Heart and Stroke Foundation joins Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and the Public Health Agency of Canada in combating chronic disease

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada - Finding answers. For Life.


OTTAWA, February 3, 2010 – The Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) announced today that it will contribute $500,000 to the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer to co-fund two prevention projects aimed at combating chronic disease. The Foundation is also the lead recipient organization on another prevention project funded solely by the partnership.

“The Heart and Stroke Foundation has long demonstrated its commitment to chronic disease prevention,” says Sally Brown, CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. “We’re pleased to be involved in this innovative and ground breaking collaborative approach – there’s so much we can achieve by working together.”

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, population-based disease prevention is the most powerful and efficient tool to improve and sustain the health of Canadians. Heart disease and stroke alone cost the Canadian economy more than $22.2 billion every year in physician services, hospital costs, lost wages and decreased productivity.1

The Foundation will fund two prevention-focused programs under the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer’s new CLASP initiative. CLASP, which stands for Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention , aims to improve the health of Canadians and their communities. HSF is joined by the Public Health Agency of Canada in supporting the partnership in this initiative.

“The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is proud to be playing a leadership role in bringing together the many excellent organizations working in chronic disease prevention,” said Dr. Simon Sutcliffe, Chair of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. “These new collaborative partnerships announced today will make a real difference in the health of Canadians.”

“The risk factors for heart disease and stroke are common to cancer and other chronic diseases,” says Brown. “By uniting to combine our resources to do this research and then moving the knowledge into health policy and practice, we can dramatically improve the health of Canadians while lessening the economic burden.”

Brown notes that efforts to significantly reduce these risk factors will yield huge dividends for many chronic diseases.

What the Heart and Stroke Foundation will co-fund:
  • The BETTER Project – Will harness electronic medical record systems and evidence-based approaches to increase prevention and screening for heart disease, diabetes and cancer in participating family doctors’ offices.
  • Collaborative Action on Childhood Obesity – Will limit the accessibility and appeal of unhealthy food choices, while partnering with remote First Nations communities to assist in developing sustainable food strategies based on local dietary practices.
What HSF is leading:
  • Promoting Chronic Disease Prevention by Changing the Built Environment - HSF is the lead organization for this coalition that focuses on the impact urban living and community planning have on health and chronic disease. To create healthier and more active communities, the project team will develop new tools and resources to help planners, public health officials and policy makers understand how community planning and design impact health.
Participating organizations in the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s CLASP project include the Urban Public Health Network, the Canadian Institute of Planners, Smart Growth BC and the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy. Funding will be provided over the next two and a half years.

Beyond the specific projects it is funding through CLASP, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is providing ongoing collaboration opportunities to further support the prevention community in sharing knowledge and best practices and cultivating additional partnerships. In addition to the funding announced today, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer are working together to collaborate on these future knowledge sharing and best practices opportunities.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation, a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living and advocacy. For more information, visit www.heartandstroke.ca.

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is an independent organization funded by the federal government to accelerate action on cancer control for all Canadians. We bring together cancer survivors, patients and families, cancer experts and government representatives to implement the first pan-Canadian cancer control strategy. For more information, visit www.partnershipagainstcancer.ca.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is a Government of Canada agency with the primary goal of strengthening Canada’s capacity to protect and improve the health of Canadians and helping reduce pressures on the health-care system. For more information, visit www.phac-aspc.gc.ca.


1Canadian Heart Health Strategy-Action Plan Steering Committee. Building a Heart Healthy Canada. Released February 2009.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 June 2010 )