Canadian Nurse Leadership

How Do Social Determinants Impact Health in Ontario and Canada?   Canadian Social Determinants of Health   The Government of Canada defines the determinants of health (DOH) as “the broad range of personal, social, economic, and environmental factors that determine individual and population health.” The main determinants of health include:   Income and social status   Employment and working conditions   Education and literacy   Childhood experiences   Physical environments   Social supports and coping skills   Healthy behaviors   Access to health services   Biology and genetic endowment   Gender   Culture   Race / Racism   Ontario’s Perspective   In Ontario, the framework for understanding social determinants of health aligns closely with the World Health Organization's (WHO) definition and serves as a guiding principle for the healthcare system. A key focus within this framework is fostering partnerships bet...

Card versus the World Health Organization There are many opinions around the definition presented by the WHO in 1948. One alternate definition of health is presented by A.J Card, in his paper “Moving Beyond the WHO Definition of Health: A New Perspective for an aging World and the Emerging Era of Value-Based Care.” Card (2017) states, “Health is the experience of physical and psychological well-being. Good health and poor health do not occur as a dichotomy, but as a continuum.  The absence of disease or disability is neither sufficient nor necessary to produce a state of good health” (p.131). As compared to the WHO’s (1948) definition, “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.  The WHO’s original definition was created to consider a comprehensive approach to health care (Schramme, 2023).  So also does Card recognize the importance of mind and body wellbeing. (Card, 2017). However, there are a few sign...