Disparities In Canada Essay

Introduction

The goal of this paper is to explore how various factors can impact citizen’s access to quality health care in Canada. Specifically, it focuses on the analysis of socioeconomic and geographical disparities in maternal health care access in Canada. Using sociology’s and political science’s theory of structural functionalism, socioeconomic and geographical factors that create disparities in maternal health care access will be explained, followed by a discussion of possible solutions coming from all government levels to reduce those disparities. It is this author’s contention that due to socioeconomic and geographical disparities, social programs and policies should be implemented to guarantee adequate and equal access to maternal

health care in Canada. In sociology, the macro-level theory of structural functionalism is used to explain how society works as a result of the combined action of numerous social structures.

Accordingly, inequalities or social problems are interpreted as signs that some structures are not fulfilling their function adequately. Similarly, from political sciences perspective, the theory of structural functionalism serves to explain how specific structures and processes in the political system are used to perform specific functions. Combined to the sociological approach, structural functionalism will make it possible to analyze the structures at the source of disparities in maternal health care in Canada and the structures responsible and capable of offering and implementing solutions to that social problem. It thus is believed that the government, as a major social institution, is the main responsible for inequalities in maternal health care access, and thus the only structure apt to correct those inequalities through policy-implementation. For this paper, socioeconomic factors of inequality such as age, income, education and ethnicity will first be presented, followed by geographical disparities arising from rural or remote residence. Thereafter, possible solutions that could be implemented by governments at the federal, provincial and municipal levels to improve egalitarian access to maternal health care in Canada will

be discussed.
Historical background
Improving maternal and infant health was designated by the United Nations as a worldwide priority at the beginning of the millennium, and its importance was reaffirmed in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Participating countries, including Canada, committed to “end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age” by 2030, which implies guaranteeing adequate maternal and infant health care (Heymann, et al., 2017, p.23). The World Health Organization defines maternal health as “the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period” (Khanlou, Haque, Skinner, Mantini, & Kurtz Landy, 2017, p.2). For the purpose of this paper, this definition will be expanded to encompass all aspects of lifestyle and care that can affect women’s and infant’s physical and psychological health in pregnancy, childbirth and the first six months of life. As previous research has shown, the issue of access to maternal health care is extremely relevant in Canada for multiple reasons. As a country with generous social support and universal health care, Canada highly values accessibility to health care as a social and human goal (Sutherns & Bourgeault, 2008, p.864). However, historically, public health policy in Canada has always reflected the values and priorities of the white middle-upper-class, with explicit references to race and class, which set the ground for inequalities that persist to this day (Warsh & Strong-Boag, p.287-288). As studies have shown

repeatedly, health disparities are often linked to broader social, economic and social inequalities (Adelson, 2005; CIHI, 2004; Hardwick & Patychuck, 1999; Hock-Long, Herceg-Baron, Cassidy & Whittaker, 2003; Khanlou, Haque, Skinner, Mantini & Kurtz Landy, 2017; McKinnon, et al., 2016). For example, a cross-sectional study by Martinson & Reichmann, in 2016, examined how socioeconomic inequalities associate to low birth weight rates, an important indicator of infant health, in four high-income countries. Moreover, it is important to remember that perinatal and infant health is critical as it impacts greatly the future health of mothers and children, meaning that universal access to maternal health care benefits society as a whole (ASSSM, 2012, p.4). Therefore, identifying and correcting inequalities in access to maternal health care is highly beneficial.