O
n February 9th, the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, University of Toronto’s Social Assistance in the New Economy project and the Wellesley Institute hosted a community forum on poverty and health. The forum featured the report release of Sick and Tired: The Compromised Health of Social Assistance Recipients and the Working Poor in Ontario, highlights from Poverty is Making Us Sick: A Comprehensive Survey of Income and Health in Canada, a keynote address by Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David McKeown, and advocacy workshops on poverty and poor health.
Utilizing Canadian Community Health Survey data from more than 24,000 Ontarians, Sick and Tired documents the overwhelming burden of ill health among social assistance recipients. Compared to the non-poor, they had higher rates of poor health and chronic conditions on 38 of 39 health measures – as much as 7.2 times higher than the non-poor – including diabetes, heart disease, chronic bronchitis, arthritis and rheumatism, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and many other conditions.
Perhaps most distressing, one in ten social assistance recipients considered suicide in the 12-month period preceding the study and suicide attempts were 10 times higher for social assistance recipients compared to the non-poor.
click on the image below to view the Power Point Presentation
Findings among the working poor revealed a more complex story. While the working poor had higher rates of many chronic conditions compared to the non-poor, they were also found to have lower rates for some health outcomes. The latter finding was related to the ‘healthy immigrant effect’ and the high proportion of immigrants that make up the working poor. The ‘healthy immigrant effect’ shows newcomers, on average, to have better health than their Canadian-born peers. This health advantage diminishes over time. The longer immigrants are living in Canada, the more their health begins to approximate that of the Canadian-born population.
click on the image above to watch the video
The study also documented inequities in access to health care. Cost was identified as a barrier to health care for one in five poor Ontarians with unmet health care needs. The working poor had particularly low rates of health care utilization and employment-related insurance benefits, such as dental, vision and prescription drug coverage, compared to the non-poor.
Study researchers made several recommendations to improve the health and health care access of low income Ontarians, including government action at the provincial and federal levels. In afternoon workshops, presenters discussed several active campaigns on poverty reduction, creating good jobs, ensuring workers’ rights, improving social assistance and disability support and addressing health care access inequities.
The powerpoint presentation provides a summary of the major findings and recommendations from the Sick and Tired report. The video was shot at the community forum in February.
Read the Report
"Poverty Is Making Us Sick"
click on the above link to read the report
links to other reports on this or related topics
What do you think ? Beth Wilson would like to hear from you ...
In the Sick and Tired report, we put forward several recommendations to address poor health and health care access inequities associated with poverty. How can we take action to advance these recommendations? What has worked for you and the groups that you work with?
Please use the "comment" box below to respond ...
