Nova Scotia. Department of Health Promotion and Protection

Other forms of name:
Nova Scotia. Office of Health Promotion (2002)
Nova Scotia Health Promotion

The Office of Health Promotion was established in 2002 to assume responsibility for all matters relating generally to promoting a culture of good health and general preventative health measures, and specifically to healthy living, addiction prevention, tobacco control, sport, recreation and facility development, proper nutrition, healthy sexuality and injury prevention. Health Promotion absorbed the former Nova Scotia Sport and Recreation Commission. In 2006 the public health branch of the Department of Health and the Chief Medical Officer of Health merged with Nova Scotia Health Promotion to form the Department of Health Promotion and Protection. The department was responsible for promoting healthy eating and improving nutritional health; leading a coordinated population health approach to youth sexual health; increasing physical activity through sport, recreation and facility development; promoting reduction in tobacco use through the implementation of the Province's comprehensive tobacco-control strategy; providing leadership and ensuring inter-sectoral collaboration with respect to the Nova Scotia Injury Prevention Strategy; providing a continuum of addiction-related care and service spanning health promotion, addiction prevention and problem gambling; promoting chronic disease prevention by leading the Province's coordinated and integrated multi-year initiatives; and protecting public health in the areas of communicable-disease prevention and control, environmental health and public health emergency preparedness and response. The Department was also able to cooperate with other departments and support their work to improve health promotion and protection throughout the Province; and collaborate with private, public and non-profit sectors to strengthen health promotion and protection initiatives in the Province and take advantage of opportunities to create environments that supported improved health. The department's core business areas were addiction services, chronic disease and injury prevention, communicable disease prevention and control, health services emergency management, environmental health, healthy development, physical activity, sport and recreation, population health assessment and surveillance, and volunteerism. In January 2011, the department was abolished and its responsibilities transferred to the Department of Health, which was renamed Health and Wellness.

Notes: Authority record based on Statutes of Nova Scotia 2004 c. 16, 2006 c. 44; Orders in Council 2002-593 (19 Dec. 2002), 2002-594 (19 Dec. 2002), 2003-516 (4 Dec. 2003), 2006-116 (24 Feb. 2006), 2011-15 (11 Jan. 2011).

see also Department of Health and Wellness