A Healthy Society, Updated and Expanded Edition: How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy

Ryan Meili

Dec 2017 · Purich Books

About this ebook

A Healthy Society, Updated and Expanded Edition, is one doctor’s vision for a new approach to politics – and a new approach to building a healthier world. Drawing on his experiences as a family physician, Dr. Meili argues that health delivery too often focuses on treatment of immediate causes and ignores more fundamental conditions that lead to poor health. The social determinants of health – income, education, employment, housing, the wider environment, and social supports – have far more impact than the actions of health care providers.

This updated edition describes the positive steps that have been taken since the publication of the first edition. It includes expanded discussions of basic income, poverty reduction strategies, innovative housing polices, carbon pricing, and the role of health professionals in working for health equity, as well as new chapters on poverty, food security, and climate change. This book breaks important ground, showing us how a focus on health can change Canadian politics for the better.

About the author

Ryan Meili is a family physician, an upstream thinker, MLA for Saskatoon Meewasin, and leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party. Dr. Meili has founded numerous organizations and initiatives, including Upstream: Institute for a Healthy Society, which promotes the idea that we can create a healthy society through evidence-based, people-centred policies; the Division of Social Accountability at the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, which helps to ensure that Saskatchewan’s future doctors are equipped to meet the needs of the diverse communities they serve; SWITCH, the Student Wellness Initiative Toward Community Health, a student-run clinic; and the College of Medicine’s Making the Links program, which gives medical students the opportunity to work in Northern Saskatchewan, SWITCH, and communities in the Global South. Dr. Meili’s work has been recognized with various awards and honours, including the Saskatchewan College of Family Physicians Award of Excellence (2014), University of Saskatchewan Alumni Achievement Award (2015), and College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan Distinguished Service Award (2015).