Dennis,

Congratulations on the acceptance of your timely and
provocative letter. Having tried, and apparently failed, to
interest the Toronto Star in publishing an
OPHA-commissioned piece on the public health impacts of
homelessness, I would be interested in any media advocacy
pointers you have to share. I'm also very interested in
obtaining a copy of the reference noting the deterioration in
the health status of all socio-economic classes in the U.K.
after twenty years of increasing inequities in income
distribution.

Speaking of the U.K., it's discouraging that Tony Blair's plan
to "reform" welfare in that country consists primarily of
massive cuts in social assistance payments to single mothers
and people with disabilities. The enactment of this policy
will only serve to exacerbate the dismal situation you note in
your letter.

Concerned health promoters need to focus on what can be done
to counter global trends towards increasing income
inequalities. I am happy that some recent initiatives (e.g.,
CPHA's response to the MAI) recognize the fact that the
realization of social justice within a given set of borders
(be it Ontario, the United Kingdom or anywhere) ultimiately
depends on a global commitment to policies that ensure access
to the basic prerequisites of health.

Cheers,

Brian Hyndman
On Mon, 29 Dec 1997 11:44:36 -0500 d.raphael wrote:

> From: d.raphael <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 11:44:36 -0500
> Subject: This time they published it!
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> In the Globe and Mail, December 29, 1997.
>
> Letter to the Editor:
>
> Lest Globe readers believe that it is only the less well-off
that suffer from
> the effects of inequality (Gap grows between rich, poor,
Dec. 23) an
> impressive body of public health research indicates that the
well-off show
> detrimental health effects as well.
>    Policies that transfer resources from the less well-off
to the wealthy,
> such as we are now seeing in Canada, are associated with
decreasing social
> cohesion and increased societal malaise.
>    This malaise can take many forms including increased
death and illness
> rates, violence, and as is already evident in the case of
Metropolitan
> Toronto, greater use of food banks and shelters for the
homeless.
>    In the end, all members of a society, both the
disadvantaged and the
> well-off, experience these effects through a process of what
social
> epidemiologists call "the symptoms of disintegration."  In
fact, after 20
> years of increasing inequality in Britain, the best well-off
in Britain now
> show poorer health than the least well-off in Sweden.
>    While the well-off in Rosedale and other such communities
may reap the
> economic benefit of increased investments, they begin to
become subject to
> the same threats to health -- deteriorating health care and
school systems,
> crime in the streets, unsafe traffic --  as do the rest of
Canadians.
>
> Dennis Raphael
> Associate Professor of Public Health Sciences
> University of Toronto
>
>
>
>
>   ***************************************************
>   From new transmitters came the old stupidities.
>   Wisdom was passed on from mouth to mouth.
>             -Bertolt Brecht
>   ***************************************************
>
> Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor and Acting Director,
> Masters of Health Science Program in Health Promotion
> Department of Public Health Sciences
> Graduate Department of Community Health
> University of Toronto
> McMurrich Building, Room 101
> Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5S 1A8
>
> 416-978-7567
> fax:416-978-2087
>
>



Lorraine A. Telford, The Health Communication Unit
at the Centre for Health Promotion,
Rm 213, 100 College Street, The Banting Institute,
University of Toronto,  Ontario, Canada   M5G 1L5
Ph : (416) 978-1188 Fax: (416) 971-2443