Association of Public Health Epidemiologists

Association of Public Health Epidemiologists is an association established in 1991, based in Ontario which involves near about 100 members practicing epidemiology in Ontario’s public health units and more than 200 affiliate members. In 1997, the association was expanded when affiliate members (individuals having interest in epidemiology and might work for other health agencies) joined. The association has group meetings every year to discuss public health epidemiology related matters. The association has been awarded the Terry Delmore Award of Excellence for its outstanding contributions in the advancement and promotion of the discipline and professional practice of public health epidemiology in Ontario. This Community Health Status Resource is  updated and expanded in a while and serves as a sample for comparison in future assessments of local health status. Population health assessment is a fundamental requirement for Ontario Public Health Units under the Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS).Numbers of events (eg. deaths, births) and rates of events (ie, how frequently the event occurs given the number of people in a specified population) helps the viewer in a sense of how relevant a certain event is in a community in absolute and relative terms.When rates were compared, they were tested to determine if any differences found were statistically significant, that is, to see if the differences were considered ‘real’ or due to chance alone. This was done by comparing 95% confidence intervals, which were calculated for each rate. If the intervals did not overlap, the difference was considered to be statistically significant. Confidence intervals are denoted in charts as error bars. Figures also indicate instances where numbers were too small to produce reliable rates.The Epidemiology Section fosters epidemiologic research and science-based public health practice and serves as a conduit between the epidemiologic research community and users of scientific information for the development, implementation and evaluation of policies affecting the public's health.