shiftframework.org

Status report - Geographic retail food environment measures for use in public health

Equity Focus

This study provides a status report on recent work done to develop a set of standardized, objective indicators (i.e. measures) to aid public health units and regional health authorities assess their community food environments within urban settings in Ontario, Canada.

Case Summary

The Built Environment Subgroup is a multi-disciplinary group made up of planners, researchers, policy analysts, registered dietitians, geographic information systems (GIS) analysts and epidemiologists. The Subgroup selected and operationalized a suite of objective, standardized indicators intended to help public health units and regional health authorities assess their community retail food environments. The Subgroup proposed three indicators that use readily available data sources and GIS tools to characterize geographic access to various types of retail food outlets within neighbourhoods in urban settings: (1) intensity (i.e. density) of food outlets; (2) the relative density of less healthy food outlets; and (3) proximity of the population living in specific geographic areas to food outlets.

Lessons Learned

• A promising means by which local health practitioners can assess their local food environment is through the use of standardized indicators that use readily available data. Theseassessments can serve as valuable local surveillance data for evaluating the impact of policy interventions. The use of standardized measures that can be applied across Ontario (and Canada) has the added benefit of enabling accurate between-region comparisons of how different policies are reshaping the food environment and impacting health outcomes.

LINK TO CASE STUDY