The National Healthy Living Platform: Carrot Rewards project is being developed and led by Social Change Rewards. This program will provide Canadians with their choice of loyalty reward points for engaging in specific health promotion activities that address common risk factors for chronic disease and increase healthy living.
The investment by the Public Health Agency of Canada is $5 million with a total investment amount exceeding $15 million from governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, over a five year period.
Working with partners including the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Diabetes Association and YMCA Canada, the goal of the platform is to help people reduce the chances of having a preventable chronic disease.
Carrot Rewards will encourage Canadians to take various steps towards increasing physical activity, encouraging proper nutrition and quitting smoking. The platform will be accessible to millions of Canadians through a free application on their mobile devices, as well as through the web. Canadians will receive their choice of loyalty reward points for health activities centred on making healthier lifestyle choices.
Individuals registering will first complete a self-assessment to establish their ‘health score’, noting their current behaviours and chances for having a chronic disease. Based on this assessment, participants will be asked to participate in healthy living activities which specifically address their chronic disease risks.
Initial activities that will be rewarded include:
- Using the B.C. Shopping Sense Tool developed by the B.C. Ministry of Health, to educate participants on how to make quick, healthy, and affordable choices at the grocery store in order to increase their healthy eating;
- Using the Agency’s CANRISK Questionnaire which helps individuals understand their risk of diabetes and identify how they could make changes to their lives to decrease their chances of preventable chronic disease; and,
- Using the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Heart and Stroke Risk Assessment which helps identify people at risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, and encourages them to incorporate healthy actions into their daily routines.
