Resources/Related Sites

These documents and links are provided for your interest and background reading. Inclusion on this site does not imply endorsement of them by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Some of the following documents are not currently available electronically. Ordering information is given if available.

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Listed By Title: Q - T

Reducing Health Disparities -- Roles of the Health Sector: Discussion Paper (December 2004)

Reducing Health Disparities -- Roles of the Health Sector: Recommended Policy Directions and Activities (December 2004)

Canadians are among the healthiest people in the world, but major health disparities exist; the most important relate to socio-economic status (SES), aboriginal identity, gender and geographic location.

Two reports from the former Federal, Provincial and Territorial Advisory Committee on Population Health and Health Security (ACPHHS) provide important tools to engage decision-makers and researchers in an informed discussion about health disparities in Canada and options for addressing them.

Reducing Health Inequalities: Implications for Interventions (2000)
Describes upstream and downstream policies. Be sure to look at Appendix A, a helpful schematic of the drivers of population health.

Reducing Inequalities in Health: Proposals for Health Promotion Policy and Action (2000)
Ten points are put forward to provide an approach through which inequalities in health can be reduced.

Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) (2001)
The RPP (Part-lll) are individual expenditure plans for each federal department and agency, except Crown corporations. 

Report on the Health of Canadians (1996)
Is intended to serve as a tool to help policy makers, health workers, and the public measure Canada's progress in achieving better overall population health. Also see: Toward A Healthy Future: Second Report on the Health of Canadians

Report of the Roundtable on Population Health and Health Promotion (1996)
Summarizes the key elements, noting areas of agreement and disagreement, and highlighting recommendations for follow-up developed by the participants.

Setting the stage for health impact assessment.
By P. Ratner, L. Green, J. Frankish, T. Chomik, & C. Larsen, Journal of Public Health Policy, 18(1), 67-79. (1997)

Shifting Discourses on Health in Canada: From Health Promotion to Population Health.
Robertson, A. Health Promotion International, 13, 155-166. (1998).

Social Capital: Literature Review (2001)
This report reviews the literature on social capital focusing on issues of definition, measurement, and policy implications. 

Social Capital as a Health Determinant: How is it Defined? Working Paper Series, Health Canada, 2002 (2003)
This report is a summary of social capital research and attempts to clarify the place of social capital among the social determinants of health. The companion report, Social Capital as a Health Determinant How is it Measured? focusses on the methodological aspects of social capital research.

Social Investment in New Brunswick, Atlantic Case Studies (2000)
Shows how government, communities and the privates sector must work together to ensure that all people are included. 

Social Determinants of Health
By Micheal Marmot and Richard G. Wilkinson, Oxford U.P. (1999)
This book shows that health is not just about individual behavior or exposure to risk, but that a population's social and economic structure shapes its health.

The Social Determinants of Health: An Overview of the Implications for Policy and the Role of the Health Sector

• overview paper
• income inequality
• social inclusion and exclusion
• employment and job security
• working conditions
• contribution of the social economy
• early childhood education and care
• food security
• housing
• education

Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts (2003)
This second edition identifies evidence of social determinants of health to promote debate and action.

Social Disparities and Involvement in Physical Activity: Shaping the Policy Agenda in Healthy Living to Successfully Influence Population Health
by Lise Gauvin, Ph.D.,GRIS (Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en santé - Interdisciplinary Research Group on Health), Université de Montréal

The Socioeconomic Gradient in Population Health: Explaining Health Inequalities (2000)
Explains key concepts with respect to the core dynamics of population health, the socioeconomic gradient, and biological mechanisms occurring in early childhood. 

Strategies for Population Health - Investing in the Health of Canadians (1994)
Identifies broad population health strategies on which the provincial, territorial and federal governments could collaborate and achieve significant results.

Taking Action On Population Health (1998)
Provides Health Canada employees with an understanding of what the approach means to their work, offers a review of its evolution and links to health promotion.

Toward a Healthy Future: Second Report on the Health of Canadians (1999)
Provides a picture of the most current information we have on the health of Canadians, and on the factors that influence our health.

Towards a Common Understanding: Clarifying Core Concepts of Population Health - A Discussion Paper (1996)
Promotes a common understanding of population health and describes how a population health approach will guide future program and policy development within Health Canada.

Towards a New Concept of Health: Three Discussion Papers (2000)
Presents a hypothesis for the "health gradient" - that shows people's health status closely parallels their socio-economic status, regardless of the quality of the health care system available to them.

Towards a New Perspective on Health Policy (2001)
Provides a rare comprehensive overview of health and health policy in Canada.