Often overlooked by politicians, the media and members of the public, poverty is a profoundly important health issue.
In the newly released third edition of Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life, Dennis Raphael, a professor in York University’s School of Health Policy and Management, relates poverty in Canada to its health effects on individuals, communities and society as a whole.
This comprehensive text provides a unique, interdisciplinary perspective on defining and measuring poverty, situational and societal causes of poverty and the means of reducing poverty’s incidence and responding to its effects.
Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life, Third Edition
Raphael considers a range of issues that will be of great value to a variety of audiences, including those studying or working in health studies, social work, sociology and equity studies. Updated to reflect current statistics and recent public policy changes, the new edition puts emphasis on the lived experiences of poverty and analyzes why specific groups of Canadians are over-represented amongst those living in poverty, including Indigenous people, people of colour and recent immigrants.
“Raphael, an international expert on social determinants of health, skillfully paints what can only be described as an intense and passionate picture of the nature of poverty in Canada,” said Cathy Crowe, a long time street nurse and author of Dying for a Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out, “in particular examining the impact of poverty on all things related to quality of life: health, education and work opportunities, housing, safety, culture, inclusion and community. In other words, the social determinants of health.”
The updated edition concludes with a timely epilogue considering poverty and its health effects in Canada in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life, Third Edition is available for purchase from the publisher.