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On: Nov. 1, 2011 Towards a Social Assistance System that Enables Health and Health Equity

People living on social assistance are among the poorest and most vulnerable in society. Ontario has established a Commission to review the provincial social assistance system. A broad collaboration of health sector leaders came together to provide input to the Commission and Wellesley wrote the submission. We wanted to ensure that equity is taken into account in the Commission’s deliberations and we set out a comprehensive model of a health enabling social assistance system.

Towards a Social Assistance System that Enables Health and Health Equity- Brief to the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario (Action Summary)

Health Equity and Social Assistance Reform (Full Brief)
 

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On: Feb. 10, 2011 Mental Well-being Impact Assessment

Mental Well-being Impact Assessment

Nimira Lalani

To drive health equity into action we need to understand the needs of health disadvantaged populations, identify barriers to equitable access to quality care, and build equity into priority setting, resource allocation and performance management.  We need effective and useable equity-focused planning tools.  One problem with the way health impact assessment has evolved is that it doesn’t take mental health into account well enough.  In response some very interesting work has been done in England and elsewhere on mental well-being impact assessment.  Not only does this build mental health into the assessment but it also emphasizes equity and the wider social determinants of health.  This new primer by Nimira Lalani analyzes the potential of MWIA.

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On: Feb. 10, 2011 Health Promotion Through an Equity Lens

Health Promotion Through an Equity Lens

Wendy Rice

Health promotion is crucial to keeping people well and preventing illness. A major challenge is that many health promotion programs are focused on individual behaviour and do not take peoples’ unequal conditions and opportunities into account.  As a result, they are not effective for vulnerable and marginalized communities, and can actually make disparities worse if programs are taken up disproportionately by the more advantaged.  This paper by Wendy Rice analyzes how equity can be built into health promotion.

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On: Feb. 10, 2011 Health Equity Impact Assessment: A Primer

Health Equity Impact Assessment

Rebecca Haber

To drive health equity into action we need to understand the needs of health disadvantaged populations, identify barriers to equitable access to quality care, and build equity into priority setting, resource allocation and performance management. Health Equity Impact Assessment is a practical and effective planning tool that analyzes the potential impact of service, program or policy changes on health disparities and/or health disadvantaged populations. It can help to plan new services or initiatives or assess and re-align existing programs; and using it has proven valuable to building awareness of and embedding equity within organizations. This is an overview primer that introduces the potential and practice of HEIA.  We also have many other resources on our page on equity-focused planning.

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On: Oct. 28, 2010 Building Equity In: Hospital Planning and Service Delivery

Hospitals are a vital part of the health care system.  Some hospitals have developed equity plans and made strong commitments to meeting the needs of health disadvantaged populations, and ensuring equitable access and quality  in their services and within their organizations; others less so.  This is a short briefing note on pressures hospitals will be facing to incorporate equity within quality improvement and other priorities, and some tools and mechanisms hospitals can adapt to effectively build equity in.  Read the rest of this entry »

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On: Sep. 2, 2010 Advancing Health Equity in Tough Times

There is a serious chill within governments at all levels as the economy has declined and public finances have become constrained.  This policy briefing sets out how to keep equity high on the agenda in the current fiscal climate.

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On: Jul. 23, 2010 Primary Care as A Key Driver of Health Equity

Evidence from around the world shows that enhancing access to high quality comprehensive primary care for disadvantaged people and communities is one of them most important directions for addressing health inequalities.  Community health centres are a vital part of this direction in Canada and many other countries, and the recent AOHC conference on Health Equity: Pushing the Boundaries highlighted how to drive this into action on the ground (I spoke on how do this).  Read the rest of this entry »

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On: Feb. 4, 2010 Ontario government: Improve SROI with strategic investments in innovation, housing and health

The Wellesley Institute calls on the Ontario government to take a multi-sectoral 10-year approach to maximizing its social return on investment. In a 15-minute presentation to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs of the Ontario Legislature (see the official Committee transcript) on Monday, February 1, Rick Blickstead outlined three major recommendations for strategic investment. Read the rest of this entry »

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On: Nov. 11, 2009 Delivering Equity: Community-Based Models for Access and Integration in Ontario’s Health System

Author(s): Dr. Michael Rachlis

Published: November, 2007

Summary: Health equity is high on the agenda of governments and health planning authorities. Wellesley initiated a series of forums with community-based health and social service providers, researchers and others and commissioned research to flesh out what a community-based framework for addressing health disparities would look like.

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On: Oct. 15, 2009 e-Health, Health Promotion and Health Equity

The proliferation of electronic health information technology (e-health) tools is crucial to progressive and responsive health reform. However, while more comprehensive electronic health records and more efficient health care delivery are important, e-health implementation must also focus on reducing stark health disparities and ensuring equitable access for all to e-health tools and the quality improvements that they bring. Read the rest of this entry »

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