Abstract
SETTING: Municipal buildings and corporate events in the City of Hamilton, Ontario.
INTERVENTION: In 2011, the City of Hamilton adopted a healthy food and beverage policy. The intent of the policy is to demonstrate the City’s commitment to healthy eating by providing food and beverages that are healthy, safe, and free of industrially produced trans fats, and promoting a sustainable, local food system. The corporate policy applies to all City facilities, meetings and events. In this article, we explore adoption and implementation of the policy, as well as key lessons for healthy public policy change.
OUTCOMES: Integrating the policy into corporate culture and practice through the provision of ongoing supports and resources helped the City of Hamilton overcome barriers and achieve implementation success.
IMPLICATIONS: Through exploration of the City of Hamilton’s healthy food and beverage policy, we identified a number of lessons for policy change and implementation. When viewed in context, these lessons may help to support policy work in other Canadian jurisdictions.
Key words: Policy, municipal, nutrition, chronic disease prevention
Résumé
LIEU: Les édifices municipaux et les événements généraux de la ville de Hamilton, en Ontario.
INTERVENTION: En 2011, la ville de Hamilton a adopté une politique sur les aliments et les boissons santé. En offrant des aliments et des boissons salubres, bons pour la santé et sans gras trans produits industriellement, et en favorisant un circuit alimentaire local et durable, cette politique montre l’importance que la ville accorde à l’alimentation saine. La politique s’applique à l’ensemble des installations, des réunions et des événements de la ville. Nous explorons ici son adoption et sa mise en œuvre, ainsi que les principales leçons à en tirer pour instaurer des changements favorables à la santé dans les politiques.
RÉSULTATS: En offrant des ressources et des mesures de soutien pour intégrer la politique en question dans la culture et les pratiques générales, la ville de Hamilton a surmonté les obstacles et opéré une mise en œuvre réussie.
IMPLICATIONS: Notre exploration de la politique de la ville de Hamilton sur les aliments et les boissons santé contient des leçons sur la modification et la mise en œuvre de politiques. Replacées dans leur contexte, ces leçons peuvent appuyer le travail de réflexion d’autres collectivités publiques canadiennes.
Mots clés: politique (principe), municipal, nutrition, prévention des maladies chroniques
Footnotes
Acknowledgements: This work was funded by Health Canada through the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer’s (CPAC) Coalitions Linking Action & Science for Prevention (CLASP) initiative.
Conflict of Interest: At the time of the article, authors P.E.M. and M.F. worked for the institution that was part of the case study.
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