Women's Health

Toward a national action plan to reduce stillbirths in Canada

Canada’s stillbirth rate has remained stagnant for more than 20 years, at a rate of more than 3,000 per year, and there are no plans in place to reduce it. The Canadian Collaborative for Stillbirth Prevention is asking the government to enact a national action plan to address the issue. Find out what you can do to get involved.

Let’s not be smug: Canada has much work to do in caring for pregnant women

At a time when there is impetus to preserve reproductive rights globally, in Canada there must be an emphasis on patient-centred approaches to education, policies and models of care for miscarriage - the most frequent complication of early pregnancy.

Gender segregation, pay inequity. Understanding the ‘pink-collar’ tier in medicine

Understanding the history of health care’s gender segregation, the basis for today’s “pink collar” tier of female-dominated specialties, could help current efforts to improve pay equity in medicine.

Long COVID – a public health crisis taking out women at the height of their lives

Long COVID symptoms now dominate my life, hopes and dreams. As soon as I realized that I wasn’t getting better after my COVID infection, I went looking for answers.

As U.S. Supreme Court prepares to limit abortion rights, Canadian pro-choice advocates say we must stay vigilant

Canadian pro-choice advocates say they are not “naive enough to think that what's happening in the U.S. will never happen in Canada."

‘They’ve grown up disconnected’: Saskatchewan programs aim to reunite Indigenous families, support vulnerable mothers-to-be

The Cowessess First Nation's family care system reunites Indigenous parents with their children, restores cultural connections and helps expectant and new mothers gain labour skills, financial literacy and find housing.

Giving birth during the blizzard of 2022 – while fighting COVID

Carrie Clayton drove herself though downtown Toronto during January's record-breaking blizzard to give birth to her daughter. To make matters worse - Carrie also had COVID. This is her story.

National child-care program is worth celebrating but new mothers deserve more support

The federal government’s national $10-a-day child care program is cause for celebration. But there is a lot more that still needs to be done in both the public and private sectors to support parents post-partum.

Pandemic recovery plans must address gaps in reproductive health

As Canada turns toward pandemic recovery plans, we must ensure that these plans, and any mitigation strategies in response to future COVID-19 waves, address reproductive health for all of Canada.

Misleading label creates yet another barrier for IV iron use in pregnancy

In 2021, the FDA and EMA announced a new adverse event label for the use of intravenous (IV) iron in pregnancy. But the label is misleading and could worsen already inequitable access to an important treatment for iron deficiency in pregnancy.

ADHD in females: Outdated criteria leading to missed diagnoses

I have ADHD, but it took nearly my whole life to receive a proper diagnosis. Unfortunately, I am not alone – females with this condition often go either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, since ADHD diagnostic criteria are male-oriented.

The fight for women’s autonomy must include those who wear the hijab

It's a battle to wake up and choose the hijab each day. I truly believe in this aspect of my faith, but the fear and experience of harassment and discrimination is a form of oppression I endure. I know this is a feeling shared by my peers in medicine.

Challenging oppressive maternity health care in Canada

Improving health care must begin by recognizing the interconnected webs of colonization woven into all health-care systems in Canada. A good place to start would be at the beginning – with maternity care and birth.

Ontario’s position on midwifery puts rural and Indigenous communities at risk

For the Ford government, midwives' demands for equitable pay are unacceptable. But instead of using tax dollars to fight midwives in court, Ford should recognize gender-based inequities, address the pay gap and invest in rural and northern midwifery programs.

Vaccination among the pregnant lagging despite growing evidence of safety and efficacy

Despite data showing the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women, uptake is still lagging. Here are some of the reasons why.

Promoting gender equity in healthy aging matters

Longer lives are one of the greatest achievements in medicine. Yet we see a diminished quality of life for many older adults, especially women, due to inequities institutionalized in health care. So how do we de-institutionalize these inequities?

How scientific evidence evolves: A case study on COVID-19 in pregnancy

Pregnant people are at higher risk of severe COVID-19. This is a well-established fact. But it hasn’t always been. Earlier on, experts did not believe this group was at higher risk. This change in perspective is normal: in fact, it's how science works.

Smart bras, molecular imaging and genome sequencing: Innovations take on breast cancer

What if a bra, taking images like an MRI, could detect breast cancer? With recent technological innovations, there may soon be cheap, non-invasive ways to screen people for breast cancer in their own homes.

Our Surgeries, Ourselves

Columnist Anne Borden King combines meticulous research with moving reflections about living with breast cancer to expose an overlooked form of medical paternalism and explore the thought-provoking relationship between one’s body and most intimate self-image.

Scrap the Pap

We need to switch from traditional Pap testing to oncogenic HPV screening to save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of cases of cervical cancer. The longer we put off switching, the more we needlessly put people at risk.