Addressing Health Inequities and Enhancing Population Health Management Strategies Through GeoAnalytics

The link between communities, places, and health is well established in the scientific and public health literature, and differences in the characteristics of places can help explain differences in health inequalities. Place-based analysis, as illustrated in this project, offers a lens to better understand the health needs of local communities, evaluate gaps in health service accessibility, and show where opportunities to intervene exist.

The Ontario health system has become more locally oriented with the introduction of , providing a vital link between health policy makers, health service providers, and local communities. OHTs are sources of expertise in data collection, analysis, and evidence-based approaches to improve population health and health equity. As such, there is tremendous potential for these organizations to conduct analyses that are relevant and impactful for local health services and health outcomes.

This project reviewed the potential role of geoanalytics for Ontario Health Teams via an examination of place-based analytic approaches at the local level, examination of use-case scenarios for emergency department visits and mammography screening, and an evaluation of the potential for geoanalytics within a population health framework.

Importantly, we are concerned here with how the analytic results can be used in health system planning and point-of-care, with the goal of improving the health of local populations. For this project, use-cases have been selected to make use of existing data available to and for those that can lead to impactful interventions and upstream engagement strategies in the short-term.

The final evaluation further discusses the potential for spread and scale of the analytic frameworks, data systems, and tools at the Provincial level. Looking towards future digital infrastructure, a geoanalytics approach has strong potential to integrate with existing health data systems and provide a much-needed link between often-inaccessible health administrative data and locally relevant population statistics.

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GeoAnalytics Project Evaluation

ArcGIS StoryMap

– this StoryMap presents the geoanalytic results for the emergency department and mammography screening use-case scenarios. This StoryMap was created as part of the Rural R:ISK project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Councile (SSHRC).

Health geoanalytics can support public health organizations such as OHTs in making informed decisions, optimizing resource allocation, and improving the efficiency of their operations. This may lead to cost savings by reducing waste, targeting interventions effectively, and improving overall health outcomes in the population.

Infographics of Health Indicators for Southlake Community OHT

Steering Committee Members

This project was guided with the expert input from a steering committee and contributing stakeholders.

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A National Epidemic with Severe Local Implications: A Global to Local Review of Substance Use to Analyze the State of Addictions in Rural Eastern Ontario

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A National Epidemic with Severe Local Implications

This research (summarized below) is also presented as an interactive ArcGIS Storymap available at the following link..

Substance Use in Canada

The dramatic rise in substance-use disorder prevalence across North America has become an urgent and escalating health issue in need of rapid intervention. In 2012, Statistics Canada conducted a study concluding that 6 million Canadians met the criteria for substance-use disorder, but even this value is thought to be an underestimate (1). It is likely this statistic has increased greatly since 2012 when considering the surging overdose crisis and significant increase in opioid-use, as well as opioid-related deaths in the past three years (2). In 2017, the cost of substance use was calculated to be $46 billion, a 5.4% increase since 2015, which factored for associated healthcare, lost productivity, criminal justice, and other direct costs (3). Substance use and addictions in Canada is therefore multifactorial, involving social, health, and economic implications.

Substance use and addiction is a global public health crisis that has rapidly escalated over the last decade. Substance use disorder is one of the most prevalent causes of morbidity and mortality internationally (4), with alcohol- and opioid-related harms being of most concern. The United States of America and Canada have historically had the highest prevalence of opioid drug use mostly due to the availability of such drugs when compared to less developed countries and have both seen an even greater increase in use since the emergence of Covid-19. Of greatest concern, is the spike in opioid deaths which has also more than doubled since 2010 (5). Canada and the United States have the highest rates of prescribed opioids worldwide, and although the US sees considerably more opioid-related deaths, per capita opioid use, and alcohol-attributed health deficits, recent data shows Canada is paralleling increases in these areas which is a cause of great concern (6). Continuing health professions education programs have begun to gain a hold on prescription opioids and their potentially harmful effects, but there has been a major increase in non-pharmaceutical opioid use across Canada which accounted for 90% of apparent opioid deaths from January to June 2021 (7).

The life expectancy of Canada has levelled for the first time since World War II, with one of the main contributors being opioid-related deaths. This negative trend was first observed in British Columbia, which has been in a declared public health emergency since 2016 due to significant opioid-related deaths, but life expectancy has since begun to plateau for all of Canada. Most deaths seen in the past five years have been males between the ages of 20-49, which therefore has a significant impact on life expectancy, with alcohol and drug use identified as the most important risk factor among young adults (7).

Alcohol and opioid use are currently a major focus for substance use disorder harms, as these sectors have seen the greatest increase in associated harms and affect the most individuals, although it should be noted that an increase in stimulant use as well as polysubstance use has been observed in the past few years. Substantially less mortality is seen with these substances, and toxic supply is less of a concern, but many of the initiatives and treatment options addressing the opioid crisis can also benefit those impacted by stimulant addiction and polysubstance use. Other addiction disorders such as gambling can also have detrimental effects on overall health and wellbeing of Canadians, but this report will have a greater focus on drug addiction and substance use disorder, specifically regarding opioid use, as it is an incredibly urgent public health crisis causing the death of thousands and therefore requires immediate intervention.

Our interactive ArcGIS Storymap provides further analysis of this epidemic for rural Eastern Ontario, highlighting both the harms and the services available in this region.

Link to the complete Storymap: .

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