Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

It is important to consider the impact of place and space on variations in health services and health outcomes. A solid body of evidence has shown that individuals living in deprived neighbourhoods have higher rates of mortality and morbidity, independent of individual-level characteristics. If Northern health and social systems are to construct effective and targeted policy responses to health inequities, then it is essential that these be based on strong methodological and conceptual foundations as well as context-specific development of health-related indicators. As it currently stands, mainstream measures of health system performance have been developed for the context of health systems in more densely populated areas may not be relevant for more remote geographic areas. Thus, the proposed study will engage Northern Ontario community stakeholders in the examination of health equity measurement indices.