Dennis

I couldn't agree more. Michael Lerner in his book on 'Surplus
Powerlessness' covers it all very well. Government ideologies based on
blaming and encouraging self-guilt are incidious. Society has to move
beyond that to reducing the inequities: that is what preventive
healthcare is all about.

Walter Weary

Dennis Raphael wrote:

>The role of political ideology in health promotion is especially important.  In
>Ontario, Canada the (very right wing) province has allocated $17,000,000 to
>health units and related coalitions to "promote cardiovascular health."  The
>program is rigidly limited to diet, tobacco use, and physical activity.  There
>is NO space provided for community inout into other issues that we know impact
>cardiovascular health.  And by the way, these other factors (poverty, lack of
>services, lack of housing, etc. ) are the very ones that the province is hell
>bent on increasing).
>
>This is a tremendous example of what Michael Fitzpatrick calls the control of
>individuals and communities especially low income ones by governments -- and
>their agents -- unwilling to address these more important pressing issues.  The
>message sent out to the public -- and these affected (low income) communities --
>is that your health is in your hands (which we know isn't the case) and that you
>are the cause of your own misfortune (such as the tremendous gap between rich
>and poor in heart disease.) That public health units are complicit in this
>effort.
>
>Our experience in produncing our income and heart health report is another
>example of the kind of resistance we must deal with.  The only member of the
>coalition who expressed opposition to the substance of the report was a member
>of the local health unit whose objections were overuled by the community
>partners.  Nonetheless, the network has been told that no further reports of
>this kind will be tolerated! and life would be calmer for all if they went back
>to walking trails, fruits and vegetables, and anti-smoking campaigns and left
>the issues of poverty, hunger, homelessness and exzclusion to "activists."
>
>Any thoughts on this are welcome!
>
>dr
>
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