Tag: health

Yukon takes first step to create health authority

The Yukon Government has taken the first step to creating a health authority in the territory, an arm’s-length organization that will carry out front line care.

Tracy-Anne McPhee, minister of health and social services, tabled the Health Authority Act in the Yukon Legislature Monday, but if passed, the authority itself is still years away.  

At a news conference Monday, Tiffany Boyd, deputy minister of the health department, said that once implemented, the authority would be in charge of delivering acute care while the health department sets out high level direction. 

“It’s about putting the person and family at the centre of care in everything that we do,” she said.

The legislation is the result of findings from an independent panel in 2020. That panel made 76 recommendations to improve Yukon healthcare and creating a distinct health authority was among them. Yukon is currently one of two jurisdictions in Canada without the authority, along with Nunavut. 

Boyd is also the co-chair of the health transformation advisory committee and said the transition could take up to three years if the bill passes. 

Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation Chief Pauline Frost said the new health authority would help Indigenous people feel culturally safe while receiving medical care. 

She said that Indigenous Yukoners’ life expectancy can be 10 years shorter than non-Indigenous residents and she said that’s the result of Indigenous people falling through the cracks of the territorial and federal systems. 

She said the health authority would be created in partnership with Yukon First Nations and it will help create a system free of racial discrimination.   

The authority would be operated by a seven-person board of directors with four board members nominated by the health minister and three nominated by the Yukon First Nations.

McPhee said that many employees who currently work for the

Statement from the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada on Global Increase in Measles and Risk to Canada

Statement


February 23, 2024 | Ottawa, ON | Public Health Agency of Canada

Global health authorities are reporting a significant increase in measles in 2023 that continues into 2024, due in part to a decline in measles vaccinations during the pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a 79% increase in the number of global measles cases in 2023 compared to 2022. While cases can occur anywhere in the world, there has been a notable recent increase in the WHO European region.

As we head into the spring break travel season, I am concerned that the global surge in measles activity, combined with the decline in measles vaccine coverage among school-aged children in Canada, could lead to an increase in imported measles cases, potentially resulting in transmission in communities in Canada. I strongly advise everyone in Canada to be vaccinated with two doses of a measles vaccine, especially before travelling. If needed, measles vaccination should optimally be given at least two weeks before departure, but there are still benefits if given less than two weeks before travelling.

Although measles has been eliminated in Canada, cases can still occur here when an individual who is not fully vaccinated has travelled to or from a country where measles is circulating. Imported cases can lead to subsequent spread of measles in Canada among unvaccinated or under-vaccinated people. As of February 23, 2024, we are aware of six measles cases in Canada, some of whom have required hospitalization. Most of these

Cohen: Three ways to tell good health information from pseudoscience

Pay attention to what social media influencers are selling, how they’re talking about science and what sort of expertise they claim.

Article content

Health information is increasingly being shared online, and often the borders between legitimate health expertise and pseudoscience aren’t clear. While the internet can be a valuable way to learn about health, it’s also rife with disinformation and grift, as unscrupulous influencers exploit people’s fears about their bodies.

In my medical practice, I can usually track online wellness trends, such as a patient refusing a medication because of online claims — many of which are false — that it lowers testosterone, or the several months when it seemed everyone was taking turmeric for joint pain, or the patients who request an ivermectin prescription in case they catch COVID.

Advertisement 2

Biden’s budget proposal for a second term offers tax breaks for families and lower health care costs

MANCHESTER, N.H. — MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday released a budget proposal aimed at getting voters’ attention: It would offer tax breaks for families, lower health care costs, smaller deficits and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

Unlikely to pass the House and Senate to become law, the proposal for fiscal 2025 is an election year blueprint about what the future could hold if Biden and enough of his fellow Democrats win in November. The president and his aides previewed parts of his budget going into last week’s State of the Union address, and they provided the fine print on Monday.

If the Biden budget became law, deficits could be pruned $3 trillion over a decade. It would raise tax revenues by a total of $4.9 trillion over that period and use roughly $1.9 trillion to fund various programs, with the rest going to deficit reduction.

The president traveled Monday to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he called on Congress to apply his $2,000 cap on drug costs and $35 insulin to everyone, not just people who have Medicare. He also advocated for making permanent some protections in the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire next year.

“I’m here in New Hampshire to talk about the budget I released today that would, I think, help in a big way,” Biden said.

Biden aides said their budget was realistic and detailed while rival measures from Republicans were not financially viable.

“Congressional Republicans don’t tell you what they cut, who they harm,” White House budget director Shalanda Young said. “The president is transparent.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., issued a joint statement with other GOP leaders calling the Biden proposal a “glaring reminder of this Administration’s insatiable appetite for reckless spending.”

“Biden’s budget doesn’t just miss

Health unit issues boil-water advisory for Friday Harbour Resort

Lab tests expected in next day or two following water-main break at Innisfil community

The local health unit issued a boil-water advisory on Tuesday for Friday Harbour Resort in Innisfil following a recent water-main break.

Repairs are now completed, according to the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.

“This advisory is in effect until further notice and will be lifted once the safety of the water has been confirmed by laboratory tests,” the health unit stated in a news release. 

It is anticipated that these results will be available in the next one to two days.

Public health officials say drinking water directly from the tap is not safe at this time and can result in illness.

Those most at risk include the elderly, the very young and people with weakened immune systems.

Residents are advised to boil their water before use or, as an alternative, use bottled water or commercially treated water from an approved source.

Restaurants, bars and other food services — excluding facilities that sell pre-packaged food and that have been approved to operate by the local health unit — are closed for the duration of the boil-water advisory.

To prepare your water for use, the health unit says to bring water to a “rolling boil for at least one minute.”

Allow it to cool before:

  • drinking
  • brushing teeth or rinsing dentures
  • preparing food, washing fruits, vegetables, and other food
  • preparing infant formula
  • making ice, beverages, or other mixes
  • washing dishes: Wash dishes with soap and water, rinse them and then sanitize them in a separate sink with a capful of bleach mixed with a sink full of clear water.

This advice also extends to drinking water for pets.

The health unit says adults, teens and older children can use water

Quadrangle N.L. takes a closer look at 2SLGBTQ+ health care in new research project

Ainsley Hawthorn  (Submitted by Ainsley Hawthorn - image credit)

Ainsley Hawthorn (Submitted by Ainsley Hawthorn – image credit)

Ainsley Hawthorn

Ainsley Hawthorn

Ainsley Hawthorn, the project’s research manager, says some in the 2SLGBTQ+ avoid health services due to a lack of education among some health staff. (Submitted by Ainsley Hawthorn)

More than half of 2SLGBTQ+ and gender-diverse people in Newfoundland and Labrador say their mental health is poor or very poor and over 73 per cent say they needed mental health-care services but never got them.

That’s according to a research project by Quadrangle N.L., funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada.

The report considers all health-care services in Newfoundland and Labrador. The results are anything but optimistic.

“Even though we can see that there’s a need for therapy and mental health treatment, people aren’t easily able to get it,” Ainsley Hawthorn, the project’s research manager, told CBC News on Monday.

The survey had 272 respondents from people in all regions of the province. About half indicated they are gender-diverse, which is around 10 per cent of the gender diverse-population of the province, Hawthorn said.

Charlie Murphy, executive director of Quadrangle N.L., says the results of the survey indicate the need for more mental health services, across the province, free of charge, for the community.

The project also included interviews with health-care providers and health-care students.

Hawthorn said many indicated they haven’t had a solid education on serving the 2SLGBTQ+ community or the community’s particular needs.

Listen to the full interview with CBC Radio’s Newfoundland Morning:

“And generally speaking, the level of confidence was not that high among health-care providers that they could serve this community,” she said.

“We actually found that 43.8 per cent of [2SLGBTQ+] community members in the province had to educate a health-care provider on their needs in the past year. So that’s not even in their

Lawsuit claiming Flo Health app shared intimate data with Facebook greenlit as Canadian class action

A Canadian class-action lawsuit accusing a popular fertility tracking app of sending users’ intimate health information — including details about their periods, sex lives and pregnancies — to companies like Facebook without their knowledge has been allowed to go ahead.

The claim, certified in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday, said Flo Health collected their highly sensitive personal information, promised to keep that information private and then knowingly shared the data with third parties. 

“There’s been a significant disclosure of the private information of Canadian women, and we’re excited to be proceeding to the next step with the case,” said Richard Parsons, who is co-counsel on the case.

The ruling is a pivotal step forward for the case. It will test lagging Canadian privacy laws in a time when millions of people regularly pour their personal information into their phones. If the claim succeeds, more than one million people who used Flo in Canada over a three-year period will be eligible to claim damages.

None of the lawsuit’s claims have been proven in court. In a statement to CBC News on Friday, Flo said it “has never sold user information or shared user information with third parties for the purposes of advertising.”

“Flo will vigorously defend against allegations stipulated in the case.”

Lead plaintiff used app while trying to get pregnant

Flo is an app that tracks users’ fertility and periods. Users enter personal information about their height, weight, sex lives and reproductive cycles — including details about their periods, vaginal discharge, pregnancies, miscarriages, births and postpartum symptoms.

Jamie Kah Cate Lam, the lead plaintiff in the class action, said she used the Flo app for 18 months while she and her husband were trying to conceive. The B.C. woman gave the app information about the different stages of her menstrual

Mobile County Health Department discusses uptick in STD cases

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Talking about STDs is something a lot of people shy away from, but in Mobile County, STD numbers are staggering.

News 5’s Cherish Lombard was joined by Cherrite Peterson and Ashlee Fountain-Jones from the Mobile County Health Department in studio Friday to discuss the rise in sexually transmitted disease cases.

The highest rates of STDs in the country are found in the 20 to 29 age group with a rate above 227% per 100,000 residents.

“So here in Mobile County, we have about 300,000 residents,” Peterson said. “Out of that 300,000, every 100,000, 227% of those people have tested positive for STDs, so that is extremely high for a county such as Mobile. So we’re definitely encouraging people to get tested so that we can get those numbers down.”

Peterson said chlamydia is the most common STD found in Mobile, but it is a treatable STD. She said in 2023, Mobile County saw 4,500 cases of chlamydia.

Mobile County also saw a 3.6% increase in human immunodeficiency virus cases, Peterson said.

Women and young girls are more likely to be impacted by STDs than men or boys.

“So we have more women seeking care,” Fountain-Jones said. “They are going in because they are having more symptoms. They are going in for their GYN exams, and they are getting tested more often.”

Still, many who may have these kinds of issues don’t see a doctor, which can lead to major health problems.

“Yes, it can definitely lead to different things like infertility,” Peterson said.

“Chlamydia, so chlamydia can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, which is

The Ottawa Hospital and YouTube Health partner to increase access to health information in Canada


youtube logo

Through evidence-based videos in English and French, this partnership aims to make health information more available for everyone.

In an effort to increase access to local health resources and information, The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) and YouTube Health have partnered to deliver quality health information to Canadians. Through videos in both English and French, TOH will develop critical information that Canadians need on a variety of common health conditions, including the common cold, HIV, infertility and meningitis.

“There is a need to make health information — especially in French — more accessible and readily available to folks in the community,” said Melanie Gruer, Chief Communications Officer at The Ottawa Hospital. “Partnering with YouTube Health allows our medical experts to connect with viewers and share information about common health conditions through a platform they are already familiar with.”

YouTube currently reaches 98 per cent of Canadians ages 18 years and older. This partnership will help ensure that local YouTube viewers have access to accurate and high-quality health information. Other conditions that will be covered in these videos include Alzheimer’s disease, appendicitis, fatty liver disease, myocarditis, anemia, coronary artery disease and many more. 

“Our focus at YouTube Health is to make high-quality health information accessible to all Canadians,” said Soneeka Patel, YouTube Canada’s Health Lead. “Through our partnership with The Ottawa Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Canada, we’ll be able to leverage the scale of YouTube to connect Canadians with health information that is both evidence-based and culturally relevant.”

The Ottawa Hospital is always focused on improving access to health resources. The partnership with YouTube Health is

Medieval women used informal social networks to share health problems and medical advice | Media Centre

In the medieval period, medical science was still dominated by the ancient writings of Hippocrates from the fifth century and Galen of Pergamon from the second century. Research has shown that women were increasingly being taken seriously as healers and as bearers of wisdom about women’s bodies and health. But despite this, men were preferred while women faced restrictions.

Informal networks developed in response, as a way for women to practise medicine in secret – and pass on their medical wisdom outside the male bastions.

The Distaff Gospels, first published in France around 1480, is a collection of “gospels” around pregnancy, childbirth and health. It was created during secretive meetings of French women who had gathered with their drop spindles and distaffs to spin flax.

These women, who were mostly from the regions of Flanders and Picardy, agreed to meet over the long nights between Christmas and early February to gather the wisdom of their ancestors and pass it on to the women who came after them. The meetings are believed to have been organised by a local villager who selected six older women, each chairing one night, who would recount their advice on a range of topics such as pregnancy, childbirth and marriage.

A scribe was appointed to record the advice, which had previously only been preserved through the oral story tradition of peasant women. What is most fascinating is that although the text is mediated by a male scribe, The Distaff Gospels presents the often-silent voices of the lower working-class women. One such gospel advises:

Young women should never be given hares’ heads to eat, for fear they might think about it later, once they are married, especially while they are pregnant; in that case, for sure, their children would have split lips.

‘Deviant women’

The advice

Back To Top