A new committee has been created by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) to publish opinions and recommendations on promoting healthy lifestyles. The goal of the Comité sur les habitudes de vie (CHDV) is to support decision-making “at the national and regional levels.” Its publications will focus on health-promoting lifestyle habits and chronic disease prevention. The INSPQ tracks trends in about 20 chronic diseases among Quebec’s population through the Quebec Integrated Chronic Disease Surveillance System. Just over three million Quebecers aged 25 and older were living with a chronic disease in 2023-24. The most common include high blood pressure, heart disease and chronic lung diseases. The INSPQ says chronic diseases can be prevented, relieved and controlled, including by changing one’s habits and lifestyle or adapting one’s activities. “To achieve this, it is crucial that the different environments we encounter in our daily lives facilitate healthy lifestyle habits,” the institute says on its website. Under the leadership of Dr. Marianne Boisvert Moreau, the Comité sur les habitudes de vie’s regular members include doctors, university professors and experts in areas including nutrition, political science, transportation engineering and physical activity sciences. The 13 regular members also include two representatives of the public and one First Nations representative, who will bring the realities experienced by Indigenous communities to the committee’s work. The CHDV will also respond to requests related to promoting healthy lifestyles. It will maintain scientific expertise on emerging phenomena related to lifestyle habits. The INSPQ has nine permanent expert committees, including the Comité sur l’immunisation du Québec and the Comité sur les infections transmissibles sexuellement et par le sang. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 9, 2026. —The Canadian Press’s health coverage is supported by a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for this content.
