Public Health

Let’s stop the bickering: Canadians are weary of finger-pointing amid the health-care crisis

Canadians love their publicly funded health care. But it is time to stop normalizing our broken health-care system. Political leaders need to quit bickering about who pays for what and get on with actually fixing the problem.

Will the first cut be the deepest? The debate on for-profit surgeries

As Ontario moves to fund private centres for select surgical procedures, will the province see a reduction in backlogs? Or is it a slippery slope towards further privatization of the provincial healthcare system? Our experts weigh in.

OurCare survey highlights lack of access to primary care

A nation-wide survey on the state of primary care in Canada illuminates pressing issues facing our health system. Dr. Tara Kiran and a team of collaborators with the OurCare project have launched an online dashboard with the findings.

Nursing and medical students agree: drop Bill 124

The provincial government has long ignored the needs of nurses and the passing of Bill 124 by the Ford government rubbed more salt in the wound. Nursing and medical students call to end its bad faith efforts to revive Bill 124.

A 9-1-1 on health care in Ontario’s correctional facilities

Incarceration in Ontario’s correctional facilities is becoming more fatal. Deaths in custody have increased almost 50 per cent since 2020 despite a decreasing number of incarcerated people. Part of the solution could be the transfer of care from the Ministry of the Solicitor General to the Ministry of Health.

B.C.’s ‘necessary step forward’ in drug decriminalization

B.C. is Canada’s first jurisdiction to be granted a federal exemption to decriminalize personal drug possession up to 2.5 grams. Other provinces may soon follow suit.

Beware the ‘Kraken’ – but for a different, official reason

The nickname “Kraken” for the XBB.1.5. subvariant of COVID-19 Omicron does not arise from any mandated agency or authority and incites undue fear. When the tentacle wags the giant squid, the media undermine their own credibility as honest arbiters of facts.

Debunking the myth of immunity debt

Immunity debt is an attractive concept. But there is little evidence for it as an explanation for the resurgence in pediatric respiratory infections.

‘Extremely frustrated’: B.C. family docs shut out of vaccination drive

“It’s outrageous. We’ve always partnered in influenza vaccination and used our offices and our knowledge of our patients and the local community to facilitate vaccination. And we were utterly shut out.”

The gift of a better death

Canadians need universal and equitable access to high-quality palliative care. It’s time to talk about death and dying more openly and ask ourselves: What is a good death?

Ontario service agreement adds new barriers to specialty care

A little-noticed change to the Physician Services Agreement between the provincial government and medical practitioners could leave Ontarians without a family doctor to face new barriers to care in a variety of specialty areas.

Dr. Pharmacist?

Pharmacists can prescribe medications for certain ailments in eight provinces with Ontario about to follow suit. But while pharmacists knowledge of medications is invaluable, are they diagnosticians?

Health care needs to work smarter, not harder

Canada’s health system is on life support, and those in positions of authority need to act now to bring it back to life with intelligence and compassion. `

Woefully inadequate: Dearth of funding for biomedical health research reflects our environmental racism

Biomedical research policy needs to begin addressing environmental racism and justice and expand funded research for climate change, environmental and planetary health.

Even a child can see collaboration is essential to save the Canadian health-care system

Everything is related; solutions must once again be aligned, locally scaled and human centred. We need a more stable, unified approach in health care. We need more transformative models moving forward. Above all, we need primary care and public health to join forces to prepare us for the next big challenge – climate change.

The war raging in your body: These little-known immune cells may prevent severe COVID

Infectious diseases were once the greatest threat to human survival. Today it is not necessarily the infection itself but rather the immune system’s response to the infection that dictates the survival of the fittest.

Re-imagining global health care, person by person, mission by mission

Author and physician Jennifer Wilson reflects on the decision to offer her medical services in Northern Ghana and the writing of her book, Grant Us Tomorrow.

Book excerpt: ‘Oh God. What am I doing here?’

An excerpt from Jennifer Wilson's book, Grant Us Tomorrow.

Groundbreaking research into ME/CFS a pandemic ‘silver lining’

ME/CFS is a misunderstood complex chronic illness affecting more than 600,000 Canadians. For decades ME/CFS patients have been left without proper medical support. But now, with the wave of new post-viral illnesses from the COVID-19 pandemic, ME/CFS patients might finally see some answers.

What’s on a label? This simple intervention could improve patient safety and save money

Adding reason for use to the labels of prescriptions could be an opportunity to support patient health literacy and to improve communication within the health-care team.