Author: Prasantha De Silva
Harmful use of alcohol in Simcoe Muskoka
Simcoe Muskoka’s “HealthSTATS” is a treasure trove of evidence; however, I focus here only on one aspect of the harmful use of alcohol: “Hospital stays entirely caused by alcohol”. I chose this metric to make my arguments powerful and compelling to persuade readers to ask more questions and act. The…
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Commercial Determinants of Health
Traditionally, public health practitioners focus on changing individual behaviour and lifestyles. Anyone can understand it easily by looking at public health messages. For example, think about this message: This was the dominant narrative in the 70s and 80s. Now, it has begun to change. People are asking this question: What…
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Shift the focus on alcohol from person to public good
“Alcohol is bad for health”. This message is on a portrait frame; The message narrows the reader’s focus on the human body. under this narrative, we can list out all the illnesses alcohol consumption results in. And a whole other range of alcohol-related problems as well. This narrative lands us…
Maslow did not create Maslow’s pyramid
Three weeks before, I had to unlearn my learning about Maslow’s pyramid; it is not his. He did not build it to explain his theory about human motivation; “Maslow did not build a pyramid to explain his theory”. I read about it for the first time in a Scientific American…
Geographic Disparity of Diabetes and high blood pressure in Toronto Neighborhoods
It is obvious. The prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure varies by neighbourhood in Toronto. The following maps from Ontario Community Health Profile Partnership (OCHPP) website display this geographical disparity. The maps use a colour scale; the darker the area higher the rate. We can find a clear geographical…
#Promotehealthequity
Look at Figure 1 Figure 1: Image source: http://www.sollis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/equity-vs-equality.jpg In Figure 1, all three children are of equal height. But, they cannot reach the fruits, Because of, the terrain’s unequalness. They need help. But, the help each one requires is different. They need boxes of different heights. By helping them…
Use plain language to craft public health messages
Welcome to the world of effective communication for promoting public health and safety! In this blog post, we will explore the power of using plain language for crafting public health messages. By using simple and clear language in your messaging, we can ensure that, Whether you’re a public health professional…
Lessons from Montreal Protocol to Upstream Public Health Community
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases through these links at no extra cost to you. The Montreal Protocol (#MontrealProtocol) is an upstream intervention #ClimateAction classic. It is a powerful climate treaty. It directly impacted global public health. The Protocol’s 35-year-long legendary journey…
An interactive global tobacco control progress hub
On November 30, 2022, Action on Smoking and Health Canada unveiled the interactive global tobacco control progress hub. It is a very useful data visualization dashboard housed on the Tableau Public platform. This dashboard summarises all progress indicators of two global anti-tobacco campaigns: The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control…
Can social norms marketing reduce high-risk drinking?
In 1989, Northern Illinois University wanted to reduce students’ high-risk (binge) drinking behaviour. At the time, the university housed 23,000 students. Its researchers adopted the social norms marketing theory to craft messages for their social marketing campaign. This post discusses the steps they adopted. The contents of this post are…
