Developing co-funded multi-sectoral partnerships for chronic disease prevention: a qualitative inquiry into federal governmental public health staff experience.

Background: Multi-sectoral partnerships (MSPs) are frequently cited as a means by which governments can improve population health while leveraging the resources and expertise of the private and non-profit sectors. As part of their efforts in this area, the Public Health Agency of Canada (the Agency) introduced a novel funding programme requiring applicants to procure matched resources from private sources to support large-scale interventions for chronic disease prevention. The current literature on MSPs is limited in its applicability to this model of multi-sectoral engagement.

Cross-sector partnerships and public health: challenges and opportunities for addressing obesity and noncommunicable diseases through engagement with the private sector.

Over the past few decades, cross-sector partnerships with the private sector have become an increasingly accepted practice in public health, particularly in efforts to address infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries. Now these partnerships are becoming a popular tool in efforts to reduce and prevent obesity and the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases. Partnering with businesses presents a means to acquire resources, as well as opportunities to influence the private sector toward more healthful practices.

Systems science and obesity policy: a novel framework for analyzing and rethinking population-level planning.

Objectives: We demonstrate the use of a systems-based framework to assess solutions to complex health problems such as obesity.

Methods: We coded 12 documents published between 2004 and 2013 aimed at influencing obesity planning for complex systems design (9 reports from US and Canadian governmental or health authorities, 1 Cochrane review, and 2 Institute of Medicine reports). We sorted data using the intervention-level framework (ILF), a novel solutions-oriented approach to complex problems.

Obesity, Complexity, and the Role of the Health System.

As obesity continues to increase throughout the world, there is still no well-defined solution to the issue. Reducing obesity poses a significant challenge for the health care system because it is a complex problem with numerous interconnections and elements. The complexity of obesity challenges traditional primary care practices that have been structured to address simple or less complicated conditions.