If challenging health inequities requires questioning structures of power, then this must sit at the centre of the work of all physicians.
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De-centring medical expertise means fostering skillsets that reduce disparities in health outcomes. Medical expertise alone is great for those with social privilege, but not enough for the rest.
The changes that came with the transition from foraging to farming paved the way for disease.
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Back pain is common. One in thirteen people have it right now and worldwide a staggering 619 million people will have it this year. Chronic pain, of which back pain is the most common, is the world’s most…
While there are many benefits to sports participation, overstating those benefits can obscure systemic issues.
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In both mainstream and Indigenous communities across Canada, sport is neither inherently good nor bad. Rather, it is a tool that must be used responsibly.
Medicine is as much about the human experience as it is about biology.
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While medical school may teach students about how the body works, it often neglects the social, political and cultural factors that determine health and disease. The humanities can help.
Fixating on sleep can make your sleep worse. But some people crave the connection online sleep communities provide.
If public health bodies and policymakers put greater focus on improving the work environment, it could achieve major gains in population health and reduce health inequities.
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Cancer screening and other routine primary care can help address inequities if we choose to leave the unfair status quo behind.
Modifiable risk factors for dementia include high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and infrequent social contact.
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While there is no guarantee of warding off cognitive decline, encouraging people to be physically, mentally and socially active could potentially keep a significant number of dementia cases at bay.
Obese children outnumber underweight ones globally, and ‘social determinants’ in kids’ lived environments play a fundamental role. Obesity in kids can lead to a lifetime of poor health.
Tuberculosis is a dangerous bacterial infection of the lungs.
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Tuberculosis is a preventable and curable disease, yet before the pandemic, it killed more people than any other infectious disease.
Income inequality is the gap between the highest and lowest earners in a given area. It can contribute to people’s risk of poor health, and specifically mental health.
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Higher levels of income inequality in youth are associated with increased ‘deaths of despair’ in young Canadians.
The growing interest in wellness is an opportunity for universities to provide evidence-based information beyond campuses, in the broader community.
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Mental health isn’t just about illness, it is also about wellness. Universities are well positioned to offer accessible, evidence-based wellness education to the general public.
We wanted to quantify what social factors increase a person’s chance of ending up in prison, and to use that to improve policy and reduce the harms and costs of incarceration.
Children with persistent or severe asthma symptoms need medicines to reduce airway inflammation. But a change last week means these medicines are harder to access.
Every household is more likely than not to have dusts containing PFAS chemicals at low concentrations. But how worried should we be about the risks to our personal health?
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne