Sherrie's email moniker "stingley" is appropos.  I often feel stung (in a good
way) by her questions.  As manager in a community health department, (Violence
Prevention Program), I am more than aware of the impact that determinants of
health have on children and families.  Where I feel caught in the dilemma is the
recognition that poverty in Ontario is largely a product of government
programming and priorities around employment, housing and income support.  At
the same time another arm of government (ie health) is left to respond to the
aftermath .  When we as health promoters attempt to address the results of
poverty, we resort to providing "service" handouts, which are layered on top of,
and fuzzify the real issues.  Advocasy/communication  among government
departments is one strategy that intuitively should have some impact. So ---
What advocasy strategies  have health promoters found to be effective in this
area?    What to do to make a difference  - a REAL difference in impacting the
determinants of health?  Is it political will?  Is it lack of knowledge of what
to do? Is it courage?  Or is it just too damn difficult to address?

Some existential questioning, late on a Friday afternoon,
Grace Ross







Sherrie Tingley <[log in to unmask]> on 08/06/99 02:43:06 PM

Please respond to Health Promotion on the Internet <[log in to unmask]>








 To:      [log in to unmask]

 cc:      (bcc: Grace Ross/HSWAT/HS/ROW)



 Subject: determinants of health- again








Hi all,

I was just sending off information today to someone on poverty as a
determinate of health and writing that the problem wasn't so much
convincing people that it was a determinate but doing something about it.
  Almost at the same moment I received the Ontario Health Promotion Email
Bulletin with information on a draft document from Health Canada on early
childhood development.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/archives/releases/ecdraft.htm

I went and looked at the doc, interesting, but nothing about addressing the
determinates of health (poverty, housing, etc).

So my question for people is am I missing something?  Or am I right that we
would rather ignore the determinates of health and continue working the
ways we have been?

Thoughts, comments?

S