Health and Wealth: How Social and Economic Factors Affect Our Well Being

Marilyn Mardiros is an associate professor of health sciences at the
University of Ottawa.

The United Nations Human Development Index identifies Canada as the best
place in the world to live with respect to three measures: life
expectancy, educational attainment, and per capita income. However,
Canada’s desirability lessens when other measures are factored in,
including the experience of gender inequality, child poverty, adequate
and affordable housing, a sustainable economy that provides meaningful
work, the number of families living in poverty, and the provision of
child care, early childhood education, and home-care services for the
ill and elderly.

Townson, an economic-policy consultant, has written a primer on the
status of the socioeconomic determinants of population health in Canada
today. Population health is the analysis of major social, physical,
behavioral and biological influences on overall levels of health status
within and between populations. Townson argues that the combination of
economic interests and political influences associated with the
health-care industry is so powerful that a predominantly biomedical
system of beliefs dominates the development and practice of health
policy, limiting the scope of possibilities in Canadian health care.

Canada is internationally known for its recognition of the significance
of the socioeconomic determinants of health. However, the determinants
of health, once identified, should serve as the basis for further action
required to promote and maintain a population’s health. Lacking in
Canada to date has been the provision of opportunities to meet
socioeconomic needs, to ensure meaningful work, to address income needs,
and to improve income distribution. The best health of populations
occurs in the most egalitarian societies, not the richest countries.
Widening differences between the rich and poor have a direct impact on a
nation’s mortality rate.

Townson’s accessible book will be of particular interest to students
and professionals in health, social services, policy, and
administration.