Congratulations to Fife House who have received a US$ 500,000 grant from the MAC AIDS Fund to expand their innovative transitional housing programme for people living with HIV/AIDS. We were pleased to have funded previous research that Fife House and other partners have been able to leverage so well into research and programme development that […]
Community Engagement in Ontario and Beyond
There has been a great deal of discussion of community engagement in health planning in Ontario. Both the LHINs as they are beginning to plan out regional priorities and the Province as it is developing its new overall health strategy want to involve as many communities and individuals as possible. It is always useful to […]
Social Determinants of Health Applied to Social Policy
A recent report commissioned by the Alberta Coalition for Healthy School Communities provides an interesting example of a social determinants of health approach being applied in different fields of social policy. The report analyzed the link between social and economic inequality, associated health disparities and unequal education outcomes. It argued that addressing these connections had […]
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Conference Board Roundtable on the Social Determinants of Health
I spoke to a Conference Board Roundtable on the Social Determinants of Health in late October. The Roundtable intends to bring together government, community, research and business leaders to address ways to develop and implement public policy that would address the various social and economic determinants.
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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 […]
WHO On The Social Determinants of Health
The World Health Organization's European Office continues to provide comprehensive research and analysis on how a social determinants of health approach can be better incorporated into state policy. It supports a WHO Collaborating centre for Policy Research on Social Determinants of Health at the University of Liverpool in England. Recent reports include a discussion paper […]
HIV Care and LHINs
In November I spoke at a meeting of the Ontario Society of Physicians in HIV Care and discussed the implications of the LHINs for their work (download the speaking notes here). While HIV will remain a provincial strategy and community-based programmes will be funded centrally, and while primary care is beyond the formal mandate of […]
Health Disparities & Neighbourhoods
The Canadian Institute for Health Information released a major research report documenting health disparities by urban neighbourhood which: documents pervasive health differences between affluent and poor neighbourhoods; reviews consistent research findings on the adverse health impact of poor housing, environment, lack of access to heath and social; services, adequate food, transportation and recreational facilities;
Closing the Gap
The European Commission has initiated a major project ” Closing the Gap: Strategies for Action to Tackle Health Inequalities ” to address health disparities. They have created a European Health Inequalities Portal with links to relevant agencies and networks, a database of best practices and country specific data on polices and programs. Among their very […]
Social Determinants of Health In Action
While the fundamental social determinants of health will only be fully addressed with major shifts in government policy and action, there are many innovative and effective ways in which their impact on health disparities can be addressed more immediately. One direction is the work that community health centres do in delivering community-based primary care and […]