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FALL 2006 |
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Online
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G
e n e r a l C o u n c i l
Children’s
health to dominate CMA’s agenda
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Stock Photo |
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The CMA will be devoting a
large amount of attention in the next year to the country’s smallest
patients.
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By CMA Staff |
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The CMA will be devoting a large
amount of attention in the next year to the country’s smallest
patients.
Past-president Ruth Collins-Nakai made
that clear during a strategic session on children’s health held during
the recent CMA annual meeting, when she said the CMA would co-sponsor a
Children’s Health Summit November 20. Delegates then delivered the same
message by passing a series of motions demanding government action on
several fronts and the development of a National Children’s Health
Strategy.
“Can we do better for our children?”
Collins-Nakai said in introducing the session. “Unequivocally, yes.”
She referred to an information sheet
showing that Canada’s results in areas such as infant and child
mortality are deteriorating. Equally worrisome, 26 per cent of Canadian
children under age 18 are now overweight or obese, and Collins-Nakai
said that this points to a “chronic disease tsunami” as these children
age.
The CMA’s goal, she said, is for Canada to
rank internationally “in the top five in five years” in areas such as
infant mortality, where the country now ranks 21st among 29 OECD
countries, and childhood obesity, where it ranks 19th among 20
countries. Olympic medallist Silken Laumann delivered the same warning
as Collins-Nakai, pointing out that “we live in a wonderful country but
our children are not well.”
She urged physicians to consider
prescribing outdoor play for children because parents will listen to
them. “When the CMA says obesity is rising, Canadians listen.”
Delegates passed seven motions, all by
near-unanimous margins. Ranked first and second were calls for
development of a National Children’s Health Strategy and development of
a Canadian Children’s Health Charter.
The only motion that failed to pass called
for a new tax on “sugar-sweetened carbonated beverages.” Dr. Brad Fritz
said the motion was an attempt to deal with “the obesity that is
plaguing our nation.” He said increased taxes had helped cut tobacco
use, and they could also help reduce consumption of sugar- and
calorie-heavy drinks.
However, Dr. Thomas Weinberger opposed the
strategy, arguing that the “last thing Canadians need is more taxes”.
The motion lost by a margin of 58 to 42 per cent.
Collins-Nakai also announced that the
November health summit, which will be held on National Children’s Day,
will be co-sponsored by the CMA, Canadian Paediatric Society and College
of Family Physicians of Canada. Later, when he addressed General
Council, federal Health Minister Tony Clement promised to participate.
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