Socioeconomic Factors

Description:  Good nutrition is crucial in determining the health and well-being of Aboriginal people in Canada. The economic, social and psychological burden of nutrition-related chronic disease is high. As experts advising on diet, food and nutrition, Registered Dietitians play an important role in helping communities to improve their knowledge of nutrition and to better understand how to make healthy food choices that promote health. This role paper addresses the unique needs of Aboriginal communities in Canada, including food security and the high cost of store-bought food in some communities, social inequalities and the environmental threats to traditional food intake.

Description:  This handbook examines key achievements and shortcomings of Canada’s health care system. It explores what works well, what doesn’t, and it addresses future challenges to preserving and enhancing health care. What makes the Canadian “approach” so unique is the high value we place on universal accessibility to doctors and hospitals. The founding vision behind Canada’s health care system is simply this: access to medical care should be based on need, not on the ability to pay. [Published July 2006]

Description:  This report was undertaken to provide an updated estimate of costs related to HIV/AIDS in Canada, with a particular focus on the costs of treatment and costs associated with loss of productivity for lost work hours. It is a follow-up document to the 2001 study The Cost of HIV/AIDS in Canada by Colin Dodds, MA, Ronald Colman, PhD, Carol Amaratunga, PhD, and Jeff Wilson, BES, GPI Atlantic: http://www.gpiatlantic.org/pdf/health/ costofaids.pdf

Description:  This paper has two purposes. First, it documents the historical context of MINCOME, a Canadian guaranteed annual income field experiment (1974 to 1979). Second, it uses routinely collected health administration data and a quasi-experimental design to document an 8.5 percent reduction in the hospitalization rate for participants relative to controls, particularly for accidents and injuries and mental health. We also found that participant contacts with physicians declined, especially for mental health, and that more adolescents continued into grade 12. We found no increase in fertility, family dissolution rates, or improved birth outcomes. We conclude that a relatively modest GAI can improve population health, suggesting significant health system savings. Canadian public policy, September 2011, v 37(3): 283-305 [ISSN: 0317-0861 (Print) 1911-9917 (Online)]