[ad_1]
The residents of Vancouver neighborhoods just a few kilometers away have a dramatically different life expectancy – and the gap is widening.
The dark statistics were part of an update on the Vancouver drug overdose epidemic presented Tuesday to the new Mayor and City Council. Shortly after, they voted unanimously, in one of their first agendas, to appeal to British Columbia. government for more money for the response to the crisis.
The men of the Downtown Eastside have an average life expectancy of 15 years lower than their Vancouver counterparts, said Patricia Daly, Chief Medical Officer of Health for Vancouver Coastal Health, at her first regular meeting after her swearing.
"The reduction in life expectancy for men in the Downtown Eastside has been dramatic in the last two years," said Daly.
"The men in the Downtown Eastside have a life expectancy of less than 70 years. While on the west side of Vancouver, he is about 85 years old. It is a difference in life expectancy of 15 years in neighborhoods only a few kilometers away. This is absolutely unacceptable and a source of significant concern, due to the increase in the number of overdose deaths. "
A medical unit from the Vancouver Fire Department responds to a man who was not reacting after the injection of a drug by the man, in the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver in December 2016.
RICHARD LAM /
PNG
The Downtown Eastside has been the center of an overdose crisis that has spread to the city, province and the rest of the country. But despite the bleak picture of death statistics, Daly also told the council that overdose prevention sites and take-away naloxone kits are saving lives. The BC Center for Disease Control estimates that such interventions have prevented thousands of deaths in the last two years. Without them, the death toll could have been 2.5 times higher.
But the crisis persists, as shown by the latest figures published in Tuesday's report. This year, 312 people died of suspected overdose in the city of Vancouver, a number similar to the number of fatal overdoses confirmed at this stage of last year.
Daly last month cited a report from the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada that Canadians' life expectancy has been rising, but they have fallen in British Columbia. due to overdoses of opioids.
She also presented figures from BC Coroners Service monitoring non-natural deaths in the province. In 2010, drug overdoses caused about half as many deaths as road traffic accidents and about one third of those who committed suicide. But drug-related deaths began to increase in 2015. Last year, drug overdoses resulted in more deaths than suicides, homicides and road accidents.
The new mayor of Vancouver, Kennedy Stewart, and the council of City Hall.
Arlen Redekop /
PNG
At Tuesday's meeting, the new council, made up of representatives of four parties and independent mayor Kennedy Stewart, voted unanimously to ask the province to fund the equivalent of an increase. of the property tax, approved two years ago by the previous council, to raise funds. for the overdose crisis response.
In December 2016, the Mayor and Vancouver City Council approved a 0.5% increase in property taxes, which is expected to raise an additional $ 3.5 million to fight the overdose crisis. City staff estimated that raising taxes would increase homeowners from $ 4 to $ 11 per year.
NPA advisers, including the current board, opposed this 2016 tax hike. Melissa De Genova, who told her would make the city less affordable and criticize the way it was proposed at the last minute without proper consultation. At the time, De Genova urged the city to pressure high-level governments for funding in the event of a crisis.
On Tuesday, De Genova, one of only two members of the current council who re-elected the council, introduced a motion asking the mayor to write to the prime minister and the minister of dependencies to ask for "urgent funding." from the provincial government, an amount of 0.5%. approved tax increase in 2016 ", to help the city finance its response to the overdose crisis.
"What Dr. Daly and our staff tell me is that it's still not enough, that we can not do enough with the money we have," De Genova told the board. "Any money from higher levels of government would be welcome."
Stewart, who supported De Genova's motion, told reporters, "I think more money is needed. Our property tax base is very limited here in the city and we can not support everything ourselves. So I think it's very prudent to go ahead and ask for additional funding. "
Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Judy Darcy said in an email statement that her ministry was working with municipalities to find more money "to stem the tide of this long emergency.
[ad_2]
Source link
