Health can be determined by many things, but social determinates of health help us better understand at risk populations. There are many levels of social determinates of health, these can include anything from individual determinates to population determinates. Public Health agencies use social determinates of health to identify needs and interventions to better care for populations. Social, personal, economic, and environmental are some of the determinates taken into consideration when assessing individuals or populations (Government of Canada). In Ontario, a randomized survey was completed to assess Ontarians viewpoint regarding health inequities in Ontario. The highest supported interventions to address health inequities within Ontario were subsidised nutritious food for children, increased community volunteers and more healthcare treatment programs (Kirst, Shankardass, Singhal, Lofters, Muntaner, & Quiñonez, 2017).

Within Canada, combating chronic disease has been a top priority. Through initiatives such as healthy eating and physical exercise Canada has developed its healthy living campaign (Gore & Kothari 2012). British Columbia and Ontario had each identified 60 initiatives to improve health inequities using a structure-based program for direct delivery. The results showed that Ontario has a hired portion of structure-based interventions than British Columbia with Ontario sitting at 15% and British Columbia at 11.5% (Gore & Kothari 2012). A few of the top identified determinates of health within Ontario include “income and income distribution, education, unemployment and job security, employment and working conditions, early childhood development, food insecurity, housing, social exclusion, social safety net, health services, aboriginal status, gender, race and disability” (Gore & Kothari 2012).

Within Ontario 98% of candidates’ surveys stated that they believe everyone should have fair and equitable access to a long and happy life however, 60% also believed that everyone should be responsible for their own health; not relying on the government to take care of them (Gore & Kothari 2012). During this study, interventions suggested by the public to address health inequities within Ontario included early intervention for infants, subsidized trades training for adults, more health treatment programs, and more health prevention programs (Gore & Kothari 2012). One of the largest supported suggestions was providing more access to healthcare within schools for children. The social determinants of health have been linked to increased rates of chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes, and cancer (Kirst et. al., 2017). Low socioeconomic status is often measured by educational level and income status. Those living in lower socioeconomic status’ have been researched to die several years earlier then those of higher education and income (Kirst et. al., 2017). The public needs to be more involved in equity policy agenda to assist in the development in implementation of direct programs.