Alberta gets "B" grade on the "How Canada Performs" Health report card

OTTAWA, Feb. 12, 2015 /CNW/ - Alberta gets a "B" and ranks 13th among 29 jurisdictions on The Conference Board of Canada's first How Canada Performs: Health report card that compares Canada, the 10 provinces, three territories, and 15 peer countries.

"Alberta is a middle-of-the-pack performer when it comes to health. Although the province does have some strengths and weaknesses, it gets "B"s on most of the health indicators," said Gabriela Prada, Director, Health Innovation, Policy and Evaluation.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Alberta gets a "B" grade on the Health report card and ranks 13th overall, just below the national average.
• Alberta scores "B"s on seven out of the 11 health indicators.
• Alberta ranks near the top of the class on mortality due to cancer.

The How Canada Performs: Health report card assesses performance on 11 health status indicators. Alberta scores "B"s on seven indicators, including life expectancy, premature mortality, self-reported mental health, and mortality due to respiratory diseases, nervous system diseases, and diabetes.

The province's best grade is on self-reported health, a measure of how people feel about their own health, where it receives an "A+". Alberta also performs well on mortality due to cancer. With one of the lowest rates of cancer deaths in the country, Alberta scores an "A" and ranks just below the top-performing province, British Columbia.

Alberta falls below the national average on two indicators. With the third highest mortality rate due to heart disease and stroke among the provinces, Alberta gets a "C", and ranks above only Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Alberta also has one of the highest infant mortality rates among the provinces and peer countries, and receives a "D" grade in this indicator.

How Canada Performs is an ongoing research program at The Conference Board of Canada to help leaders identify relative strengths and weaknesses in Canada's socio-economic performance. Six performance domains are assessed: Economy, Education and Skills, Innovation, Environment, Health, and Society.

Released today, and building on previous How Canada Performs analyses, the Health report card is the third of six to be produced on Canadian and provincial socio-economic performance. The Economy and Education and Skills report cards were published in 2014. The remaining report cards will follow over the year.

This is the first year that provincial and territorial rankings are included in the report cards. Further details, including information on data sources and the methodology behind the rankings, can be found on the How Canada Performs website.

Watch a video commentary by Gabriela Prada, Director, Health Innovation, Policy and Evaluation.

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SOURCE Conference Board of Canada

Juline Ranger, Associate Director of Communications, The Conference Board of Canada, Tel.: [phone] ext. 431, E-mail: [email protected]; Yvonne Squires, Media Relations, The Conference Board of Canada, Tel.: [phone] ext. 221, E-mail: [email protected]