StratificationAnd

Health

Key determinates of health according to Health Canada (1998a) include income and social status, social support networks, education, employment and working conditions, physical and social environments, biology and Genetic endowment, personalhealth practices and coping skills, healthy child development, and health services

Poverty can affect health in a number of ways. Income provides the prerequisites for health, such as shelter, food, warmth, and the ability to participate in society; living in poverty can cause stress and anxiety which can damage people’s health; and low income limits peoples choices and militates against desirablechanges in behaviour (Benzeval, Judge, & Whitehead, 1995)

Socio-economic status can be measured for both individuals and society. At both levels, important links to health status seem to appear. At the individual level, for example, personal experience of poverty may be associated with poorer health. At the population level, societies with less equal distributions of income may experience worse health than those with more equal distributions of income.

Within Canada, Wilkins, Adams, and Brancker (1989) found individuals living within the poorest 20% of neighbourhoods to be more likely to die of just about every disease from which people candie of, than the more well-off. These included cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory diseases among others.

Infant mortality is generally regarded as a critical indicator of population health. In 1996, the overall Canadian infant mortality rate dropped to below 6 per 1,000 live births (from 27.3 in 1960). However, infant mortality rates are lower than average in the highest-income urban neighbourhoods (4.5 per 1,000 live births in 1991) and higher than average in the lowest-income urban neighbourhoods (7.5 per 1,000 live births). Moreover, infant mortality rates for the Aboriginal population are twice those for the non-Aboriginal population (12 per 1,000 live births in 1994).

Families who have financial resources can afford private care, Medication, and to help keep every generation of their family safer by hiring good home care, child care, and accessing resources.

A well nourished population contributes to a healthier, more productive population, lower health care and social costs, and better quality of life.Inequities in nutritional well-being exist, particularly for the socio-economically disadvantaged.Food choices are complex decisions which are influenced by a dynamic relationship between individual and environmental factors.http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/pol/nutrition_health_agenda-nutrition_virage_sante-eng.php

Only 25% of Canadians with low incomes have dental insurance and only 45% will visit a dentist in a given yearThe prescription drug costs of 1 in 3 Canadians are not covered by government plans or employee benefits.

Poverty directly harms the health of those with low incomes while income inequality affects the health of all Canadians through the weakening of social infrastructure and the destruction of social cohesionIt has been known for many decades that the profound improvements in health in Canada and other industrialized countries have primarily been due not to advances in medicine or health care but rather in the kind of societies in which we live.The CSJ Foundation for Research and Education Toronto

RESOURCES

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-005-x/2004002/4060825-eng.htm#4

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/surveill/nutrition/commun/income_food_sec-sec_alim-eng.phpThe CSJ Foundation for Research and EducationToronto June 2002 Poverty, Income Inequality, and Health in Canada iiiDr. Dennis RaphaelSchool of Health Policy and Management York Universityhttp://www.socialjustice.org/uploads/pubs/PovertyIncomeInequalityandHealthinCanada.pdfhttp://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/pol/nutrition_health_agenda-nutrition_virage_sante-eng.phPoverty and Policy in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life By Dennis RaphaelIncome segregation, income inequality and mortality in North American metropolitan areas Nancy A. Ross, Karla Nobrega and James Dunn