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Access to oral care is a human rights issue: a community action report from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, Canada Jozaghi, Ehsan; Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users; Maynard, Russ; Khoshnoudian, Yasaman; Brondani, Mario

Abstract

To offer a critical reflection on an impoverished neighborhood in Vancouver, Canada, and their access to oral health care. A review of how a lack of publicly funded oral health care affects the most vulnerable, uninsured, and underserved citizens is performed. Personal and professional accounts on how entrepreneurial innovations of not-for-profit organizations can help to close the gap in access to oral health care are offered using the Vancouver Area Network of drug users (VANDU) and the PHS Community Services Society as case studies in British Columbia. Despite the efforts put forward by not-for-profit organizations such as the VANDU and the PHS Community Services Society, a national oral health care plan is warranted though still not a political imperative. Underserved citizens have a right to oral health care that is compassionate, collaborative, accessible, and affordable.

Item Metadata

Title
Access to oral care is a human rights issue: a community action report from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, Canada
Creator
Jozaghi, Ehsan; Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users; Maynard, Russ; Khoshnoudian, Yasaman; Brondani, Mario
Publisher
BioMed Central
Date Issued
2022-05-02
Description
To offer a critical reflection on an impoverished neighborhood in Vancouver, Canada, and their access to oral health care. A review of how a lack of publicly funded oral health care affects the most vulnerable, uninsured, and underserved citizens is performed. Personal and professional accounts on how entrepreneurial innovations of not-for-profit organizations can help to close the gap in access to oral health care are offered using the Vancouver Area Network of drug users (VANDU) and the PHS Community Services Society as case studies in British Columbia. Despite the efforts put forward by not-for-profit organizations such as the VANDU and the PHS Community Services Society, a national oral health care plan is warranted though still not a political imperative. Underserved citizens have a right to oral health care that is compassionate, collaborative, accessible, and affordable.
Subject
VANDU; Oral health; Underserved; Marginalized; Dentistry; People who use drugs; Subsidized; Downtown Eastside; Access to oral care; Stigma
Geographic Location
Downtown-Eastside (Vancouver, B.C.)
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2022-05-31
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI
10.14288/1.0413722
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/81666
Affiliation
Dentistry, Faculty of; Non UBC
Citation
Harm Reduction Journal. 2022 May 02;19(1):42
Publisher DOI
10.1186/s12954-022-00626-4
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Other
Copyright Holder
The Author(s)
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
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Rights

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)