Office of the Chief Provincial Public Health Officer

A Healthier Manitoba for All:

2025 Health Status of Manitobans Report

Executive Summary

This report invites Manitobans to view health not as simply the absence of disease, but as the foundation for a dignified and fulfilling life. Health encompasses the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, cultural, environmental, and economic well-being of individuals, families, and communities. By shifting the focus from individual illness to population health, we recognize that solutions to rising disease rates extend beyond clinical care and to the broader conditions that shape how people live, learn, work, and age across Manitoba.

The health-care system and population health approaches both play important roles in supporting the health of Manitobans. Generally, health-care providers focus on interventions to prevent disease and restore health in individual patients. In contrast, population health plays a distinct role in preventing disease and illness by understanding and improving the underlying conditions that lead to poor health outcomes.

What We Found

The overall health status of Manitobans continues to improve. Over the past 20 years, trends in life expectancy, infant mortality, premature mortality, and injury mortality have all significantly improved, however these improvements are not distributed equally.3 Inequities in health outcomes for those living in the Northern Health Region and those from the lowest income quintiles persist.

Chronic Disease

In many cases, rates of chronic disease have decreased overtime. However, a growing and aging population means that the overall number of people living with chronic conditions requiring health-care services continues to increase across Manitoba.3 For example, between 2017-18 and 2022-23, rates of hypertension remained stable, but there was a 10.4 per cent increase in the number of people in Manitoba with high blood pressure.

The increasing population living with chronic conditions, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes, amongst others, drive substantial demand for health-care services. Chronic diseases are the leading cause of hospitalizations and deaths in the province.3 Steadily increasing rates of diabetes are of particular concern. In 2024, it was estimated that over 152,000 Manitobans were living with diabetes (type 1 and type 2 diagnosed) and is estimated to increase to over 210,000 by 2034.

Communicable Disease

The distribution of communicable diseases across populations starkly reminds us of the persistent health equity challenges in Manitoba. While anyone can acquire a communicable disease, how it spreads is highly influenced by factors related to the individual who may become infected and the environment around them. In Manitoba, the burden of communicable diseases, particularly sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, is disproportionately borne by individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness, injection drug use and those with underlying addictions or mental illness.

A common thread throughout this report is that disparities in health outcomes share similar underlying social, economic and environmental causes. To fully understand the health status of Manitobans, it is necessary to analyze not only the rates and patterns of disease but also those of the underlying determinants of health, such as early childhood development outcomes, educational attainment, employment, and income. Income, for example, has one of the most significant impacts on health outcomes. However, a person’s ability to earn sufficient income is shaped long before entering the workforce, through the experiences and environments they encounter in childhood and throughout their education.

Recommendations

Improving the health and well-being of Manitobans requires action beyond the health-care system. Treating illness alone cannot reverse the growing burden of chronic disease or close long-standing health gaps. Real progress depends on coordinated policies across government that address the conditions shaping health, such as education, income, housing, environment, and community connection.

This report contains three recommendations to advance shared responsibility for the health and well-being of Manitobans by aligning government policies and priorities.

 

 

 

 

• Download A Healthier Manitoba for All: 2025 Health Status of Manitobans Report 19.1 Mb | 210 pages

For questions or comments about the report, please contact us by e-mail at cppho.ph@gov.mb.ca

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