457 Determinants of Health [5 February 2018]

I’m reading the 2018 edition of Dr. Ryan Meili’s book “A Healthy Society – How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy”. In the book he refers to the factors that most strongly determine our health, sometimes called the “social determinants of health”. A good reference for Canadians is “Social Determinants of Health – The Canadian Facts”, 2010, by J. Mikkonen and D. Raphael. This 63 page document is available free at www.thecanadianfacts.org. It recognizes 14 factors, listed here in decreasing order of significance:
1. Income and income distribution
2. Education
3. Unemployment and job security
4. Employment and working conditions
5. Early childhood development
6. Food insecurity
7. Housing
8. Social exclusion
9. Social safety network
10. Health services
11. Aboriginal status
12. Gender
13. Race
14. Disability

Surprisingly, access to health care doesn’t come in near the top but at number 10. This is the area on which Canadian provincial governments spend about a third of their budget, more than the next two highest – education and social services –combined [see Saskatchewan's 2017 budget]. Meili makes the argument that health is really 100% of the budget because spending choices in all government departments affect our health, some even more so than Health Care.

Note that organic food and supplements do not appear in the list (although I like to think that they are some of the ways that higher income contributes to health).

The Canadian Facts document and Meili’s book help put our efforts to improve our health into a broader perspective. I think it should be required reading for all politicians –and everyone who votes for them.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner.