Request for Proposals (RFP-12): Health Impact of Economic Change
Funding and General Information
Deadline for applications:
January 29, 2003 (must be courier stamped January 28th for next day delivery).
Up to $1,000,000 has been set aside in this competition for the
support of up to eight projects. Maximum funds per project: $300,000.
Funding is expected to begin in the fall of 2003. Project final
reports must be submitted by March 2005.
Preference will be given to original research utilizing existing
vital statistics, survey and administrative data. The focus is
to be on the associations observed between economic factors and
health status gradients, and between economic factors and family
formation, with the aim of estimating the discrete contribution
made by economic factors as well as the mitigating and exacerbating
contributions made by non-economic variables.
Scope of Competition
Objective
Health Canada is seeking to improve its understanding of the past
and likely future impacts of domestic and trans-national economic
policies on the health of Canadians. The intent is to help estimate
whether, and the extent to which, the gradient observed in health
status is likely to narrow or to widen and, if the latter, to identify
the nature of possible public policy measures in and beyond the
economic sphere which hold the potential to mitigate adverse impacts
on Canadian families and communities.
Background/Context
The literature has documented associations between health and
the economy, but the precise nature of these associations is still
largely unexplored. We need to understand what underlies these
associations, and to estimate the discrete contribution made by
economic factors as distinct from other instrumental factors, including
values and social cohesion.
As regards family formation, the interplay between the market
economy, the currency of which is dollars, and the household economy,
the currency of which is hours, remains to be further examined
and documented. Recent analytical work has documented a trend in
which factors such as parental age, education and income have increasingly
come to co-vary.
Canada's standard of living and, in large measure, our quality
of life, depends increasingly on trade and on our capacity to compete.
It follows that our industrial mix, and ultimately our job mix,
will be determined by the sectors, human and natural resources,
technologies and geographic regions which afford us a competitive
advantage. It follows, too, that there may be consequences for
population health status and for family formation, although neither
the direction nor the magnitude of these consequences is known.
Research Questions
- What are the implications of economic change for the health
status of Canadian populations? For example, are disparities
likely to increase or decrease, and are signs of fracture likely
to emerge along rural/urban lines or along regional lines? What
is likely to be the "portrait" of the health of Canadians
in twenty-five years?
- What are the likely impacts of economic and trade policies
on the health of Canadians? How does the Canadian job/industrial
mix influence the health status gradient now, and how might it
in the future? How does the job/industrial mix impact upon family
formation?
- Comparisons between Canadian census metropolitan areas
(CMAs) have
not revealed much by way of a health status gradient. What about
gradients within CMAs,
and what do comparisons of these intra-CMA gradients
reveal about the importance of "place" and of non-economic
factors?
- What factors, such as work history, source of income, education
and social status, provide an explanation for the differences
that can be observed in the health status of Canadians living
in different regions?
- What is the likely impact of change in the economic status
of individuals within Canadian communities? What factors define
or assist in understanding community resiliency? In what ways,
and at what levels (family, community) does social cohesion promote
well-being?
- Are there any significant differences in the health status
of Canadians who receive the majority of their household incomes
through transfer payments, compared to Canadians who receive
the majority of their household incomes through earned income?
In what circumstances can a transfer payment be an effective
substitute for earned income, and in what circumstances can it
not? What, if any, change in health status or in health service
utilization can be traced to minimum income or minimum wage policies?
- Family structure, parental income, parenting skills - and
the time available to parents to apply these skills - all can
impact on the health and well-being of children. How much of
parents' "time crunch" can be explained by the need
to finance current consumption, to service debt, or to save?
As regards the increasing trend for parental age, education and
income to co-vary, what are the likely implications for social
cohesion and, ultimately, for health status disparities?
Policy Contact
Applicants must get in touch with the policy contact at least
once during the development of the proposal. The policy contact
is responsible for ongoing interaction with researchers on the
policy issues and context. Policy inquiries should be directed
to Mark Wheeler, Assistant Director, Policy Division, Policy Planning
and Priorities Directorate, Health Policy and Communications Branch,
Health Canada, (tel: 613-952-8553, e-mail: mark_wheeler@hc-sc.gc.ca).
How to Apply
Applicants are required to register in order to obtain an application
form and a registration number which must be quoted on the application
form. Inquiries regarding registration, eligibility/ineligibility,
administrative questions about timeframes and budgets, application
formatting and content, the review process, and terms and conditions
of the HPRP should
be directed to Elizabeth Maddocks (tel: 613-954-8557, email: elizabeth_maddocks@hc-sc.gc.ca).
Deadline for applications is January 29, 2003 (must be courier
stamped January 28th for next day delivery). Address for courier:
Elizabeth Maddocks (tel: 613-954-8557)
Health Canada
Room 1526B, Jeanne Mance Building, Tunney's Pasture
Postal Locator 1915A
Ottawa ON K1A 0K9
References
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Fitzpartick K, LaGory M, Unhealthy Places: The Ecology of Risk
in the Urban Landscape. Routledge (New York), 2000.
Lochhead C, "The Trend Toward Delayed First Birth: Health
and Social Implications". ISUMA, volume 1, no.2 Autumn 2000
- http://www.Isuma.net/v01n02/lochhead/lochhead_e.shtml
Marmot M, Wilkinson RG, "Social Determinants of Health".
Oxford University Press, 1999.
McCain M, Mustard JF, "Early Years Study: Reversing the Real
Brain Drain". 1999 http://www.founders.net/ey/home.nsf/info/eyreport!opendocument
Ross NA, Wolfson MC, Dunn JR, Berthelot JM, Kaplan GA, Lynch JW, "Relation
between income and inequality and mortality in Canada and the United
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http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/downpub/pickup.cgi?issue=0039982-003-XIE.pdf
Tremblay S, Ross NA, Berthelot J-M, "Regional Socio-economic
Context and Health" in Supplement to Health Reports, volume
13, 2002.
http://www.statcan.ca:80/english/freepub/82-003-SIE/82-003-SIE2002002.pdf
Wilkins R, Berthelot JM, Ng E, "Trends in mortality by neighborhood
income in urban Canada from 1971 to 1996" in Supplement to
Health Reports, volume 13, 2002.
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