Thanks very much, Madam Chair. On behalf of BC Healthy Living Alliance, we want to thank you for this opportunity to share our experience and views on innovative health care delivery.
The BC Healthy Living Alliance is an alliance of nine provincial organizations that have been working together since 2003 to address the common risk factors and health inequities that contribute significantly to chronic disease. Our experience in overseeing $25 million of initiatives to address these risk factors and our involvement in policies to reduce health inequities have provided us with a wealth of knowledge. We have previously provided to the committee copies of a number of our reports outlining specific policies that we believe are important to address the challenges of chronic diseases and the impact they have on the health care system.
We know from research, in the United States particularly, that investment in prevention can have a significant impact on containing health care costs. We know that a key component is to link prevention to care and break down the traditional silos between the public health, health promotion, and heath care delivery systems. We have discussed with this committee before the importance of a holistic approach to health. This requires a whole of society, whole of government, and whole of person focus. That means those working in the health field, prevention or care, also need to work more closely with those in other sectors whose work and policies have a dramatic influence on health status, be that education, early childhood development, social services, income support, housing, or the built environment.
Mary.