TORONTO, February 11, 2003 -- Leading health policy experts, community representatives and health researchers from across Canada have ratified the Toronto Charter for a Healthy Canada. Citing mounting evidence that the root sources of health and the causes of illness are social and economic, they urge funding for social housing and childcare and the creation of a Task Force to oversee Canadian progress on population health.
"It must be time to provide safe, affordable housing and quality childcare to Canadian families" says the Charter’s author, Dr. Dennis Raphael. "No longer can we expect spending on illness care to bring us better health; it is time to get our basics right," Dr. Raphael concludes, joining forces with more than 400 others to declare the need for national housing and childcare programs.
In response to the new Health Accord, the group decries the ongoing failure of both levels of government to recognize the social and economic causes of ill health. "Today, we know much more clearly that good health is connected to social policy spending. Unfortunately, the Health Accord ignores this reality and it fails to ensure that Canadians are healthy enough to lower their needs for medical attention" says Dr. Raphael. "On the bright side, we want the new national health council to include a task force that will focus on these population health issues" Dr. Raphael says optimistically.
If Prime Minister Chretien is to deliver on his promise for social justice, it is time to put federal spending and incentives for the provinces to develop comprehensive housing and childcare systems.
The Toronto Charter recommends that Canada’s federal and provincial/territorial governments immediately address the sources of health and the root causes of illness by matching the $1.5 billion agreed to in the Health Accord for the Diagnostic/Medical Equipment Fund and allocating this amount towards two essential determinants of health for children and families: 1) affordable, safe housing; and 2) a universal system of high quality educational childcare.
The signatories further address the need for the federal government to establish a Social Determinants of Health Task Force to consider the full body of conference findings and work to address the issues raised at this conference. The Task Force would operate to identify and advocate for policies by all levels of government to support population health. The federal and provincial governments would respond to these recommendations in a formal manner through annual reports on the status of these social determinants of health.
The Charter is included with this press release and can also be found at: http://www.atkinson.yorku.ca/SHPM/torontoCharter.pdf
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For further information, please contact:
| Dr. Dennis Raphael | Ann Curry-Stevens |
| School of Health Policy and Management | Communications Coordinator |
| Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies | Centre for Social Justice |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 22134 | 416-691-9454 |
Background: From November 29 to December 1, 2002 a conference of over 400 Canadian social and health policy experts, community representatives, and health researchers met at York University in Toronto, Canada to: a) consider the state of ten key social determinants of health across Canada; b) explore the implications of these conditions for the health of Canadians; and c) outline policy directions to improve the health of Canadians by influencing the quality of these determinants of health. The conference took place at a time when Canadian social and health policies were undergoing profound changes related to shifting political, economic, and social conditions.
The following are the foundations of the conference findings:
Whereas the evidence is overwhelming that the health of Canadians is profoundly affected by the social and economic determinants of health, including – but not restricted to – early life, education, employment and working conditions, food security, health care services, housing, income and its distribution, social exclusion, the social safety net, and unemployment and employment security; and
Whereas the evidence presented at the conference clearly indicates that the state and quality of these key determinants of health are linked to Canada’s political, economic and social environments and that many governments across Canada have not responded adequately to the growing threats to the health of Canadians in general, and the most vulnerable in particular; and
Whereas these social determinants of health are also human rights as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which Canada is obliged to protect and promote; and
Whereas the evidence presented indicates that investments in the basic social determinants of health will profoundly improve the health of Canadians most exposed to health threatening conditions – the poor, the marginalized, and those Canadians excluded from participation in aspects of Canadian society by virtue of their living conditions – therefore providing health benefits for all Canadians.
