The Welsh are healthiest in their region’s rural areas, in contrast to Canada where urban residents are more healthy, according to a study by Welsh and Canadian researchers.
While access to health services, food stores, public transport and schools is better in Welsh cities and towns, there is higher incidence of heart disease, respiratory problems and cancer.
At the National Congress on Rural Education, Welsh professor Malcolm Thomas shared the findings of comparative studies he is doing with University of Western Ontario education professor Anika Varpalatai.
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Thomas said only two health findings in the study are negative for rural Welsh people: an increase in suicides because farmers are still stressed by the impact of BSE and foot-and-mouth disease on Britain’s livestock industry and the high rate of traffic deaths because of narrow, twisty, hilly country roads.
“Parents don’t want to let their kids walk or cycle to school because of traffic accidents,” Thomas said.
He attributed the bad health in Welsh cities to decades of living in an industrialized setting with coal and iron mills.
The two professors found that young people in rural Wales and rural Canada shared similar problems: they were dependent on their parents for rides; recreation facilities were limited and access to health services were restricted and nonconfidential.
“Rural Canada’s social cohesiveness can be a double edged sword,” Varpalatai said.
“Rural identity is tied to self-sufficiency so rural poverty is hidden.”
The professors said the answers lie in persuading local communities to discuss and find solutions. However, both cited examples of programs that only started because of government funding.
In a study of a pilot project in the high school in West Elgin, Ont., Varpalatai said the wellness centre helped save the school from closure. The centre grouped several health and welfare services for adults and students and led to a renewed pride in the local town because people organized activities and campaigned for improvements.
