[homeles_ot-l] FW: Parliamentarians: one prescription for health of Canadians - prevent poverty

[Lynne Browne]

Hi all - thank goodness, some rain----accept of course if you're homeless!   

 

I'm back in the new ATEH office, setting it up and unpacking. I'll send along some FYI's like this one as I work through my email.

 

Lynne

 

Lynne Browne

Executive Director

Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa

 

lynnebrowne at endhomelessnessottawa.ca 

171 George Street, Ottawa ON K1N 5W5

613-241-1573, ext. 314

 

www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca <https://mail.ysb.on.ca/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca> 

Facebook <https://mail.ysb.on.ca/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.facebook.com/home.php?%23!/pages/Alliance-to-End-Homelessness-Ottawa/136029386442398?v=wall%26ref=ts>  & Twitter at endhomelessOTT <https://mail.ysb.on.ca/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://twitter.com/endhomelessOTT> 

 

From: Rob Rainer [mailto:rob at cwp-csp.ca] 
Sent: August-16-12 3:25 PM
To: Rob Rainer
Subject: Parliamentarians: one prescription for health of Canadians - prevent poverty

 



 

To Canada's federal parliamentarians (blind copied, as to our national network), we share the Canadian Medical Association's (CMA) findings released this week pointing once more to the powerful link between income and health: see their news release <http://www.cma.ca/index.php?ci_id=204846&la_id=1>  (in French <http://www.cma.ca/index.php?ci_id=204846&la_id=2> ) and their full findings <http://www.cma.ca/multimedia/CMA/Content_Images/Inside_cma/Media_Release/2012/reportcard/CMA-2012National-Report-Card_en.pdf>  (in French <http://www.cma.ca/multimedia/CMA/Content_Images/Inside_cma/Media_Release/2012/reportcard/CMA-2012National-Report-Card_fr.pdf> ).  See also today's Globe and Mail's editorial <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/editorials/ottawa-needs-to-help-mind-the-health-gap/article4483233/> .

 

As described in Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts <http://www.thecanadianfacts.org/> , "income is perhaps the most important social determinant of health."  As has been well documented, such as by the Canadian Institute for Health Information <https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/Reducing_Gaps_in_Health_Report_EN_081009.pdf> , there is strong correlation between income status and rates of hospitalization: for example, people in low income are more than twice as likely as the well off to be hospitalized for mental health problems, diabetes and substance-related disorders.  But step further, to income and mortality, and who cannot be shocked to know that in Hamilton, a 21-year difference in life expectancy was found <http://www.thespec.com/topic/codered>  for residents of poor and wealthy neighbourhoods?

 

Despite massive evidence of the income-health connection, not nearly enough is being done to address this relationship.  Rather, the overwhelming emphasis concerning health continues to be on health care per se.  As the Health Council of Canada has stated <http://www.healthcouncilcanada.ca/rpt_det.php?id=162> , "ongoing spending on acute care and programs that encourage a healthy lifestyle are not enough to improve the overall health of Canadians, particularly those who live in or close to poverty."

 

The CMA and the Canadian Nurses' Association have articulated "principles to guide health care transformation in Canada <http://www.cma.ca/advocacy/hctprinciples> ".  These have been endorsed by dozens of other health-concerned associations.  As one principle states: "Coordinated investments in health promotion and disease prevention, including attention to the role of the social determinants of health, are critical to the future health and wellness of Canadians and to the viability of the health care system."  

 

Can Canada afford to make such investments?  Of course, and for perspective see this provocative analysis <http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/08/13/F35-Worth/index.html>  of what could be done if the purchase of one or more F-35 fighter jets was foregone.  And beyond the dollars and sense and to the values that bind Canadians, see CMA Past President Dr. Jeff Turnbull's recent, relevant article <http://www.canada.com/opinion/op-ed/Canada+defends+most+vulnerable/6901637/story.html>  as well as Dr. Ryan Meili's excellent new book, A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy <http://www.ryanmeili.ca/> .

 

Rob Rainer

Executive Director / Directeur executif

CANADA WITHOUT POVERTY / CANADA SANS PAUVRETÉ

Working in alliance with the CWP Advocacy Network / Travaillant en alliance avec le Réseau de revendication CSP

 

Honorary Directors / Directeurs honoraires 

Right (Très) Hon. Joe Clark

Hon. Louise Arbour

Hon. Monique Bégin

Hon. Ed Broadbent

Ovide Mercredi

 

Ottawa office / Bureau d'Ottawa: @UnderOneRoof, 251 Bank Street, 2nd Floor, Ottawa, ON K2P 1X3; (613) 789-0096 (1-800-810-1076)

Vancouver office / Bureau de Vancouver: (604) 628-0525


Web Site <http://www.cwp-csp.ca/> ; Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canada-Without-Poverty/106633876058589> ; Twitter <http://twitter.com/CWP_CSP> 

Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada <http://www.dignityforall.ca/>  /  Dignité pour tous: Campagne pour un Canada sans pauvreté <http://www.dignityforall.ca/fr/partisans-de-la-campagne> 

 

Help support our work! / Aidez-nous! 

CanadaHelps <http://www.canadahelps.org/Home.aspx>  (donate on-line and receive an immediate tax receipt / Faites un don en ligne et recevez immédiatement un reçu pour les impôts)

***Please note that a 3.9% administration fee is applied to any donation processed by CanadaHelps.  For a donation of $99 or less, it is more efficient for us for the donation to be processed by CanadaHelps. For a donation of $100 or greater, we recommend making it by cheque to Canada Without Poverty. 

 

Today, poverty prevails as the gravest human rights challenge in the world.  Combating poverty, deprivation and exclusion is not a matter of charity, and it does not depend on how rich a country is.  By tackling poverty as a matter of human rights obligation, the world will have a better chance of abolishing this scourge in our lifetime.  Poverty eradication is an achievable goal.

Hon. Louise Arbour, Honorary Director and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day 2006

 

Human rights only become meaningful when they gain political content...they are rights that require active participation from those who hold them.

Lynn Hunt, human rights historian

 

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