Dr. Chris Kaposy - Monday, April 12th, 2010

List of Atlantic Dialogue Speakers
(Organized by Core Issues)

Core Issue #1: Cancer Care & Population Health:

Session Lead: Dr. Louise Parker
Participant: Dr. Krista Wilkins, (Patient Perspective)
Participant: Dr. Donna Murnaghan, (Health Professional)
Participant: Dr. Chris Kaposy, (Health Care Ethicist)

Core Issue #2: Cancer Care & the Health System:

Session Lead: Dr. Kara Laing
Participant: Ms. Pam Bowman, (Patient Perspective)
Participant: Mr. Geoff Eaton, (Patient Perspective)
Participant: Dr. Pierre Whitlock, (Health Professional)
Participant: Mr. Chris Skedgel, (Health System Economist)

Core Issue #3: The Science Behind Cancer Care:

Session Lead: Dr. Geoff Porter
Participant: Dr. Stewart Rorke, (Health Professional)
Participant: Dr. Eshwar Kumar, (Health System Economist)

I recently spoke with a group of medical students who had just finished a placement in rural medicine in small communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. The students were struck by the amount of hypertension and diabetes in these communities. Some said that up to 100% of the patients they saw in these communities had one of these chronic health problems. There is also a higher incidence of some cancers in Newfoundland and Labrador than in other provinces in Canada.

When I asked the medical students about what they thought was causing these chronic health problems, they all thought diet was a major cause, and that poor diet was associated with high rates of poverty in these communities. In rural areas of the province, nutritious food can be very expensive and hard to find, so many people do not eat well. This may be a simplistic observation, but if we're going to be serious about tackling cancer from a population health perspective we should think along political lines that support taxation initiatives and social programs that promote income equality. Social programs and taxation policies that put more money in the hands of the rural poor could help improve their diets, which might also improve the incidence of cancer. Unfortunately, taxation and income equity are unpopular topics in today's political landscape. But political solutions have to be part of the answer if we want to reduce the incidence of cancer in rural Canada.