Women’s College Hospital’s vision is to become a world leader in women’s health and a pre-eminent ambulatory care hospital. To further this vision and to ensure that our success benefits a diverse community of women, we have identified equity as one of our eight tenets. Our equity vision underscores the hospital’s strategic direction and commitment to health equity.

Equity in health implies that everyone should have a fair opportunity to attain her or his full health potential, and that no one should be disadvantaged from achieving this potential (World Health Organization, 1999). Inequities in health are health differences that are unnecessary, unfair and unjust. They are avoidable, and are systemically related to social inequality and disadvantage. 

Health equity seeks to deliberately create more equitable access to opportunities for achieving optimal health for all communities and all individuals. The province of Ontario and the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network require their many health-care providers to take action toward reducing health inequality.

Our equity and community engagement work aims to increase access and reduce or eliminate barriers to our services, and to promote health equity as an integral part of planning.

WCH has undertaken a number of actions related to health equity:

• Equity Plan
• Access and Disability Issues
• Queer Women’s Health Initiatives
• Language Interpretation and Translation
• WCH Network on Uninsured Clients

Health Equity Links

• Accessibility
• Health Equity Plan
• Language Interpretation and Translation
• Network on Uninsured Clients
• « back to Patients & Visitors