'The world is too messy for bureaucratic hurdles': Canada still bars Afghanistan aid
Ottawa has plans to finally stop blocking Canadian development aid to Afghanistan this year.
Canada ranked last in a just-published list of 10 high-income countries when it comes to access to a family doctor for routine medical care.
The proportion of Canadians aged 18 and older who reported access to a primary care provider fell from 93 per cent in 2016 to 86 per cent in 2023, according to a new survey by the Commonwealth Fund (CMWF), a private U.S.-based research group, released Thursday.
While 86 per cent is still high, the report suggests an estimated four million Canadian adults did not have a primary care provider in 2023.
The survey ranked the following countries based on the percentages of people who reported having a regular doctor or a place they usually visit for medical care in 2023:
The CMWF average of the 10 countries is 93 per cent.
"Canada’s 2023 result is significantly lower than the CMWF average," according to the Commonwealth Fund. The survey was published by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. CIHI is an independent, not-for-profit group providing information on health in Canada.
"Lack of access to a primary care provider has been shown to negatively impact the health of individuals and of the population as a whole," according to the report. "Better access to primary health care can lead to better health outcomes, and to fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations."
The research suggested that lower-income and younger Canadian adults (ages 18 to 34), and men in particular, were the least likely to have a doctor.
Of those, two-in-five respondents without a doctor said they had at least one chronic condition, and about a third took one or more prescription medications.
In 2023, only 26 per cent of Canadians polled said they were able to get a same- or next-day appointments. This is down from 46 per cent in 2016, and "significantly lower" than the CMWF average of 42 per cent. Only 23 per cent of respondents said they found it easy to get care in the evenings, on weekends and on holidays without going to the emergency department. The CMWF average is 32 per cent.
The Commonwealth Fund interviewed 1,000 Canadian adults. Its results were supplemented by additional interviews by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, for a combined total of 4,820 interviews completed across Canada. Interviews were conducted between March 14 and Aug. 20, 2023, over the phone, using random digit dialing overlapping sampling frame telephone design.
The results were then weighted based on demographics by province. More information on methodology is available online.
Ottawa has plans to finally stop blocking Canadian development aid to Afghanistan this year.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war at at universities across U.S., some of whom have clashed with police in riot gear, dug in Saturday and vowed to keep their demonstrations going, while several school faculties condemned university presidents who have called in law enforcement to remove protesters.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
State-sponsored actors targeted security devices used by governments around the world, according to technology firm Cisco Systems, which said the network devices are coveted intrusion points by spies.
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The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
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The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
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A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”