Some of the links between education levels and health outcomes are obvious. Higher education levels are linked with higher income levels. Higher incomes reduce the likelihood of poverty-related illnesses like asthma from poor housing and diabetes from poor diet. Better paying jobs are linked to many other determinants of health like employment security and safe and healthy working conditions. Education also increases both health literacy and the chances that a citizen will be in a position to live a healthy lifestyle.

Post-secondary education leads to involvement in civic life, clearly evidenced by students taking national action on issues that affect them. Civic engagement, both through individual actions like writing your MP in support of InSite or collective action like pushing for public smoking bans or better access to free safer sex supplies and clean drug equipment, creates huge improvements in citizen health.

Whether you have a Phd or a G.E.D, it is important to continue educating yourself about what can improve our collective health and take action. Why not start by seeing how you can support access to education for low and moderate income people?

Part 1 of 3 in a series about the social determinants of health. Part 2 is on housing and will be posted Wednesday, February 8th

This series is based on research found in “Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts” by Juha Mikkonen & Dennis Raphael.

Considering the major bias towards urban queer men in services, healthcare and available funding, it is crucial that queer men in rural areas speak up and be counted.

Male Call closes February 1st so call 1-855-846-MALE (6253) ASAP! Calls are anonymous and confidential and phone lines are open from 11am to 12am (AST) Monday to Friday, and from 1pm to 9pm Eastern Saturdays and Sundays.

Sex Now is Canada’s unofficial gay men’s census and you can participate by clicking the banner below.

A Supreme Court ruling followed by an act of parliament has enshrined marriages between same-sex couple into law. Nothing is a given when it comes to queer people under the current government but marriage rights come as close as it gets. It’s time to start showing the same solidarity around the many outstanding and neglected queer issues in Canada.

Queer youth are 5-6 times more likely than heterosexual youth to commit suicide. Trans youth are 10-12 times more likely. Canada currently does not have a national strategy on suicide.

A homophobic former legislator was put in charge of the Canada Human Rights Museum; which omitted any reference to the struggles of queer and trans people for dignity and rights. While this issue was resolved, it shows a clear bias in the appointment of non-partisan political offices.

Rights of immigrants and refugees must be a priority for queer communities. In a recent case, an immigration judge denied a queer youth refugee status because he had never had sex with a man even though his life was at risk if he returned to his home country. In another case, a prominent Toronto artist was threatened with deportation despite building a life and contributing greatly to the cultural life of his new home in Canada.

It’s not going to get better unless we make it better. It’s time for queer communities and our allies to act on the issues that affect us.

Click on the banner and count yourself out!

Already relying on IDUs to share knowledge and distribute clean gear to their peers through the Natural Helpers Network, Sharp Advice Needle Exchange (an ACCB program) has partnered with Addiction Services to undertake a research project on the barriers IDUs have accessing primary healthcare. Drawing on the lived experience of drug users in Cape Breton, the project has the goals of reducing the harms associated with injection drug use, decreasing stigma and judgmental responses to IDUs from primary healthcare providers and increasing access to primary healthcare and addiction treatment for IDUs.

Since last April, ACCB’s own Christine Robinson Porter has been facilitating focus groups and one-on-one interviews with IDUs to identify concerns and problems in their own words. The second stage of the project is to repeat that process with primary heath care providers to ensure as full a picture of IDU health access as possible can be put together.

“Nothing about us without us” is the rallying cry written in a 2008 manifesto by people who use illegal drugs. As supportive people in the lives of IDUs, ACCB staff try to embody the principles of greater involvement, harm reduction and respect for human rights and dignity.

We will be recruiting more Cape Breton IDUs for one-on-one interviews in the next two weeks. Get in touch with Christine if you’re interested.

The Toronto-based SHOUT & Wellesley Institute recently released a study that looked at the experiences and health issues of homeless and street-involved youth who use drugs. While obviously Toronto and Cape Breton are different places with different issues, the youth interviewed in the study gave a clear endorsement of harm-reduction initiatives that strongly resonates with our situation in Cape Breton.

Homeless and street-involved youth in Toronto and low-income youth in Cape Breton are impacted by the same social determinants of health: unstable, unlivable and/or unaffordable housing, poverty, discrimination, stigma underemployment, and unemployment. 67% of youth from the study either had a diagnosed mental health issue or were concerned that they had a mental health issue. While there is no official research for drug-using youth in Cape Breton, we at ACCB would strongly suspect the rate of mental health issues are similar.

There has long been a link between low scores on social determinants of health and drug-use as a coping behaviour. This study shows that the stigma attached to using drugs and living in poverty intensifies the effects of inequality.

Young drug-users were adamant about the need for accessible, nonjudgmental harm reduction based services that respect their ability to make their own choices. What do you think those services would look like in Cape Breton?

Check out the findings of the study here.

We are sure ACCB will continue to thrive in 2012 and wish the same to you!

Happy holidays from the staff, board, volunteers and service users of ACCB!

You can RSVP to the Facebook event. All who are willing to maintain ACCB’s non-judgemental, safe and confidential space are welcome to attend.

ACCB offers the following programs:
-PHA Volunteer and Peer Support Program
-Health Fund Program
-Breakfast Program
-Anonymous Counselling, Testing and Referral Program
-Influenza Vaccine Program
-Needle Exchange Program
-Queer Outreach Program
-GLBT Youth Suicide Risk Prevention Program
-Community Education Program

If you want to find out more about the work of the AIDS Coalition of Cape Breton and the impact it has on your community, please join us on December 13th at 6:00pm at the McConnell Library on Wentworth Street in Sydney for our 19th Annual General Meeting.

Do you share in the interests of ACCB? If so, we are looking for new Board members. The Board of ACCB is a hands on Board, who work collectively to govern and guide the organization. The Board is responsible for strategic planning, policy development and evaluating and monitoring the work of the organization. ACCB’s Board promotes and supports the work of the organization within the community. The Board meets the second Tuesday of every month. If interested and able to commit the time, please contact Christine Porter, Executive Director @ 567-1766 or email christineporter@eastink.ca and find out how you can become a part of this fast growing, community minded organization!

AIDS Memorial Quilt
Two showings on Tuesday, November 29th! 10am-12pm & 4pm-6pm at the McConnell Library
The AIDS Quilt is a longstanding project to remember our brothers and sisters lost to AIDS. Each patch was made by loved ones of a person with HIV/AIDS who is no longer with us. Join us in remembering our dead.

Cottonland Redux
Film screening & Community Forum, 6pm-9pm, Wednesday, November 30th at the McConnell Library
Five years have passed since Cottonland gave national attention to the wave of prescription opiate misuse in former coal towns in Cape Breton. We will be screening Cottonland and hosting a public forum to give our community an opportunity to reflect on what (if anything) has changed since the film’s release.

AIDS Vigil
6pm, Thursday, December 1st at St Philip’s African Orthodox, 34 Hankard St, Whitney Pier
An evening to reflect upon those who have lost their battle to AIDS and to offer hope and strength to those living with the disease. Social with light refreshments to follow service.