I will be on vacation from October 6 to 13, 2006, inclusive.
I will respond to your message upon my return.
_______________________
Wil Ng, MHSc
Epidemiologist
Metrics and Planning
Planning & Policy, Toronto Public Health
277 Victoria Street, 7th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5B 1W2
Phone: 416.338.8077
Fax: 416.338.8126
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
For information on Toronto's health status, please visit:
http://www.toronto.ca/health/hsi/index.htm
>>> SDOH 10/05/06 19:18 >>>
[Perry Kendell is Medical Officer of Health for British Columbia. Too bad
others such as Sheela Basrur of Ontario lack such backbone. -- dr]
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/story.html?id=bef553cf-827f-45c9-b212-55c15dc13891&k=56684
Welfare rates 'fall short' on nutrition
B.C. health officer recommends government tie payouts to living costs to
ensure affordability
Article Tools
Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, October 05, 2006
People on welfare in B.C. have a "daunting task" putting healthy food on
the table and as a result face a greater risk of chronic heart disease,
diabetes, and high blood pressure, provincial health officer Dr. Perry
Kendall said in a report released yesterday.
B.C.'s welfare rates have failed to keep pace with inflation and fall
short of covering the cost of shelter and food, Kendall said.
He recommended government tie welfare rates to the actual cost of living.
"Placing a priority on ensuring that low-income families can afford to
purchase nutritious food would be an important step towards ... fostering
a healthier population," Kendall said.
He said evidence suggests that government programs to help the poor and
reduce social inequities would do more to improve the population's health
than simply spending ever more money treating preventable diseases.
"We are a wealthy province, so there is an issue of social justice: Are
some folks being left behind?" Kendall said in an interview yesterday.
"The other issue is that we do know that one of the impacts of poor
nutrition is increased health-care costs, which we are paying for as
well."
The report, Food, Health and Well-Being, cites findings by the provincial
branch of the Dietitians of Canada, which has said repeatedly that B.C.
residents living on low incomes cannot afford a healthy diet after paying
for average shelter expenses.
The dietitians' 2005 report stated, for instance, that "a single pregnant
woman living alone on income assistance in B.C. would most likely be
unable to feed herself adequately or nourish her developing baby."
But Employment and Income Assistance Minister Claude Richmond said
yesterday that Kendall's report often relies on dated statistics. "It's
two and three years old, so a lot has changed in the last two and three
years."
He also criticized the report for focusing on welfare payments to single
employable people, who make up less than 30 per cent of the province's
caseload.
"Most of our clients who have children are in a much higher income bracket
than the one they always quote," he said. "So the picture isn't as bad as
it's usually painted."
Kendall's report also stated that B.C. has undermined a federal
child-benefit program introduced in 1998 to relieve financial hardships
for poor families.
"The B.C. Family Bonus was reduced by the full value of the federal
supplement meaning that families on social assistance were no further
ahead," the report said, adding that other provinces have since decided to
"limit their clawback."
But Richmond's ministry argued yesterday that it takes the money that
doesn't go directly to the poor -- $327 million in 2005-2006 -- and
reinvests it in programs for low-income children and families.
Children are particularly vulnerable to the damaging effect of hunger and
malnutrition, Kendall said in his report.
B.C. posted the highest child-poverty rate in the country in 2003. The
report cited studies showing that children in hungry households have
significantly poorer health than other children. They are at risk of
learning disabilities, minor health problems such as frequent colds and
infections, and increased rates of asthma. In teenagers, poor nutrition
has been linked to low-level depression and symptoms of suicide, the
report said.
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© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006
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