Saskatoon gets top marks when it comes to the health performance of the city and its citizens, according to a new ranking comparing 10 Canadian cities.
The Conference Board of Canada released its first-ever City Health Monitor report on Tuesday, assigning grades for the physical and socio-economic health of 10 cities based on 24 indicators in four categories:
- Life satisfaction.
- Population health.
- Healthy lifestyle.
- Access to health-care services.
While cities across Canada often have similar standards of living, slight variations may impact the health of their citizens, said Louis Thériault, vice-president of public policy for the conference board.
“By comparing population health, lifestyle and satisfaction, and health-care-system performance across key indicators, we can better understand the differences between cities, recognize what is achievable, pinpoint policy priority areas and track the impact of policies or changes in processes over time,” the report’s authors wrote.
Saskatoon, Calgary and Winnipeg each earn an “A” grade, with Saskatoon garnering the top overall spot due to its ranking on life satisfaction and relative strength in population health and healthy lifestyle.
Calgary’s second-place ranking is attributed to its ranking in life satisfaction and healthy lifestyles, while Winnipeg rounds out the Top 3 by placing first in the access-to-health-care category and with relatively good results in the others.
Montreal finished in 10th place and was the only city to receive a grade of “D.” (Charles Contant/CBC)
Montreal finished in 10th place and is the only city to receive an overall grade of “D.” The city was assigned a “D” in three of the four categories: healthy lifestyle, access to health-care services and life satisfaction.
The remaining six cities earned a “B” grade. Vancouver was highest in this group by ranking first in population health and healthy lifestyles, but it suffered poor results in the other two categories.
Quebec City, Ottawa-Gatineau, Halifax, Edmonton and Toronto each showed “decent” results in one category, the report’s authors said, but faltered elsewhere.
The Conference Board of Canada cautioned that benchmarking is not an end onto itself, but is intended to highlight each city’s strengths and weaknesses to determine what level of performance is possible and to investigate possible improvements.
[Source:-CBC ]
