2. Key determinates of health according to
Health Canada (1998a) include income and
social status, social support networks,
education, employment and working
conditions, physical and social
environments, biology and
Genetic endowment, personal
health practices and coping skills,
healthy child development,
and health services

3. Poverty can affect health in a number of ways. Income
provides the prerequisites for health, such as shelter,
food, warmth, and the ability to participate in society;
living in poverty can cause stress and anxiety which
can damage people’s health; and low income limits
peoples choices and militates against desirable
changes in behaviour
(Benzeval, Judge, & Whitehead, 1995)

4. Socio-economic status can be measured for both individuals
and society. At both levels, important links to health status
seem to appear. At the individual level, for example, personal
experience of poverty may be associated with poorer health.
At the population level, societies with less equal distributions
of income may experience worse health than those with
more equal distributions of income.

5. Within Canada, Wilkins, Adams, and Brancker
(1989) found individuals living within the poorest
20% of neighbourhoods to be more likely to die of
just about every disease from which people can
die of, than the more well-off. These included
cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory
diseases among others.

6. Infant mortality is generally regarded as a critical
indicator of population health. In 1996, the overall
Canadian infant mortality rate dropped to below 6
per 1,000 live births (from 27.3 in 1960). However,
infant mortality rates are lower than average in the
highest-income urban neighbourhoods (4.5 per 1,000
live births in 1991) and higher than average in the
lowest-income urban neighbourhoods (7.5 per 1,000
live births). Moreover, infant mortality rates for the
Aboriginal population are twice those for the non-
Aboriginal population (12 per 1,000 live births in
1994).

7. Families who have financial resources can afford
private care, Medication, and to help keep every
generation of their family safer by hiring good home
care, child care, and accessing resources.

9. A well nourished population contributes to a healthier, more
productive population, lower health care and social costs,
and better quality of life.
Inequities in nutritional well-being exist, particularly for the
socio-economically disadvantaged.
Food choices are complex decisions which are influenced by
a dynamic relationship between individual and
environmental factors.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/pol/nutrition_health_agenda-nutrition_virage_sante-eng.php

11. Only 25% of Canadians with low incomes have dental
insurance and only 45% will visit a dentist in a given
year
The prescription drug costs of 1 in 3 Canadians are
not covered by government plans or employee
benefits.

12. Poverty directly harms the health of those with low
incomes while income inequality affects the health of
all Canadians through the weakening of social
infrastructure and the destruction of social cohesion
It has been known for many decades that the
profound improvements in health in Canada and other
industrialized countries have primarily been due not to
advances in medicine or health care but rather in the
kind of societies in which we live.
The CSJ Foundation for Research and Education Toronto

13. RESOURCES
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-005-x/2004002/4060825-eng.htm#4
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/surveill/nutrition/commun/income_food_sec-sec_alim-eng.php
The CSJ Foundation for Research and Education
Toronto June 2002 Poverty, Income Inequality, and Health in Canada iiiDr. Dennis Raphael
School of Health Policy and Management York University
http://www.socialjustice.org/uploads/pubs/PovertyIncomeInequalityandHealthinCanada.pdf
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/pol/nutrition_health_agenda-nutrition_virage_sante-
eng.ph
Poverty and Policy in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life
By Dennis Raphael
Income segregation, income inequality and mortality in North American metropolitan areas
Nancy A. Ross, Karla Nobrega and James Dunn