A Circumpolar Experience: How Social Determinants of Health, Climate Change, Grapes, and Medical Innovation are Related

Abstract

This report shares my experience on an Arctic expedition with the Students on Ice Foundation. Social Determinants of Health (SDHs), including climate change, are considerably worse in Indigenous populations than the rest of Canada, and they carry profoundly negative implications for Indigenous healthcare. Climate change has a more significant effect at the poles than anywhere else globally, thus compounding the effects of SDHs and worsening Indigenous health. There are innovative ways in which SDHs and the effects of climate change can be mitigated and ways in which Indigenous healthcare can be improved, particularly with programs such as Students on Ice.

Keywords

• social determinants
• Indigenous
• climate change
• innovation
• global warming
• circumpolar