One crucial component of ensuring more equitable health care is good planning, and one effective tool is Health Equity Impact Assessment. We just published two new primers on HEIA and Mental Well-being Impact Assessment and we have been presenting a number of workshops to providers and planners.
The Impact of Climate Change: Through a Health Equity Lens
One of Wellesley’s themes is that the complex and inter-dependent nature of the social determinants of health require comprehensive policy and community responses. Illustrating this, I spoke recently at a conference on how climate change adaptation policy has to take account of health equity.
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A Diagnosis for Equity: A Dialogue on Mental Health, Addiction, Chronic Disease and Sexual Health in South Asian Communities
St. James Town Initiative’s Nasim Haque delivered a presentation at the conference, A Diagnosis for Equity: A Dialogue on Mental Health, Addiction, Chronic Disease and Sexual Health in South Asian Communities, organized by the Council of Agencies Servicing South Asians (CASSA). The conference was held at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health on October 24, […]
Dr. Cory Neudorf Speaks to Wellesley Health Equity Forum: Learning from Local Action on Health Equity
Saskatoon has led the way amongst Canadian Regional Health Authorities (roughly the equivalents of Ontario LHINs) in acting against systemic and pervasive health inequities. They began from solid research on the contours of local health inequities, developed comprehensive strategies and action plans to address the roots of these inequities, and built local collaborations and effective […]
Emerging Health Professionals and Driving Health Equity From Within
The Wellesley Institute researches and analyzes the policy changes needed to address the social determinants of health that underlie pervasive and damaging health inequities. These changes will need to be driven by broad community-based innovation, social movements and political pressure. But acting to ensure equitable access to high-quality health care for all and improving resources […]
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Dr. Camara Jones on Race, Racism and Canadians’ Health: Video
Dr. Camara Jones from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention gave a lively talk to an engaged audience about the trend of racism in health care in the United States. A national conversation on racism in health care is still lacking in the United States, she argues, and certainly in Canada this is also […]
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One size user fees don’t fit all
Today’s edition of the Globe and Mail reports about community anger about new user fees for the use of Toronto’s municipal playing fields. The health promoting benefits of staying fit and active are well-established, but one-size-fits-all user fees can mean that people with low incomes are unable to access community recreation facilities, which can lead […]
Measuring equity: what we heard from the field and next steps
Over the past few months Longwoods has been publishing a blog series about health equity with contributions from a range of health and health equity thought leaders. In this week’s blog, the Wellesley Institute’s Steve Barnes reflects on what we heard at a recent roundtable that we hosted with the Equity MAgIC group to discuss how to […]
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POWER: A Vital Ingredient for Equity-Driven Health Reform
The POWER (Project for an Ontario Women’s Health Evidence-Based Report) study has been an amazing source of data and evidence on population health, the persistent and damaging nature of health inequities and their underlying social determinants of health. But it has also played a vital role in identifying key directions and opportunities for innovation and […]
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Important progress toward a health-enabling social assistance system, but more work is required
The release today of the final report of the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario recommends a number of important steps toward improving the health of people on social assistance. Increasing rates Most significantly, the Commission recommended an immediate increase of $100 per month for single people receiving Ontario Works (OW). OW […]