The New Brunswick Medical Society supports the new Emergency Fuel and Food Benefit announced recently by the provincial government and applauds the financial relief it will provide to low-income individuals and families, including seniors. We are also pleased to see increased funding announced for New Brunswick food banks.
Income plays a major role in health outcomes and wages are directly related to social determinants of health. Low-income citizens are more than twice as likely as those with moderate to high incomes to have lower quality of health. With the cost of living rising so steeply, it has become more challenging to afford housing, quality nutrition and favourable overall living conditions. Physicians support a focused and coordinated approach to reducing poverty in the province and this initiative is a positive step in that direction.
Dr. Mark MacMillan
President, New Brunswick Medical Society