Originally published June 23 2005
Survey: Less than half of Canadian population fully understands their healthcare program
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to Canada NewsWire Group, a survey of 4,800 Canadians found that only 39.9 of them could describe the country's Primary Health Care system in broad terms, but, after the term was described to them, 93.2 percent said it was either very or moderately important to their future health.
or medium importance (20.1 per cent) to their future health.
"Canada's health care system is evolving so that it can sustain itself over the long-term and provide enhanced services to Canadians," Gibbons says.
"Since a large part of this evolution involves strengthening primary health care services, it is important that Canadians better understand what primary health care is, and how it can improve their health, as well as improve the health and sustainability of the system itself."
"It's about preventing illness and injury, managing chronic conditions, treating episodic illnesses, promoting healthier living and making the most effective use of health provider expertise.
The PHCTF is supported by all federal, provincial and territorial governments, and is sponsoring initiatives to strengthen primary health care across Canada.
In addition to awareness and knowledge levels surrounding the term "primary health care," the survey asked respondents about a wide range of related topics, including their awareness of and confidence in primary health care providers and how they rate the health care system against several criteria.
As part of the Action Plan for Health System Renewal adopted by federal, provincial and territorial governments in September 2000, strengthening primary health care was identified as a priority for Canada's health care system.
To support this goal, the Government of Canada created the $800-million Primary Health Care Transition Fund to help bring about systemic, long-term change.
To help achieve the goal of strengthening primary health care systems across Canada, the federal, provincial and territorial governments identified the potential need for a public awareness strategy and established the NPHCAS project with funding from Health Canada under the Primary Health Care Transition Fund.
Healthy living encompasses prevention, the management of chronic illness, encouraging support for self-care and the idea that factors outside of the health system can influence individual and community health.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml