The First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) has released the results of the most comprehensive First Nations health and wellness survey ever carried out in the province. The First Nations Regional Health Survey (RHS) is the only First Nations-led and governed, nationally-representative population health and wellness survey. This survey, the largest one to incorporate First Nations perspectives on health and wellness, asked about traditional wellness and community strengths in addition to health care access and chronic diseases.
The third phase of the RHS, conducted from 2015 to 2017, collected data from nearly 6,000 respondents from 122 communities. The FNHA heard from community members and regional leaders that they needed high-quality data that could inform evidence-based policy, programs and services. To meet this need, the FNHA funded an expansion of the survey that nearly doubled the number of participating First Nations communities and individuals compared to previous phases of the survey.
Due to the expansion, the RHS results are being shared for the first time at the regional level, with one report for each of the five FNHA regions in addition to the provincial report. This fulfils the FNHA's commitment to return community-generated information to support each region's health and wellness planning.
You can download the survey results by clicking the above hyperlink or the image in this blog post.