HLTC05H3 Chapter Notes -Syndemic, Aboriginal Peoples In Canada, Coinfection
Document Summary
Coloring the white plague: a syndemic approach to immigrant tuberculosis in canada. A syndemic approach unravels social and biological connections which shape the distribution of infections over space and time and is useful in deracializing and de-medicalizing these epidemiologic models. The socio-historic framework allows us to examine social factors which, refracted through medical science, were central to the development of tb control in canada at the beginning of twentieth century. We expose the ideological assumptions about race, immigration, and social status which underpin current policies designed to control tb within the immigrant population. We argue that tb control policies which divert the attention from structural health determinants perpetuate health and social inequities of racialized populations in canada. Medical screening and surveillance is an ineffective control policy because the proportion of tb cases attributed to immigrants increased from 18 to 66% between 1970 and 2007.