produced from the survey as well as with the duplication with other surveys. We need more analysis, timely analysis that is more closely correlated with policies and programs. We need regular reports on the status of youth health policies and programs, not just health status or behaviours. We need trends analysis over time (The news story notes that body weights and physical activity have deteriorated slightly since the first survey done in 2003-04 but the report does not include such discussion.). We need reasonable comparisons with similar jurisdictions. We need policy-related discussions. For example, Manitoba combined its health and PE curricula a few years ago...did that have an impact? As well, the province, like most jurisdictions around the world has focused efforts on childhood obesity, with apparently little effect. We are not picking on this survey. It is a good one, with several important questions that ask questions about new items such as transportation to school as part of the physical activity section. But it needs to be part of an overall monitoring and reporting system that is tied to policy-making. (This report on the survey was published on a non-government web site.) It needs to be tied into a national reporting system that can help make the reasonable comparisons between provinces. Canada used to have a regular report that pulled together the various survey results and offered cogent discussion about policies and programs but the funding for that regular report was cut several years ago. A related attempt to coordinate the various national and provincial surveys in that country suffered a similar fate. Canada is not alone in the avoidance of a national monitoring and reporting system. Many countries participate in the Europe-based Health Behaviours of School-age Children (HBSC) survey and a similar WHO Global Student Health Survey (GSHS) but those reports are rarely connected to transparent government policy making. Researchers are usually the ones controlling both the data and the selected analysis. National and state/provincial surveys also need to be part of similar international analysis that permits other useful perspectives and analysis. With the publication of a core set and several thematic of policy/program surveys by several UN agencies under the FRESH school health framework, there is an opportunity to more forward. Can we ensure that future surveys with be part of a systematic monitoring and reporting system in the future? Read the Manitoba report>>
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