Public Health

Access to virtual care highlights urban/rural divide

The move to virtual care is leaving some communities behind. For rural Canadians, especially those in remote and Indigenous communities, there are obstacles to seeing a doctor both in person and online.

Making schools safe spaces: The legal authority for school boards to enact masking policies

Despite the confusion and the province's edict, Ontario's Education Act clearly gives boards the authority to enact policies aimed at promoting student well-being, meaning they have the right and obligation to impose mask mandates if student health is at stake.

Group pushes for ‘compassion club model’ to address surge of deaths from toxic drug supply

Six years after the B.C. government declared the overdose epidemic a public health emergency, policies have failed to slow the scourge.

The end of public health in Ontario

The failure to use section 22 powers during the most devastating public health crisis in the last 100 years signals the end of public health in Ontario. This is a direct result of the inaction of those vested with the power to protect public health.

Stuck in the middle with you: The inherent tension faced by medical officers of health

The past year has seen mounting public calls for the resignations of chief medical officers of health, either for being too power hungry or abandoning the public, depending on the complainants’ station and political bent. They are subject to attacks by opposition parties for their complicity, or abandoned by the governing party as scapegoats for policy decisions.

The Time is Now for LGBT+ Health Equity

Creating inclusive environments for LGBT+ clients has not occurred on a broad scale in Canada or elsewhere. The onus is on the health-care system and its leaders, from the local level to the federal government, to address LGBT+ health inequity. The lives of millions of people depend on it.

Is Canada ready to lift mask mandates? Experts weigh in

As public health restrictions lift across the country, we asked experts to weigh in on whether it's time to do away with mask mandates.

Finding joy and meaning in our new reality

Dr. Seema Marwaha, our editor-in-chief, pens a column for Best Health Magazine about the second anniversary of the pandemic. She writes: "as we head into our third pandemic year, the mood is palpably different. Unlike 2021, we have been here before. We know that returning to restaurants, social gatherings and a general sense of normalcy may be temporary."

The paradox of CO2: Leading cause of climate change essential for food, drink – and COVID vaccines

Carbon dioxide is the leading cause of climate change. But when the U.K. experienced a shortage of CO2 last year, it drove consumer fears of higher prices for food and drink. At the heart of this paradox is that, for all the damage that CO2 does, it also has some essential uses in modern society.

Health Care in Hues: Standing Strong Against Misinformation

Physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other allied health professionals continue to wade through rapidly evolving evidence to provide care to patients and keep the health-care system upright.

‘We will not hide out of fear’: Open letter speaks out against harassment

Physicians and other health-care workers have been subject to harassment and intimidation for doing their day-to-day work during the pandemic explains Dr. Kaplan-Myrth, who recently penned an open letter asserting why health professionals should not hide out of fear of violence from hate-fueled convoys.

My friend joined the vaccine exodus, but I still can’t wait to welcome her back

I once thought all anti-vaxxers were selfish, putting their “freedom” before the common good. Then a close friend moved to Florida to escape Canada’s vaccine mandates. Now, I hope we can mend fractures in our communities for the good of society.

Living with endemic SARS-CoV-2 isn’t the same as ‘back to normal’

As provinces scrap vaccine passports and other public health measures, more and people people are speaking about “living with the virus." But this does not mean that we can live as we did before the pandemic. Public health measures will continue.

Risky dancers: Putting health on the line for that ‘human touch’

Knowing they are putting their bodies on the line to have human connections, many dancers are trying to manage their COVID risk by various means – and it could give us a glimpse of what mass gatherings might look like in a post-pandemic world.

A recipe for hope: How to vaccinate the world and end the pandemic

Researchers have developed a new COVID-19 vaccine, and they have no intention of filing a patent. Instead, they have concrete plans for large-scale manufacturing in the Global South. This is what global vaccine equity looks like.

Premier Legault comes to his senses

By backing down from the threat of a tax on the unvaccinated, Premier Legault has narrowly avoided yet another policy debacle in the wasteland of COVID public-health policy in Canada.

Safer supply prescribing not enough to end devastating opioid epidemic, experts say

Safer Opioid Supply is an attention-grabbing, controversial approach to combatting the opioid crisis. But for all the debate, both its proponents and critics in addictions medicine tend to agree that there is much more to addressing the opioid epidemic.

‘Benzo-dope’ wave complicating fight against opioid epidemic

A wave of benzodiazepines is adulterating Toronto’s illegal opioid market, raising risks for users, complicating the fight against the opioid crisis, and imposing extra burdens on a COVID-stretched emergency response system.

Cutting through the COVID confusion

Every day, thousands of Canadians are infected with COVID. But this isn’t March 2020. Due to mass vaccination and the particulars of Omicron, the majority of those getting COVID will not need hospital care. What Canadians do need is information, support at home and timely access to primary care.

Let evidence be our guide: Misinformation most insidious when it comes from health-care professionals

Misinformation comes in many forms, but perhaps it is most harmful when it is produced by a health-care professional and published in a respected national newspaper.