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Introduction to Rural Health

HS 3010f
Cathie Brown
Figure 1: Canadian industries are
concentrated
100
90
80
70
60
% 50
40
30
20
10
0
Agr.Imp

Fish
Beverage
Dairy
Petrol

Flour

Forestry
% Market Share of Leading 8 Industries - 1995

Figure 3: Number and Size of Farms


Thousands of Farm Size in
Farms Acres
330 620
320 600
310 580
300 560
290 540
280 520
270 500
260 480
250 460
1981 1986 1991 1996

Number of Farms Average Farm Size (Acres)

Source: Statistics Canada, Historical Overview of Canadian Agriculture.


THREE RURAL CANADAs
Number 1 5-10% pop
Gold Credit Card; globally competitive, strong
property rights backed up with mercantile entitlements

Number 2 60-70% pop


Debit Card; local orientation, politically implicated, landed,
volunteers, robust entitlements, significant informal economy

Number 3 20-35% pop


No credit; unemployed/under-employed,
few property rights, fragile entitlements, income trapped
big informal economy, youth, seniors, female, aboriginal
Consequences for Rural Canada I

 strong global competition


 uncertainty and conflicts in trade policy
 challenges from the environmental lobby
Consequences for Rural Canada II

 depopulation
 capricious entitlements
 loss of non-market services
 diminished capacity for self-organization
Consequences for Rural Canada III
 capricious entitlements
 loss of services
 trapping in poverty cycle
 stigmatization
Consequences for Urban Canada

 vulnerable food security


 loss of bio/socio diversity
 loss of amenities
The Rural Lens
• Self-organization is the key to a strong rural
economy
• Sectoral focus no longer appropriate
• Limits on access to technology  negative
safety and environmental impacts
• Productivity + concentration  bias to
economies of scale
• Markets poor for regulating common property
New Social Forms Emerging

• Gentrification of urban-adjacent
• Increased importance of amenities/environment
• Alteration of family structure
• Risk Society
Health Results:
 Urban standards demanded
 National coordination required
 Chronic and social problems more important
New Forms of Social Exclusion

" Dispersion of populations at risk


" Transportation becomes mechanism of exclusion

Health Results:
 Populations at risk:
Elderly, single mothers, working poor, youth,
Aboriginal Peoples
Periphery Economies and IT
• Is location Important?

• Can IT overcome Transportation?

• What is the role of Gov’t, the Community?


How Healthy Are Rural
Canadians
• Health Framework – • Aboriginal population has
Place, Individual, additional pressures
Population • Complex results re
• Objectives: Key variables determinants
relating to place & health • Define Strong MIZ etc.
• Is location a determinant • Health Adjusted Life
of health? Expectancy HALE (pg 24)
• Disparities urban & rural average years lived in full
• Defining rural, commuter health
flow similar to US
• Growing strong MIZ, AB,
ON, PQ
Place

Physical Environment
Social Demographic Forces Stress
Economics Coping
Culture Health Behaviours Pop.
Political System Health Service Use Health
Health Care System Generic Risk Factors
Trends in Prices…
• Cost of transportation has been declining
– Still costs to transport to and from
• Communication costs declining
• Cost of moving people increasing (tourism)
• Moving goods & information vs people
2 Faces of Farming
• More Larger farms
• Fewer smaller farms
• Net income directly related to farm size
– Bigger = more income
• Larger farms invest more
• Debt rises more for large farms

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