Human Health Monitoring Program: A Summary of Findings and Recommendations

The Human Health Monitoring Program (HHMP) was initiated in 1994 to collect information relating to human health and the environment within northern Alberta. The Program was launched following a request by the Northern River Basins Study, a $12 million federal/provincial study which conducted scientific work in northern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories between 1991-96. The Program achieved success in assembling health data. It relied largely on information assembled by Alberta Health Care during 1980's and 1990's to develop a data base and a series of maps on where certain diseases, conditions and visits to physicians and hospitals were reported. HHMP researchers found that information on soil, water and air samples was scattered, and in many cases was in formats which did not lend themselves to health assessments. The task of assembling an extensive environmental data base was more difficult and complicated than originally anticipated.