Canadian Environmental Health Atlas

AREA Fund provided a grant to SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences for development of the asbestos history page of the online, open-access Canadian Environmental Health Atlas. The Atlas is a multi-year project being conducted by an established research team from Simon Fraser University, the University of Toronto, the University of Western Ontario, and Statistics Canada.

The funding supported the development of videos, info-graphics and maps, and the purchase of licenses to use external graphics and images for the website. The goal for this section of the Atlas is to provide objective information and tools that will raise awareness and understanding of the harms of asbestos.

The Atlas will also act as an educational resource, providing tools that can be utilized and disseminated in an academic setting. Participation in conferences and academic meetings has already increased awareness of the project among relevant users.

The project team has developed a partnership between key knowledge users that represent the David Suzuki Foundation, CAREX Canada, and the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment, through which the Atlas can be shared with their networks. The Atlas website will have a social media component that will include sharing functions, commenting, and ratings. Links to outside advocacy groups, such as the AREA Fund, the David Suzuki Foundation and some of the work the CBC has done will also be included.

It is anticipated that the Atlas will be a 5 year project. The asbestos page is live even though some elements for the page are still being developed. In March 2014, a new video on the latency period for asbestos will be added.

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