• Study: More to Meal Delivery Than Food – NYTimes.com
  Study: More to Meal Delivery Than Food – NYTimes.com:
  

  The connection they discovered between home-delivered meals and the nursing home population will come as welcome news (though not really news) to Meals on Wheels believers: States that spent more than the average to deliver meals showed greater reductions in the proportion of nursing home residents who didn’t need to be there. … “They’re not fully dependent,” explained a co-author of the study, Vincent Mor. “They could be cared for in a community setting, whether that’s assisted living or with a few hours of home care.”

• Housing, equity, and economic apartheid – Health as if everybody counted blog
  Housing, equity, and economic apartheid – Health as if everybody counted blog:
  

  In calling for “a paradigm shift from housing policies based on the financialization of housing to a human rights-based approach,” she is challenging market fundamentalism and asserting what Somers calls “the right to have rights” independent of the marketplace. Unless professionals and advocates concerned with social determinants of health can get their heads around that simple message, as it applies to housing and many other policy fields, the future of the health equity agenda has to be reckoned as dim.

• Why the income inequality deniers are wrong » StraightGoods.ca
  Why the income inequality deniers are wrong » StraightGoods.ca:
  

  Whether you want less poverty or a more robust economy, greater innovation or improved productivity, better life chances or a healthier democracy, the way forward in Canada involves reducing income inequality. But markets, alone, don’t reduce income inequality, not even when the economy is chugging away at full speed.

• From hormones to brain function: Why living alone may be bad for your health – The Globe and Mail
  From hormones to brain function: Why living alone may be bad for your health – The Globe and Mail:
  

  Researchers don’t yet have a complete understanding of the relationship, but they say prolonged feelings of loneliness or isolation can cause hormonal, genetic and other changes that may contribute to the risk of developing health problems

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• Wellesley Institute | Tracing connections: better tools for better population health
  Wellesley Institute | Tracing connections: better tools for better population health:
  

  What happens to the health of disadvantaged communities and newcomers when we improve access to family doctors, and better housing? You can find out by exploring the Wellesley Urban Health Model.

• Wellesley Institute | Health system transformation must focus on health equity
  Wellesley Institute | Health system transformation must focus on health equity:
  

  What’s required is revolutionary change – delivered in an evolutionary way. And one of the most important changes needed is for system planners to embed a health equity focus into all the new initiatives they roll out this year.

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• Ontario anti-poverty efforts pull 40,000 children out of poverty – thestar.com
  Ontario anti-poverty efforts pull 40,000 children out of poverty – thestar.com:
  

  Despite a climate of economic uncertainty, Broten said the government has made “concrete gains” in the fourth year of its five-year-plan to cut child poverty by 25 per cent.

• How $25 Could Keep More People Out of Nursing Homes – Politics – The Atlantic Cities
  How $25 Could Keep More People Out of Nursing Homes – Politics – The Atlantic Cities:
  

  A new study out of Brown University quantified how simple it can be to keep this from happening. For every $25 more per person annually that states contribute to delivering meals to seniors, it found, they can reduce the number of people in nursing homes who don’t require most of the homes’ services by one percent. So not only is it better for the community, it can be financially advantageous.

• Anti-native racism common in Toronto health care – thestar.com
  Anti-native racism common in Toronto health care – thestar.com:
  

  “Negative stereotypes about aboriginal people are deeply rooted in Canadian society and much of what aboriginal people experience in the health care system is an extension of this systemic racism,” the report says. It’s a big concern because native people experience the poorest health, overall, of all Canadians.

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• The homeless man, the boots and the complex story behind the viral photo – thestar.com
  The homeless man, the boots and the complex story behind the viral photo – thestar.com:
  

  “I think this was an inspiring photo of an act of kindness to someone who had been dealt a bad hand,” he said. “And it’s unfortunate that the later analysis of the situation got distracted by what in particular was bad about his hand.”

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• Socio-economic- and sex-related disparities in rates of hospital admission among patients with HIV infection in Ontario: a population-based study | Antoniou | Array
  Socio-economic- and sex-related disparities in rates of hospital admission among patients with HIV infection in Ontario: a population-based study | Antoniou | Array:
  

  Interpretation

  We observed important socio-economic- and sex-related disparities in rates of hospital admission among people with HIV living in Ontario, Canada. 

• Futurity.org – Lifespans stretch for people who ‘flourish’
  Futurity.org – Lifespans stretch for people who ‘flourish’:
  

  “We’ve shown that, even when you factor in many other variables, if you are flourishing you have a dramatically lower risk of premature mortality, no matter what the cause of death,” says lead author Corey Keyes, a sociologist at Emory University and a pioneer of positive psychology.

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• Poverty Is Not Just a Problem for Single Parents – Politics – The Atlantic Cities
  Poverty Is Not Just a Problem for Single Parents – Politics – The Atlantic Cities:
  

  “Poverty and economic insecurity are about a lot more than having children out of wedlock,” says Fremstad, who notes that many of the people now viewed as “single” in poverty statistics actually live with a partner. “There are a lot of people who, if they said ‘I do,’ would still be in the same boat.” Fremstad also says that the data show disability is also a significant problem, affecting roughly 10 percent of poor married families

• How France Built Inequality Into Its Cities – Politics – The Atlantic Cities
  How France Built Inequality Into Its Cities – Politics – The Atlantic Cities:
  

  City planners have built up isolated urban enclaves, like the Paris suburbs and the New Towns, which keep the country’s immigrant population separate from the rest of society, at the same time that the government calls for integration. In recent years, planners have invested energy and resources into redeveloping these socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, but France’s foreign-born population continues to face social exclusion.

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• Casino restrictions recommended by Toronto medical officer of health Dr. David McKeown – thestar.com
  Casino restrictions recommended by Toronto medical officer of health Dr. David McKeown – thestar.com:
  

  After consulting experts and literature, McKeown wrote that “problem gambling is an issue of significant public concern.” The province’s plan to put a full privately built and operated casino in the GTA will “likely result in an increase in the prevalence of problem gambling in Toronto.”

• Feds introduce controversial ‘social impact bonds’ to fund social services – thestar.com
  Feds introduce controversial ‘social impact bonds’ to fund social services – thestar.com:
  

  The bonds, pioneered in Britain, have been widely questioned by critics. They say the bonds are a way of getting governments and the public off the hook for paying for needed social programs and question how success or failure of the projects can be accurately measured.

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