CMA Calls for the Eradication of Poverty
Jul 31, 2013
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Throughout the winter and spring of 2013, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) undertook a series of consultations aimed at gathering input on Canadians’ views on the social determinants of health. The findings of those consultations have just been released in a report entitled Health Care in Canada: What Makes Us Sick?
The process used by the CMA was focused around four questions aimed “at determining what factors beyond the health care system influence health, what initiatives offset the negative impact of these determinants, what governments and health care providers should be doing to address these social determinants, and how equal access for all to the health care system can be achieved.”
In every phase of the consultations, four main social determinants of health were identified by the participants: income; housing; nutrition and food security; and early childhood development.
Participants stressed that society, governments and health care providers all have an obligation to address such problems as poverty, inadequate housing and nutrition.
Although several themes emerged from the town hall meetings, poverty was identified as the most important issue and participants stressed that it must be resolved. It was identified as causing “multiple morbidities” and influencing early childhood neurological development.
Mental health issues were identified as “the elephant in the room” and underlie many of the social determinants of health.
Based on the information received from the consultations, several areas of action emerged. Primary among these was that all levels of government give top priority to developing an action plan to eliminate poverty in Canada. Also highlighted was the need for the evaluation and testing of the guaranteed annual income approach to alleviating poverty through a major pilot project funded by the federal government.
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