World Health Day: Diversity & Inclusivity In Health For All

April 6, 2023 admin
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Community Planning, Community Writers Project

Time

A borrowed element.

Hope

A constant longing.

Together

A potent combination!

This year, the World Health Day theme is Health for All, a renewed call to focus on all communities inclusively. Seventy-five years ago, the World Health Organization was created to shine a light on current critical health and wellness themes ranging from mental health to medical advancements and everything in between.

In 1981, Dr. Halfdan Mahler, then Director General of the WHO, in ‘The meaning of Health For All by the year 2000’, World Health Forum, Vol. 2, No. 1, defined Health For All, as:

  1. Health within reach of everyone in a given country…
  2. Personal state of well-being, not just the availability of health services…
  3. A state of health that enables a person to lead a socially and economically productive life…
  4. Removal of the obstacles to health…

Dr. Mahler’s definition emphasized diversity and inclusivity in his call and theme. Unfortunately, while advancements have been made in the health sector across Canada, unconscious and systemic biases still leave many cultural communities behind.

What does this mean?

Several years ago, after falling down a set of stairs and bruising her tailbone, Sarah was referred for physiotherapy. While attending a session, Sarah struggled to follow through on some of the movements as directed. After a few minutes, the physiotherapist in frustration said out loud, “I don’t think I can help you. Your physiology will not allow for you to complete these movements.” This was said about Sarah’s inability to lay completely flat on her back because of the arch her backside naturally created.

Both unconscious and systemic biases were at play creating barriers to health and wellness.

Sarah left in tears and frustration. She never returned to complete physiotherapy. Being an immigrant, she assumed that no physiotherapist could help her because her “physiology” was the problem, something she couldn’t change.  

Health For All cannot be achieved in a vacuum. It takes continued education and all of humanity working together to build healthy communities that inspire:

  1. Diversity and inclusion.
  2. Innovation and positive progress.
  3. A planet worth passing down to future generations.

Health is both social and economic.

When we review data across Canada, cultural communities lag far behind other groups. This in turn impacts their ability to thrive and reinvest in the communities they live in.

For example, parents working double shifts in underpaid and potentially hazardous jobs lack both adequate time and energy to spend with their families, which is an integral part of their lives and well-being. Questions such as, “How creative and learning-focused can children from immigrant households with limited healthcare access be?” need to be asked. After all, these potentially are our future astronauts, physician-scientists, artists, community leaders, architects, and stay-at-home parents.

Eleanor Brown states “Self-care is not selfish. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.” And so, as we celebrate the many achievements over the last 75 years, let’s also remember to advocate for more inclusive practices, policies, and education that will close the gap between our diverse communities and future generations.

This article was written by community writer Tsungai Muvingi as part of our J.E.D.I. Initiative – Community Writers Project. All thoughts and opinions expressed are Tsungai’s own. You can learn more about Tsungai on our team page here. 

To learn more about our Intercultural and Intergenerational Diversity and Inclusion Engagement Project, go to our J.E.D.I. Initiative landing page here.

Community Planning
Community Writers Project

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