New POWER study chapter on health now available

The POWER Study (Project for an Ontario Women’s Health Evidence-based Report) chapter on “Social Determinants of Health and Populations at Risk” is now available here as highlights or full report.
 
POWER has examined gender differences in access to care, as well as quality and outcomes of care for the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the province and how they differ by gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and geography.
 
The chapter on “Social Determinants of Health and Populations at Risk” examines the social determinants of health among Ontario’s women and men including: low income, low education, indicators of employment, lone-parent families, and food insecurity. We also summarize the POWER Study indicators across all chapters as they relate to low-income populations, providing a synthesis of health functional status, risk factors and prevention, access to health care services, clinical management, and health outcomes of lower-income adults. The final section re-examines and synthesizes the POWER Study findings in relation to immigrant and minority populations, as well as reporting three indicators of immigrant women’s health that have not previously been reported in the POWER Study. Based on these analyses, identified opportunities to improve health and health care and reduce inequities, together with broad community consultation and dialogue, we developed the POWER Health Equity Road Map. The aim of the Road Map is to help move us forward to the goal of achieving health equity in Ontario. The time to move forward is now. What is needed is the will and commitment.
 
Also available for download here are: Introduction to the POWER Study (Ch 1); The POWER Study Framework (Ch 2); Burden of Illness (Ch 3); Cancer (Ch 4); Depression (Ch 5), Cardiovascular Disease (Ch 6), Access to Health Care Services (Ch 7), Musculoskeletal Conditions (Ch 8), Diabetes (Ch 9), Reproductive and Gynaecological Health (Ch 10), HIV Infection (Ch 11), Older Women’s Health Report. The POWER Study’s concluding chapter ‘Achieving Health Equity in Ontario: Opportunities for Intervention and Improvement’ is forthcoming and will be available on the website soon.