Mapping the Newcomer Journey for More Equitable Population Health: Insights from an Ontario Health Team.

The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified systemic vulnerabilities and made the global and Canadian newcomer experience even more fragile. In 2022, the Kitchener, Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich (KW4) Ontario Health Team launched a journey-mapping initiative with the aim to better understand newcomers' lived experiences with regard to their health and wellness within the first two years of their arrival in the region. We interviewed 17 newcomers from 11 different countries. The outcomes of this project are helping to inform a people-centred integrated health system approach toward service redesign and the creation of technological solutions to improve newcomers' abilities to self-navigate local services toward more equitable population health outcomes.