About Canada: Health and Illness, 2nd ed.

Note: New updated 3rd edition available now!


Most Canadians believe that their experiences of health and illness are shaped by genetics, medical care and lifestyle choices. Governments, the media and disease associations reinforce this perception by pointing to medical research and a healthy lifestyle as the keys to health. About Canada: Health and Illness tells a different story.

In this new, updated edition, Dennis Raphael shows that living and working conditions, income, employment and quality of education, as well as access to food, housing and social services — the social determinants of health — are what dictate the health of Canadians. And these social determinants are shaped by the public-policy decisions of Canadian governments. Whether you stay healthy or become ill has more to do with policies, laws and regulations than genetics or lifestyle. Over the past thirty years, policymakers — operating under the influence of neoliberalism — have threatened health by allowing the growth of corporate power, which has led to growing inequality in these social determinants of health.

This book is a wake-up call to Canadians. Public pressure needs to be put on elected representatives to create policies that are in the interest of the majority of Canadians, not just the wealthy.

Dennis Raphael is a professor at the School of Health Policy and Management at York University. He is the editor of Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives; Tackling Health Inequalities: Lessons from International Experiences; and Immigration, Public Policy, and Health: Newcomer Experiences in Developed Nations. He is author of Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life; co-author of The Politics of Health in the Canadian Welfare State; and co-editor of Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness and Health Care.