Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
SDG 3 aspires to achieve universal health coverage and provide access to safe and effective medicines and vaccines for all. Through research and advocacy, EUC faculty and graduate students have supported initiatives in human health and well-being, and have examined the impacts of COVID-19 and other communicable diseases in vulnerable and marginalized communities.
Supporting African newcomers’ resilience and ability to thrive in Canada
In 2022, the Partnership for Research with African Newcomers (PRAN) was launched with the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). A network of researchers led by Professor Philomina Okeke-Ihejirika from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Arts – Women and Gender Studies, the research team include faculty members from University of Alberta, Dalhousie, McGill, Mount Royal, Queen’s, University of Toronto, University of Western Australia, and from York University including, Professors Joseph Mensah, Valerie Preston, Elaine Coburn, and Getrude Mianda. PRAN is dedicated to optimizing sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee (SSAI) settlement and integration, adopting a holistic approach deeply rooted in incorporating traditional African knowledge systems and engaging with communities throughout the research process.
Planetary health risks in urban agriculture
Urban agriculture is gaining recognition for its potential contributions to environmental resilience and climate change adaptation, providing advantages such as urban greening, reduced heat island effects, and decreased air pollution. A literature review identified distinct health risks related to urban agriculture and highlighted that urban agriculture, while emphasizing environmental benefits, particularly raises concerns about trace metal bioaccumulation in soil and vegetables, posing health risks for populations.
Impact of COVID-19 on urban planning
Roger Keil and his collaborators study global urbanization, urban political ecology, cities and infectious diseases, and regional government. Their focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to urban planning has allowed policymakers to refocus their ideas and actions to reflect current realities. Keil’s work highlights the racial and social inequities that COVID-19 has exposed, resulting in vulnerable people’s isolation as a result of stay-at-home measures, food insecurity and housing instability.
Making sex education more accessible to young people by theatre
Shira Taylor is a public health advocate and theatre artist who completed her PhD at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Shira is currently a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow at EUC. She created the award-winning workshop and performance program, SExT: Sex Education by Theatre(@SExTEdShow) designed to address sexual health inequities facing newcomer and Indigenous youth. SExT received the ArtBridges/ToilesDesArts Remarkable Innovation Award, and she received CIHR Gold, a Gairdner Award, and the TD Michaëlle Jean Bursary for excellence in addressing issues of national concern through art.
Engaging community stakeholder groups in health research
For more than a decade, Sarah Flicker has been engaged with various community stakeholder groups and allied practitioners in health equity research. In line with her combined roles as York Research Chair (Tier2) in Community-Based Participatory Research and Environmental Arts and Justice Coordinator, Flicker actively extends her capacity-bridging approach with urban and rural racialized youth and women in conducting ethical community-based health research. With PhD alumna Sarah Switzer, they used a case study approach and photovoice to explore how stakeholders understood engagement within and across three HIV community-based organizations in Toronto, Canada.
Moving beyond technical solutions: Studying energy from a social science perspective
A person’s health and well-being are impacted by their access to energy services. Lina Brand Correa’s research examines how shortcomings in energy services can be caused by a variety of socio-technical, institutional and environmental factors, such as unreliable or poor quality infrastructure, gendered differences in energy access and use, high energy prices, social isolation, and stressors caused by intensifying climatic changes.
When HIV and COVID-19 pandemics collide in Black communities in Canada
Maureen Owino’s graduate research examines the impacts of existing and emerging social and public health policies on Black people’s health and well-being in Canada. Her work examines how the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics reveal discrepancies in health outcomes for vulnerable communities who are also subjected to racism, sexism, homophobia, and poverty.
Adolescent girls’ well-being during the pandemic
Leah Coppella’s MA research focused on initiatives to promote teenage sexual health. The project developed strategies for youth to learn how to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships to prevent gender-based violence. The research investigates how girls attend to their sexual relationships and wellbeing, as well as the complex work involved in maintaining it during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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