Social Determinants

‘This is the community in action’: Toronto’s Disability Vaccine Outreach Initiative

Disabled people are assisting their peers in gaining access to vaccines while also educating vaccine clinics about access needs. It's just one example of why involving communities in the rollout matters.

People with developmental disabilities have a right to better dental care and less suffering

People with developmental disabilities face barriers to dental care. It's time we took action to ensure that they do not remain invisible to dentists.

‘It’s hell for inmates in there’: COVID precautions in prisons are worsening mental health

COVID-19 precautions in prisons, such as extended lockdowns and reduced visits, are taking a serious toll on prisoners' mental health

When a city program is really just another pathway to eviction

The pandemic has intensified the suffering of homelessness. Rather than applauding Toronto's band-aid solutions, like the new program Pathway Inside, we must commit to affordable, permanent housing.

Finding shelter space like running an ‘obstacle course’

Helping someone who is homeless in Toronto access an indoor place to stay can be “like a gladiator’s obstacle course.”

A call for inclusive health research

We need an inclusive approach to health research, one that engages the affected communities in all aspects of the research and that meets them where they are.

Equal is not equitable: moral distress in health care

The inequity of Ontario's vaccine rollout is causing moral distress and burnout among health-care providers. How can we change the health-care system to make it more equitable and sustainable?

Toronto doctor challenges Commons committee to prioritize ‘social recovery’

This pandemic, placed on top of the longstanding social pandemic, has created a "syndemic" – a synergistic pandemic – in which the spark of COVID has ignited a tinderbox of social inequity.

Tackling racism in health care

Health-care institutions must reflect critically on whether they're ready to make the commitment necessary to do antiracist work by investing time and money to bring about systemic change. Anything less is performative.

A call to action: An approach to patient transfers for rural and remote communities in Canada

#Raiseyourvoice: An open letter to Ontarians from your doctors

To control the pandemic, more needs to be done immediately. You have seen the clips about hospitals in Italy and New York City last year: make no mistake, this is what we will soon face if we don’t make changes now.

Vaccine rollout ignoring needs of women

Will we use COVID-19 as an opportunity to take off the blindfold and tailor our vaccine strategies to the unique needs of each gender or will we continue to ignore the needs of women?

Rare inflammatory syndrome another example of pandemic’s disproportionate effect on racialized children

The pandemic is causing a rare, serious inflammatory syndrome that disproportionately affects racialized children in Toronto—reflecting larger racial and class-based inequities.

‘Do you care about disabled people or not?’

Why aren't we gathering data about the effect of COVID-19 on adults with developmental disabilities? Is it because of underlying attitudes in health care that their lives matter less?

COVID-19 and the forgotten disability community

Canadians pride themselves on diversity, inclusion and public health care. But COVID-19 has shown how people with disabilities are consistently left behind. Now is the time that changed.

Celebrating the richness of plural identities

A South Asian woman reflects on how "a coalition of young Brown women" and Black neighbours helped her grow into herself while studying for her master's of public health in Harlem.

‘Painful and difficult’: A BIPOC woman’s journey in medicine

Navigating the medical profession has been a painful and difficult journey. How far have we come in ensuring that women can thrive within the system?

‘We reach them where they are:’ Mobile healing team delivers culturally based care

Jane Harrison is one of the unsung heroes of the pandemic who, along with her team at Anishnawbe Health Toronto, is caring for vulnerable communities in the Greater Toronto Area.

‘Foolproof’ exam software creating barriers for students with disabilities

To make sure students aren’t tempted to cheat when writing exams at home, professors have been using proctoring software, but it doesn’t account for those with mental or physical disabilities.

COVID-19 death highlights dangers of birth evacuation policy in Indigenous communities

The death of Silatik Qavvik is the result of Health Canada’s birth evacuation policy and an appalling lack of government-funded maternity care in rural and remote Indigenous communities.