The last ten years  has seen an explosion of scholarship on how the health
of Canadian is primarily determined by the economic and social conditions
under which people live. The most recent compilation of this work is
available from the World Health Organization (Social determinants of
health. The solid facts, 2nd edition, on-line at
http://www.euro.who.int/document/e81384.pdf)

At the same time the literature on the health  effects of diet and activity
continue to be contested. Findings continue to be contradictory. Recall how
fibre in the diet would prevent colon cancer. When effects are seen, diet
and activity have relatively influence as compared to income, living
conditions, and employment opportunities. Why is it then that for the last
ten years, the Globe and Mail has not covered a single story about the
importance of the "social determinants of health?"  Instead we get a
never-ending series of articles about weight, obesity, physical activity,
and more recently "transfats."

I suggest to my students and audiences that newspaper coverage of health
and illness may reflect the political overarching ideology held by the
publishers and editors (i.e.,  individualism in economic policy --
neo-liberalism -- as well as health issues -- biomedical and lifestyle
approaches) .  This will no longer be a suggestion. In the case of the
Globe and Mail, this is clearly fact. And I thought "Perspective was
Everything."

Dennis Raphael, PhD
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director
School of Health Policy and Management
Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
tel: 416-736-2100, ext. 22134
fax: 416-736-5227
email: [log in to unmask]
website: http://quartz.atkinson.yorku.ca/QuickPlace/draphael/Main.nsf/

To unsubscribe send one line: unsubscribe click4hp to: [log in to unmask] . To view archives or modify subscription see: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/click4hp.html