Social inequalities in health

In 2011, the Canadian National Household Survey (NHS) replaced the long-form census, introducing a potential bias regarding the small-scale use of NHS data and having an incidence on the deprivation index update.

This document outlines the methodological scenarios that were tested in order to update the 2011 deprivation index.

This document is the final one in a series of five documents based on a literature review published in 2011. The four previous documents compared the effects of two approaches to urban traffic calming – the black-spots approach and the area-wide approach – on four determinants of health: road safety, air quality, environmental noise and active transportation. In this document, we will examine the effects of these same two approaches (described below) on health inequalities. This will enable…

Various social factors, such as education, income, work, living environment, housing, lifestyle and access to services, determine an individual’s state of health. These interact in varying combinations throughout the life course. Inequitable distribution of these factors, or health determinants, among groups generates considerable health differences among people within a community or a country, or between countries. The gaps, or unequal distribution of health status, linked to these…

For two decades, the reduction of social inequalities in health has been on the health policy and guidance agenda in Québec. Moreover, current monitoring activities make it possible to track social determinants of health, population health status and the use of health and social services over time and space (regionally). In spite of these achievements, Québec does not have a plan for the systematic monitoring of social inequalities in health, although the existence of these inequalities is…

The following summary report details policies and programs in Canada that have had some measure of success in reducing health inequalities.

The National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy asked researchers at a research centre on health inequalities, Centre Léa-Roback, to report on programs and policies in Canada whose results have been evaluated using current medical evidence-based standards, including an evaluation of the quality of published evidence used in clinical…

In 2003, a group of persons living in poverty compared society to a landing from which one escalator goes up and another escalator goes down. “Poverty,” they essentially told some parliamentarians, “is like having to go up a down escalator. Instead of trying so hard to help us go up escalators that are going down, just fix the escalators.”

In order to stimulate exchanges around this metaphor, the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) presents in…

The following is a descriptive analysis of the policy frames used to interpret the central concerns of two organizations in their work to improve economic, social, and physical well being in some of the lowest-income neighbourhoods in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The central goal is to examine how different frames impact on the definition not only of the problems to be addressed, but on the solutions which are to be favoured. Awareness of these frames and how they colour approaches may be useful…

In 2009, a workshop on health inequalities associated with transportation policies was jointly organized by the Population Health team of Edmonton's regional health authority, the former Capital Health, and the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP). The workshop was held on May 28, 2009 in Edmonton, Alberta and brought together representatives from the NCCHPP, Edmonton-based Alberta Health Services (AHS) staff with interest in transportation issues, traffic…