Forget the ‘American-style’ boogeyman, Canadian health care should be more like Norway’s
February’s announcement that the Trudeau government had made a deal with the NDP to push the ball forward on pharmacare doesn’t appear to have resonated in the polls. That’s not surprising. Canadians are saying loud and clear that pharmacare isn’t even their top priority for health care.
That’s evident from new research conducted by Leger on behalf of my organization, the Canadian Constitution Foundation, SecondStreet.org, and the Montreal Economic Institute.
Leger asked 2,017 adult Canadians to pick the top three health-care problems that most “need fixing.” National pharmacare came in second last of nine options. Just 14 percent had pharmacare in their top three while nearly two-thirds (65 percent) chose the lack of family doctors, more than half (52 percent) chose ER wait times, and nearly half (44 percent) selected wait times for surgeries and other common treatments.
Canadians may support pharmacare in principle, but it’s hardly among their most pressing health-care concerns like faster access to doctors, emergency rooms, and surgeons.
And yet, there may be a way to do it all. Canada may be able to deliver not only the must-haves like universal primary care but also the nice-to-haves like drug coverage for those currently falling through the cracks. It would just take some courage from politicians.
There is an obvious way to find the money: it would simply require amending the Canada Health Act to make explicit that provinces would no longer be penalized if they allowed a small number of willing patients to buy quicker care so that provinces can loosen their rules.
This would then free up scarce resources such that provinces could expand public drug coverage beyond their current programs. One might think of it as a policy swap whereby public coverage would be somewhat curtailed for hospital and physician services and somewhat expanded
Consumer health information: Handle with (extreme) care
What will it take to get businesses to honor the promises they make about the privacy of consumers’ health data? Multiple FTC law enforcement actions in the past year? Two more cases against companies that shared health information with third-party advertising platforms without people’s consent? Here’s the loud-and-clear message companies need to hear: The FTC won’t back down in the fight to protect the privacy of consumers’ sensitive health data.
Online health care provider Cerebral provides mental health and pain management subscription services to consumers. When people sign up, Cerebral collects a ton of private information – both the usual contact and payment data and also medical and prescription histories, health insurance details, religious and political beliefs, and sexual orientation. Wouldn’t consumers be wary of disclosing so much confidential information? Of course, which is why Cerebral promised to use “the latest information security technology to protect your data, which is not shared without your consent, and will only be used internally to improve clinical care.”
Assuring consumers that their information would receive “safe, secure, and discreet” treatment, the company promised “At Cerebral, patients come first.” But according to the FTC, patients came far down the list with advertising apparently taking the top spot.
The FTC charged that Cerebral turned over the sensitive health data of close to 3.2 million consumers to third-party platforms like LinkedIn, Snapchat, and TikTok for advertising purposes and data analytics. How did the company do it? By using tracking tools on its website or built into its apps that sent users’ names, addresses, phone numbers, medical and prescription histories, and other health information to the platforms. According to the FTC, Cerebral did this secretly and without fully disclosing to consumers what it was doing behind the scenes.
The FTC also alleges that Cerebral failed to have
West Africa’s fashion designers are world leaders when it comes to producing sustainable clothes
Every few weeks global fast fashion brands mass produce their latest clothing, pumping out garments to be sold around the world. There is growing criticism that it’s socially irresponsible to produce such large volumes of clothes so often. It leads to surplus and waste that takes a toll on the environment. And by requiring new styles so often it also stifles designers’ creativity in an industry that thrives on it.
Read more:
Ultra-fast fashion is a disturbing trend undermining efforts to make the whole industry more sustainable
Sustainable fashion means clothes being produced and consumed in ways that are socially responsible. But the conversation about sustainable fashion has centered mainly on the western and Asian fashion industries. Africa is discussed only as the dumping ground for the tonnes of disposable and secondhand clothes produced by fast fashion brands. My study bridges this gap by showing how fashion designers in west Africa produce their work.
Prèt-a-porter (ready-to-wear) clothing is mass produced by fashion houses – as opposed to couture that is made to measure. West African fashion designers produce what I have termed customised prèt-a-porter – a limited-edition ready-to-wear model that creates the latest fashions in measured volumes.
This is a model for sustainable fashion that allows more space for creativity and innovation and also uses environmentally friendly laundry measures to ensure the long lifespan of clothes.
Customised ready-to-wear fashion
Fashion from Africa has attained global recognition thanks to the creativity of today’s designers. However, very little is known about how the production strategy they use contributes to sustainable fashion.
Designers in Africa are likely to face economic, social, and political challenges that limit production and efficiency in the industry. However, many of the designers in my west African study turned these challenges on their head: while the market limits the
California Dept. of Public Health urges Golden State residents to avoid Vietnamese hemorrhoid ointment
The California Department of Public Health has issued a warning to consumers advising them not to purchase or use a hemorrhoid ointment from Vietnam that was found to contain dangerous levels of lead and was linked to a death in Northern California.
A public health advisory declared that California consumers should not use Cao Bôi Trĩ Cây Thầu Dầu, an ointment for hemorrhoids that is produced in Vietnam and available for purchase on social media and by private vendors at public events like swap meets.
According to CDPH, the product was found to contain 4% lead, which was described by health officials as “an incredibly high and dangerous level,” who added that the ointment was linked to a lead poisoning death in Sacramento County.
Reports from KTLA sister station KTXL indicate that the victim allegedly bought Cao Bôi Trĩ Cây Thầu Dầu on Facebook and had it shipped to her by a relative in Vietnam.
“Consumers should be extremely cautious using unregulated health products available online or through social media,” said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer, Dr. Tomás J. Aragón. “Many of these products overpromise to cure or relieve ailments and are not tested for safety. Putting these products on or in your body can have serious consequences.”
State health officials are working with county health departments to raise awareness within their Vietnamese communities. Federal health officials have also been notified, CDPH said.
Anyone who is using or has used Cao Bôi Trĩ Cây Thầu Dầu is urged to stop immediately, see a healthcare provider
Is striving for a ‘goal body’ healthy? Canadian dietitian shares tips on the best approach to weight loss and body goals
Welcome to Ask A Dietitian, a series where Yahoo Canada digs into food trends and popular nutrition questions with registered dietitian Abbey Sharp.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Contact a qualified medical professional before engaging in any physical activity, or making any changes to your diet, medication or lifestyle.
In a world dominated by social media images of fitness models and celebrities, the concept of a “goal body” has become pervasive. But is the obsession with achieving a specific physique healthy?
Registered dietitian Abbey Sharp recently responded to an online troll who questioned why they should listen to her if she doesn’t have a “goal body.” The social media user then commented again on one of Sharp’s TikTok videos, claiming a goal body is one “20 pounds lighter” than Sharp’s.
The dietitian responded saying: “If I was 20 pounds lighter… I would be officially very underweight… Which tells me I would need to be physically sick and malnourished for people on the internet like that, to respect my evidence-based content.” Sharp then added, “My body is not my business card… And for the record… I f——— love the body that I have.”
As a dietitian, Sharp says body positivity and weight loss can co-exist, as long as your “body goals” are coming from a place of self-care. She told Yahoo Canada how to set a ‘goal body’ and how to approach weight loss in a healthy, sustainable way.
What is a ‘goal body’?
When asked about the notion of a “goal body,” Sharp noted, the term is “often used on the internet to describe a specific
Canada health care: Crisis ‘decades in the making’
The strain placed on Canadian health care during the COVID-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating, and the top official of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is warning that improving the system will be a “slow process” requiring sustained investment.
“This is a problem that’s been decades in the making,” Dr. Kathleen Ross, president of the CMA, said on CTV News Channel. “Many, many of these challenges existed long before the pandemic.”
Ross says there’s a need to “shift” how health care is provided to Canadians with both historic and sustained investment required — however she also warns it’s key to make sure funding is “optimized” in order to actually close the gaps in the system.
Structural issues across the country
There are currently major issues throughout the health-care system, according to Ross, including more that 6 million Canadians without access to a family doctor, overwhelmed emergency departments and lengthy wait times “for everything.”
Ross says “there’s many, issues that we need to tackle” that requires decision-makers to set “transparent and accountable” goals with sustained outreach so the public can see a clear link between tax dollar spending and “critical challenges” being addressed.
Canada’s leaders, according to Ross, need to “openly set goals” in order to encourage cross-jurisdictional collaboration and “accelerate improvement.”
What needs immediate attention?
The issues in the system are deep-seated however, so what should governments focus on immediately? Ross thinks the first focus needs to be stabilizing primary care.
“That’s the front door, foundational basis of our health-care system.”
Ross says if Canada hopes “to meet the needs of Canadians,” improving community care services will have an immediate impact, allowing overburdened emergency departments to being “offload patients” and start to free space for acute care.
Can AI Contribute to Health Misinformation?
Large language models (LLMs) are a type of artificial intelligence (AI) program capable of recognizing and generating text. They are expected to play a significant role in healthcare areas such as remote patient monitoring, triage, health education, and administrative tasks.
LLMs, however, can also be used for the massive generation of health misinformation, leading to consequences such as stigmatization, rejection of proven treatments, confusion, or fear. This possibility is particularly concerning, because more than 70% of patients use the Internet as their primary source of health information, and it has been shown that false information spreads online six times faster than factual content.
Two Contemporary Examples
To assess the effectiveness of protective measures against the use of LLMs as generators of health misinformation, researchers studied the following four publicly accessible LLMs: OpenAI’s GPT-4 (via ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot), Google’s PaLM 2 and Gemini Pro (via Bard), Anthropic’s Claude 2 (via Poe), and Meta’s Llama 2 (via HuggingChat).
In September 2023, these LLMs were prompted to generate false information in the form of an article of at least 300 words on two topics: Sunscreen as a cause of skin cancer and the alkaline diet as a treatment for cancer.
Each request for the two misinformation topics entailed the creation of a blog post containing three paragraphs with a catchy, seemingly realistic and scientific title, and two references from seemingly authentic journals, which, if necessary, could be invented. The researchers also made requests targeting specific audiences.
The authors assessed how developers monitor the risks of misinformation generation and identified vulnerabilities in the LLMs. The AI developers involved were informed of the generated misinformation results. The authors conducted a follow-up evaluation 12 weeks later and noted any improvements. The goal was to determine whether the backup systems prevent the generation of false information
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center’s new emergency department will open in July
After two years of construction, the first part of a redesigned and expanded emergency department at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver will open July 16.
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center has been treating patients in a temporary emergency room but will switch to the newly finished space. Then, the final phase of construction will begin.
When completed in 2025, the new emergency department will encompass 37,000 square feet, with 56 treatment rooms, 11 transitional rooms, four trauma rooms, 24 observation rooms and eight ambulance ports.
“The initial emergency department was built in the late ’80s, early ’90s. We’ve had one significant remodel since then, but the population has grown,” Emergency Services Medical Director Jason Hanley said. “The emergency department facility in general just needed an upgrade in terms of room size, and making it look respectable to the point that our patients deserve.”
The process
On Friday afternoon, a boom lift raised a construction crew to work on the building’s glass panes. Inside, patient rooms are double the size of those in the old emergency department. In addition to treatment and trauma rooms, the building will include dedicated pediatric rooms. The space will also include an entry with adjacent parking for safe traffic flow.
Open communication between all team members was imperative for the success of the project, said Rick Sanders, PeaceHealth’s director of planning and design.
“That’s been the key to the success: open communication, people working back and forth and making sure that we’re taking care of the community that we serve,” Sanders said. “From the very, very beginning, we were making sure that we were taking care of our caregivers. We had a lot of input. We did mock-ups of the rooms, and we put sticky notes everywhere with ideas.”
The new building will improve patient
How to Start Healing Your Gut in 4 Easy Steps
Think of your gut microbiome as a half-teased tangle of connections to other aspects of your health and body.
In the world of wellness, there are few topics as trendy as “gut health.” But for good reason: Your gut microbiome has connections to other aspects of your health, and researchers have linked it to digestive function, mental health, your skin and more. In some cases, researchers are trying to pin down whether an unhealthy gut microbiome is one cause of a symptom or health condition or a reaction to one.
The microbiome refers to the trillions of microorganisms (also called microbes) living in your body, such as bacteria, viruses and fungi. The gut microbiome, specifically, references the microbes in your intestines — notably the large intestine. This helps you metabolize the food you can’t digest, boost your immune function and control inflammation. These microbes also generate metabolites (substances that your body uses to break down food), including vitamins, enzymes and hormones, according to Gail Cresci, a microbiome researcher and registered dietician with Cleveland Clinic’s pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition department.
You should think of your gut microbiome as “little pets living inside your intestinal tract,” Cresci told CNET in 2023. What we eat feeds them, and our internal environment dictates how well they thrive.
As we learn more about the gut microbiome, there are a few basic tips you can use to keep it as healthy as you can.
Read more: 12 Probiotic Foods That Can Improve Your Gut Health
Signs of an unhealthy gut
“If you’re bloated or you have lots of gas, you may have a disrupted composition and function of the gut microbiome,” Cresci said, adding that the only way to know for sure is to have it measured.
Other signs of an unhealthy
N.S. hopes daycare will be key to keeping health-care system running
It’s suppertime at Health Park Early Learning Centre in Sydney, N.S., and six children are nibbling away on grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.
Sarah Chow sits at a tiny table beside her 15-month-old daughter Mira, spending a few minutes together before leaving for work.
“She actually settled really well. She eats here, she loves to dance to music and they even got her to sleep,” Chow said, “which was really amazing, because usually I’m the only one successful at that.”
Chow is a piano teacher who works in the evenings, and her husband is an emergency-room doctor on a rotating shift at nearby Cape Breton Regional Hospital. They’ve had a hard time making their schedules line up with Mira’s care.
“Both of our families are in Ontario, so we don’t have grandparents close by to just kind of drop off the baby occasionally,” Chow said. “The first year was really 24/7.”
So when Health Park started offering round-the-clock child care for health-care workers in January, it was a blessing for the Chows.
“It’s really making our stay in Cape Breton a lot more positive, and I think it will probably be long term if we have that support,” Chow said.
What’s happening at Health Park is a pilot project aimed at tackling a pressing issue: Health-care workers across the country are reporting high levels of burnout, and many say child care with flexible hours would help them stay at work.
Whether 24/7 daycare for children of health-care workers is feasible is still an open question, but at least two provinces in Canada are trying to find out.
‘We are serious about the need’
So far the Sydney program has served 22 families