Vancouver launches dashboard to track healthy city progress

The City of Vancouver has launched an interactive dashboard that monitors its work to build equitable, sustainable, and resilient communities in collaboration with the Partnership for Healthy Cities.

The dashboard tracks progress against 23 key indicators that act as determinants of health and wellbeing of residents and communities as a whole.

Global network

Technical and financial support has been provided by the Partnership for Healthy Cities, a global network of cities committed to saving lives by preventing noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries. The partnership, which is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with the World Health Organisation and the public health organisation Vital Strategies, has expanded its remit to provide immediate assistance in the urban response to Covid-19.

Examples of datasets featured in the dashboard include the number of children living in families below Canada’s official poverty line, the number of households spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing, and the proportion of adults who have a sense of community belonging.

As well as the most recent data for each indicator, the dashboard includes target figures and the current status of the city’s progress towards that goal.

The local datasets will help inform the strategic work of the city and its community partners, as well as telling a more complete story about health and wellbeing in Vancouver.

“Vancouver’s data-driven approach embraces the fact that good health and wellbeing are the product of more than just access to health care”

“Vancouver is proud to be part of a network of forward-thinking cities that are taking new approaches to better understand the challenges that our communities and residents are facing,” said mayor Kennedy Stewart. “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Partnership for Healthy Cities and Bloomberg Philanthropies for enabling us to develop this dashboard which will ensure our vital work around equity, poverty reduction, and Covid-recovery is rooted in data.”

This launch marks the first phase of the project but the dashboard will be expanded to include additional indicators, as well as neighbourhood-level data. The city is also engaging with indigenous communities, including local nations and urban indigenous organisations, to identify more decolonised ways of collecting and analysing the data.

“Vancouver’s data-driven approach embraces the fact that good health and wellbeing are the product of more than just access to healthcare,” said Ariella Rojhani, director of the Partnership for Healthy Cities. “We applaud the City for using these data to inform future policy decisions, and for the transparency demonstrated.”

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