About Canada: Health & Illness

Dennis Raphael

Most Canadians believe that their experiences of health and illness are shaped by luck, treatment options and lifestyle choices. Government, public health units and various disease associations all reinforce this perception by continually extolling lifestyle choices and genetic research as the solution to our illnesses. About Canada: Health and Illness tells a different story. This book argues that it is the social determinants of health, imposed on us by the ‘market’, that dictate the health of Canadians. Social determinants include such things as income and wealth, employment, quality of education, access to health and social services and ability to obtain food and housing. Dennis Raphael compellingly demonstrates that the health and longevity of Canadians could be greatly impacted not by changes to lifestyle, but through simple changes to social policy.  

Contents

• Who Stays Healthy? Who Gets Sick? • Living Conditions, Stress and Bodies • Income, Education, Employment Security, and Working Conditions • Early Child Development, Food Security, and Housing • Social Exclusion: Aboriginal Status, Race, Gender, and Disability • Public Policy and The Social Determinants Of Health • What Needs To Be Done?

About the Author

Dennis Raphael is a professor at the School of Health Policy and Management at York University. His most recent publications have focused on the health effects of income inequality and poverty, the quality of life of communities and individuals, and government decisions and policy. Dennis is editor of Social Determinants of Health, co-editor of Staying Alive and author of Poverty and Policy in Canada. He served as an advisor to the California Newsreel series Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? and the Deveaux Babin Productions Canadian documentary Poor No More.