Latest News

Ontario Dietitians in Public Health returning to public health nutrition work

Published on Friday,27 May, 2022

After over 2 years redeployment to the COVID-19 pandemic response, Ontario Dietitians in Public Health are returning to public health nutrition work. Most ODPH work was paused in March 2020 and is finally being restarted now in May 2022. Registered Dietitians in public health worked alongside other public health professionals doing case and contact management, COVAX support, administrative tasks, lab results review, data entry, call centre work, development of guidance documents, outbreak management, education and training, communications and web support and more. When allowed, some of us continued to provide important services using new and innovative delivery models including virtual Canadian Prenatal Nutrition Program and Healthy Babies Healthy Children program, Student Nutrition Programs, the Northern Fruits and Vegetable program, and health equity related work. We are thankful and proud of the all that has been accomplished over the past 2+ years by our members, while also managing the complexities of family life, child care, schooling and everything else that the pandemic has changed.

The pandemic continues to have a significant impact on our profession and our work, and we know that it will take time to evaluate, update and resume previous projects and start new initiatives. Our next membership year begins July 1 and we are excited to welcome dietitians back to ODPH so that we can resume working together to advance public health nutrition and improve population health and health equity locally and provincially.

Updated food insecurity position statement now available

Published on Wednesday, 2 December, 2020

ODPH's updated position statement on food insecurity can now be found as part of the No Money For Food is…Cent$less campaign. ODPH recommends effective responses for the urgent public health problem of food insecurity, a situation which has only gotten worse with the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the executive summary and full position statement at https://www.odph.ca/odph-position-statement-on-responses-to-food-insecurity-1. An infographic is available at https://www.odph.ca/upload/membership/document/2020-12/copy-of-centslessinfographicdec2020-3-003-.pdf

Notice of 2020 Annual General Meeting

Published on Friday,21 August, 2020

The ODPH 2020 Annual General Meeting will take place at 9:00 am on Wednesday October 21, 2020 using Adobe Connect through Public Health Ontario. The proposed Agenda and proxy form for those who are unable to attend can be found when you log in and go to the AGM page. There will be one proposed constitutional change to update the Constitution and By-Law documents with our official name and logo.

Resolutions for consideration can be emailed to elizabeth.smith@hamilton.ca or brought from the floor at the AGM. Following the AGM there will be 2-3 speakers to provide an educational component (in lieu of a Nutrition Exchange this year). These presentations will be recorded for those not able to attend on Oct 21st.

Registration and further details will be available shortly.

ODPH responds to public health modernization discussion paper

Published on Thursday, 5 March, 2020

ODPH's response to the PH Modernization discussion paper survey is now posted. Please go to our Advocacy, Position & Endorsement page https://www.odph.ca/advocacy to see the letter and appendix sent to the Ministry.

Thank you to the Co-Chairs for making it happen and to everyone who participated in planning discussions and in drafting and editing our response!

Response to proposed amendments of the Healthy Menu Choice Act and Food Premise Regulation

Published on Friday, 6 December, 2019

ODPH submissions to recent government consultations on proposed amendments to the Reg 50/16 of the Healthy Menu Choices Act and Food Premise Regulation 493/17 under the Health Protection and Promotion Act are now posted. Read them on our advocacy, positions and endorsement page.

Many thanks to the members who helped with these responses.

No Money for Food is … Cent$less La nourriture ne suffit pas à éliminer la faim

Published on Monday,23 September, 2019

Ontario Dietitians in Public Health is aiming to make food insecurity an issue for the upcoming federal election with our campaign, No Money for Food is…Cent$less / La nourriture ne suffit pas à éliminer la faim.

By signing our letter to federal party leaders on the What you can do?/Que faire page, you can support all Canadians having an adequate income for food without compromising their ability to pay for other basic necessities. Let’s send a strong message to the party leaders so that food insecurity is on the policy agenda for the next federal government.

Please take a moment to visit our webpage (English/French) and watch the updated video developed by Northwestern Health Unit and view the newly designed infographic (English/French).

ODPH will be tweeting about the campaign between now and the federal election @RDsPubHealthON, so please like and retweet our tweets throughout the campaign!

Also available on the What can you do? page is a Toolkit for Action on Food Insecurity for use by secondary students.

The ODPH campaign is adapted from the No money for food is…Cent$less campaign originally developed by Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.

New 2019 ODPH Pediatric Nutrition Guidelines

Published on Wednesday, 8 May, 2019

The 2019 English and French Pediatric Nutrition Guidelines (Birth to Six Years) for Health Professionals are now available online at www.odph.ca/PNG. This ODPH document provides evidence-based nutrition guidelines on the following topics:

Growth monitoring
Infant formula
Expressed breastmilk
Food allergies
Vitamin D
Iron
Choking prevention
Fish consumption and methylmercury
Food insecurity
NutriSTEP®
Parent influences on eating habits
Credible nutrition resources for parents

The Guidelines have been reviewed by physicians, registered nurses, lactation consultants and registered dietitians in both public health and clinical practice. They have also been revised using a BFI (Baby-friendly Initiative) lens.

New Online Learning Modules to Raise the Bar for Student Nutrition Programs!

Published on Monday,22 October, 2018

These online learning modules were created to support schools and community locations provide nutritious breakfast, morning meals, lunch and snacks to children and youth to support their learning and healthy development. The online modules will help the user to understand the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) Student Nutrition Program Guidelines (2016). Check them out here!