Nurses’ professional associations have long done useful policy work on the social determinants of health. A recent paper from the Canadian Nurses Association highlights social justice as a crucial pre-condition of a healthy society. It sets out a useful Social Justice Gauge as a tool to evaluate policy directions and impact. See it here.
Public-Private Partnerships for Hospitals
A recent bulletin of the World Health Organization had a useful survey article on public-private partnerships for hospitals. Its summary follows: “.While some forms of public”private partnerships are a feature of hospital construction and operation in all countries with mixed economies, there is increasing interest in a model in which a public authority contracts with […]
European Policy and Global Health
A recent report from the European Foundation Centre argued that European social and economic policy should take global health into account. It stressed the “internationalization of health risks and ever greater interdependence. Global health requires cooperation and coordination.” For example, European farm subsidies have an adverse impact on the economies and trade patterns of poor […]
European policy action on health inequality
A number of European countries have long emphasized comprehensive national strategies to reduce health disparities and address the social determinants of health in their polices and programmes. This has been particularly marked in the Nordic countries. A recent report from the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services to the national parliament sets out a […]
Health Disparities, Neighbourhoods, and the UK Experience
In even the wealthiest countries there are pervasive and stark differences in health by neighbourhood and region, race, socio-economic conditions and opportunities, and other liens of social and economic inequality. Many governments are trying to develop comprehensive policy and programme action to address these health disparities. One at the municipal level is the Greater London […]
Continue ReadingHealth Disparities, Neighbourhoods, and the UK Experience
Indicators to Measure the Health of a Community
In June 2008 the Canadian Policy Research Network and Ontario Trillium Foundation held a roundtable of government and business leaders on indicators to measure and help guide planning for healthy and vibrant communities. A useful primer and range of presentations have been published.
Continue ReadingIndicators to Measure the Health of a Community
WHO Health Equity Resources
The World Health Organization created a Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, whose site publishes a wide range of useful information resources. It has mobilized polity research and initiatives around the world, working with many countries including Canada. Its report is the subject of intensive discussion in many jurisdictions. The Public Health Agency of […]
Don’t Forget Equity in Health Funding Reform
We need to ensure that equity is built into the provincial government’s plans to restructure the way funding is allocated to hospitals (see Ontario proposes radical overhaul of hospital funding by Karen Howlett in March 7 Globe and Mail). Adjusting to reflect population health needs is a significant advance over simply adjusting historical budgets or allocating […]
Continue ReadingDon’t Forget Equity in Health Funding Reform
Health as an Equity Issue – and as a Union Issue
I was really pleased to speak at an OPSEU symposium on equity over the weekend. Unions have long played a central role in the broad community coalitions that are so vital to addressing the underlying social determinants of health inequalities. And OPSEU and other union members work on the front-lines of health and are vital […]
Continue ReadingHealth as an Equity Issue – and as a Union Issue
World AIDS Day
HIV/AIDS is above all else shaped by the social determinants of health. Incidence — and inequitable access to vital treatment and support services — is worse among Aboriginal people, women, racialized communities, IV drug users and other poor and marginalized communities, and in poorer countries. But it has also been massive mobilization out of the communities […]