Canada is hailed as one of the most peaceful countries in the world, although it does not qualify to be included in the top 10 healthiest, it is considered to be a healthy country overall as it has great statistics showing that healthcare in Canada is excellent and benefiting its citizens. With a population of 34,838,000 (2012) and considering the great land area in the country, it can be inferred from this that Canada is a relatively spacious country and is not congested.
The Canadians have one of the highest life expectancy (ranked 14 in the whole world), with males enjoying up to 80 years of life and females up to 84 years. This is generally a longer life when compared to other countries. Life expectancy statistics enable us to take a peek into the kind of healthcare, the lifestyle and how the Canadians are taking care of their health. For the citizens to be able to reach more than 80 years of age in this time where fast food, convenience and less exercise, more stagnant and less active jobs, early retirement are amongst the few things that people in the world battle against, it will mean that there must be other factors that enable the citizens to overcome these challenges and live until 80 and more.
It also says that there is accessible and immediate healthcare and that majority of the citizens are able to afford it and that the citizens are aware of where to purchase healthcare or where free health services are available, not to mention the availability of a health insurance coverage and plan.
The life expectancy is not the only thing that should be looked at when measuring the healthcare conditions of a country. Another fact to consider is how many citizens are dying in between the ages of 15 to 60, which is considered to be the adult and most active phase of life. According to the World Health Organization or WHO statistics, there are 83 out of 1000 Canadian males between 15 to 60 years old that die annually, with 52 out of 1000 females between the same age ranges dying every year as well.
This puts Canada into the top 20 least adult mortality rate in the whole world which means there are less adults dying before they reach their life expectancy. This could imply a couple of things such as the country being safe to live in, with a really lower criminal rate and accident rate compared to other countries, and a healthy environment. There must also be easy access to healthcare and health establishments if the adult mortality rate is like this.
Not only are the adults enjoying the lesser number of deaths, the children below 5 are also unlikely to suffer from deaths in Canada. Statistics show that there are 5 children less than 5 years old, in every 1000 live births, which perish annually. This puts Canada in the top 10% of the whole world with the lesser number of deaths under 5 years old. This can mean that pregnant women and the healthcare given to women in general are of high standards with access to a healthy lifestyle and great prenatal and post-natal care. Family planning is also working for the Canadians as their fertility rate is 1.7, which means that the average number of children a reproductive woman gives birth to is from 1 to 2 children.
Another standard to check for Canada’s healthcare is the access to healthcare. Statistics show that almost 85% of the Canadians have their family or personal physicians. There is also no shortage of midwives or nurses as they have more than 90% of this position filled in hospitals, clinics, and healthcare centers. The utilization of healthcare services by Canadians is also high, which means that their awareness of these services must be high as well.
There were 74 out of 100 who are taking contraceptives, 99 out of 100 who are taking antenatal care, 98 out of 100 births were attended by a skilled or a healthcare professional though not necessarily inside a hospital, measles immunization was almost perfectly attended as well. One can also see from the prevalence of smokers (19.3%) in the whole country, heavy drinkers (19%), and those suffering from hypertension or high blood pressure (17.7%) that these are very low compared to the whole world. Canadians must be living healthier compared to a global scale.
Causes of death in Canada has almost the same when compared to other countries, with 34% of it caused by circulatory diseases such as heart attack, ischemic stroke, congestive heart failure, etc. Cancer deaths cause at least 40% with lung (28.9), colorectal (12.4), and prostate (11.4) for males, and lung (25.7), breast (15.8), and colorectal (11.8) for females.
Physical activity is something that more than half of the whole Canadian population participates in, as the survey showed that more than the majority has been involved in physical activities. The number of obese adults in the age range of 15 to 60 is 22.4%, relatively lower than most countries but not enough to put it on the top countries with almost no obese adults living in it. However, overall the Canadians believe that they have good health status, with 61% of them rating themselves to be in this category.
The aforementioned statistics have been collected anytime from 2004 until 2012 and although Canada remains to be one of the healthier countries compared to the world, there are still a lot more that the Canadians and the government can do to make their health and life better. The country has a national health insurance program called Medicare and is giving the privilege to Canadian citizens and residents reasonable access to medically necessary hospital and physician services, on a prepaid basis. The citizens and residents are able to get health benefits by being enrolled in the system. The Canadians and the residents enjoy dental and medical care and other health benefits like emergency hospitalizations, check-ups, among many others.
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