The NCCMT has undertaken an environmental scan to inform its strategic planning activities for the next five years (2010–2015) to refresh its perspective on the public health environment. This environmental scan highlights and summarizes new and emerging developments, pressures and potential opportunities in the broad health care landscape.

English Version [ PDF, 500Kb]
<http://www.nccmt.ca/pubs/NCCMT_EnvironmentalScan_2_Sept09EN_WEB.pdf> 

The National Network on Environments and Women's Health proudly presents www.womenandwater.ca, a new website that will contribute to the dialogue around Canadian water policy through water research that affects women and their health.

Women have historical and traditional ties and spiritual relationships with water. In this way, water is of central importance to health broadly-defined (i.e. not just physical health). However, often women are not specifically studied or physical effects on women are measured in relation to the health of their unborn and new babies. Literature reviews show that a gender perspective is largely absent from research on water resources and related policy reports in Canada and very few studies focus on women and water in developed countries. While case studies and research from developing countries is useful for identifying themes and gives us clues about what the gender dimensions of the topic might be, it is also expected that those dimensions will take on a distinctly different form in Canada. This website will explore the gendered risks to women in a country where access to safe water is often taken for granted.

A new Canadian Centre For Poicy Alternatives report draws attention to Canada's shockingly high rates of women's poverty and offers a strong critique of recent federal government policies that have helped contribute to it. Women's Poverty and the Recession by researcher Monica Townson reveals almost one-quarter (24%) of Canadian women raising children on their own and 14% of single older women are poor.
 
The report notes that, since coming into power, the Harper government has seriously undermined progress towards reducing women's poverty. Policies such as restricting pay equity, refusing to fix EI, and cutting funding for early learning and child care have only contributed to the problem. Click here to read the report and access some fact sheets on women's poverty. 

Infact Canada’s 2009 World Breastfeeding Week Action Kit is now available! The kit contains posters, brochures, fact sheets and more to ensure you have everything you need to promote World Breastfeeding Week, from October 1 to 7. To order a kit, go to the website.  

The Push to Prescribe, a collective effort of the national working group, Women and Health Protection, delves into the world of prescription drugs in Canada, and considers the impact on the health of women. From the inadequate testing of many drugs on women in clinical trials, to the sometimes questionable portrayal of women in illegal prescription drug advertising, Canadian drug policy has not always paid attention to how women and men are affected differentlly. The Push to Prescribe considers how the legacy left behind by women’s experiences in earlier decades with such drugs as Thalidomide and DES, and devices like the Dalkon Shield IUD, have found their more recent counterparts in problems associated with such products as  hormone therapy, Diane-35 and silicone gel breast implants.

Available from Women's Press/Canadian Scholars' Press.

Over the past decade there have been significant shifts both in feminist approaches to the field of eating disorders and in the ways in which gender, bodies, body weight, body management and food are understood, represented and regulated within the dominant cultural milieus of the early twenty-first century.

Critical Feminist Approaches to Eating Dis/Orders addresses these developments, exploring how eating disordered subjectivities, experiences and body management practices are theorised and researched within postmodern and post-structuralist feminist frameworks.

For more information, see Critical Feminist Approaches to Eating Dis/Orders.

Being released August 20…The POWER Study Cancer chapter, the fourth in its two-volume Women's Health Report. POWER’s comprehensive provincial Report is designed to serve as an evidence-based tool to help policy makers, health care providers and consumers improve the health of, and reduce inequities among Ontario women. The Cancer chapter reports on leading causes of cancer in women, including cancers of the breast, reproductive system, lung and colorectal cancer. We report on cancer incidence, survival rates and end-of-life care; and include indicators that capture the continuum of cancer care (prevention, screening, treatment and follow-up, and end-of-life care). We examine performance on these indicators for women and men and assess differences by income, age and geography. Also available are Chapter 1, Introduction to the POWER Study; Chapter 2, the POWER Study Framework.; and Chapter 3, the Burden of Illness.  

To download, visit the website.

The BC Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre, and the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health have released You and Your Health: A Woman's Guide. The Guide uses a broad approach to women’s health, which includes healthy living information, disease-specific recommendations and advice, and information concerning the social determinants of health. It includes information on women-specific health concerns as well as the links between women's health and the health of their communities. It recommends ways to improve health and addresses issues that may come up for women at different stages of their lives. The Guide is intended to be an everyday resource and a potential first point of contact for health information. 

The Women's Health Research Network has launched a new primer on Community Based Research (CBR). Our Common Ground: Cultivating Women's Health Through Community Based Research is a research guide rooted in the experiences and practices of community  researchers, designed to give readers a solid understanding of the CBR process and how it can be applied to enhance research on all levels.

The POWER Study (Project for an Ontario Women's Health Evidence-based Report) is producing a two-volume Women's Health Report to serve as an evidence-based tool for policy makers, providers, and consumers in their efforts to improve health and reduce health inequities among Ontario women. POWER has just released the Burden of Illness which reports on the Burden of Illness (overall health and well-being) experienced by Ontarians, and how it differs by sex, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and geography. By painting a picture of health inequities in the province, opportunities for improvement are identified and objective evidence is presented to inform priority setting and to provide a baseline from which to measure progress. Also available are: Chapter 1, Introduction to the POWER Study and Chapter 2, The POWER Study Framework. To download, visit the website.

Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence (PWHCE) has found Photovoice to be an effective way to work with women around life experiences, and their views on social policy. After completing several Photovoice projects, PWHCE has now produced a guide to share what we have learned with others who are interested in community-based work. A Practical Guide to Photovoice: Sharing Pictures, Telling Stories and Changing Communities explains the key concepts of Photovoice and its advantages and limitations, and outlines the steps in Photovoice method.

The US Office on Women's Health has just released two new resources on women’s mental health. Action Steps for Improving Women's Mental Health brings together the most recent research, resources, products, and tools on mental health issues in women and explores the role gender plays in diagnosing, treating, and coping with mental illness. Women's Mental Health: What It Means to You is a consumer booklet that addresses the stigma associated with mental health, with information on the signs and symptoms of mental illness. It also provides suggestions for support and solutions for preventing and coping with mental illness. Download or order copies through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Health Information Network (SHIN).

The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre announced this month that “everyone in Canada with access to the Internet will be able to view the full content of The Cochrane Library, an on-line resource that provides evaluations on health treatments. The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre, in partnership with the Canadian Health Libraries Association, has successfully secured a national license to The Cochrane Library. In essence, the license provides a subscription for every Canadian with access to the Internet to benefit from the immense volume of health information found in The Cochrane Library. Everybody will be one click away from the best available evidence on the effectiveness of treatment procedures including which ones may be harmful.”

Read the press release. (PDF)

Get to know WHEN and keep abreast of news and events. Read Volume 3, Issue 2, Spring/Summer 2009. (PDF)

1. Young Aboriginal Mothers in Winnipeg (L. Murdock), a report of the PWHCE’s  2008 study to develop a better understanding of the issues surrounding teen pregnancy among Aboriginal women, in order to adequately respond to the needs of young Aboriginal mothers through effective policies, programs and practices.

 
2. Aboriginal Maternal And Infant Health In Canada: Review Of On-Reserve Programming (R. Stout & R. Harp), a paper reviewing existing maternal and infant health programs and guidelines as administered under the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch.

 
3. Maternal And Infant Health And The Physical Environment Of First Nations And Inuit Communities: A Summary Review (R. Stout, T. Dionne Stout & R. Harp), a review examining and consolidating the available literature on environmental threats to First Nations and Inuit maternal health in order to identify priorities for future research.

4. Leaders For Tomorrow: Rural Women Creating Change (J. Havelock, N. Johns), a report on the "Leaders for Tomorrow: Rural Women Creating Change" workshop, which was part of the Rural Women's Issues Committee of Saskatchewan's project, "Empowering Rural Women's Voices". This project began in 2005, with support from Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence and Status of Women Canada.

To see all these reports, please visit the PWHCE’s website.

The Commission’s Annual Report documents the nineteen months since September 2007 when the Commission became operational. This Annual Report shows the extensive progress that has been made towards achieving the mandate that has been set out for the Commission, which is to promote mental health in Canada, to change the attitudes of Canadians toward mental health problems and mental illness, and to work with stakeholders to improve mental health services and supports.

See the report here.

This summer, Canadians for Choice is publishing a series of articles to learn about different communities' experiences in accessing sexual and reproductive health services. For the first article of this series CFC's research and Outreach Coordinator Denisse Temin interviewed Kate Sheese an organizer and educator with Justicia for Migrant Workers on the realities that foreign seasonal migrant workers experience when accessing sexual and reproductive health services in Canada.

Read the article here. (PDF)

The Canadian Population Health Initiative (CPHI) of the Canadian Institute for Health Information July 2009 e-newsletter announces the release of new online education products! CPHI’s new e-learning modules (e-modules) present population health analyses in a web-based, interactive, instructional format.  Part of a suite of CPHI educational products, the three new e-modules Mental Health and Homelessness, Promoting Healthy Weights and Improving the Health of Young Canadians build on the Improving the Health of Canadians report series.  The objective of these e-learning products is to provide knowledge to inform public discourse related to improving health and reducing health inequalities.

Read the newsletter here.

The Global HIV Prevention Working Group has released a new factsheet on proven HIV prevention strategies, stating: “There is no single solution—no “magic bullet”—to prevent HIV. However, experience in diverse settings—in all regions and in different national income strata—indicate that sharp reductions in HIV infection rates are feasible if evidence-based prevention measures are implemented. The most effective prevention programs are those that use a combination of strategies to achieve maximum impact. Following are descriptions of the major strategies that, when used in combination, are effective in preventing sexual, blood borne, and mother-to-child transmission.”

Read the factsheet here.(PDF)

This issue of Network focuses on why and how gender matters in mental health in Canada—a high priority in our work at the Canadian Women’s Health Network and the Centres of Excellence for Women’s Health.

With the Mental Health Commission of Canada currently shining the spotlight on mental health issues across the country, we have the opportunity to further promote and advance sex- and gender-based analysis of mental health care in this country. In January 2009 the Commission released its first draft framework of a Canadian mental health strategy for public discussion: Toward Recovery and Well-Being: A Framework for a Mental Health Strategy in Canada. Unfortunately, the Commission’s newly released strategy does not yet include a sex- and gender-based analysis. Read the full issue here.(PDF)

The Women's Health Circles Handbook demonstrates approaches from three
pilot sites to coordinating and conducting Health Circles and offers
examples to help you meet the needs of women in your community.

The Key to Women's Health: Stroke Resource Guide illustrates how to link
discussions on the social determinants of health or other topics chosen
by women attending Women's Health Circles to the risk factors, signs and
symptoms of stroke.

Date: March 31, 2009
Time: 9:30 am - 11:00 am
Location: Parliament Library
269 Gerrard St. East (just west of Parliament), Toronto
2nd floor, Community Room

For more information please contact: Ontario Women's Health Network at
owhn@owhn.on.ca or 416-408-4840

This new primer from the Women’s Health Research Network seeks to clarify the concepts in the health determinants framework (HDF) and to examine its usefulness in understanding the health of girls and women — a unique population group that faces “disadvantage due to structural inequities that limit their access to, and control over, material and symbolic resources, and over their bodies and lives.”

Click here to download it now!

New, from the Women’s Health Research Network, a primer for women’s health researchers on how to apply an intersectional framework in their work.

 “For those working in the areas of gender and women’s health, intersectionality can be used for studying, understanding, and responding to the ways in which sex and gender intersect with other variables and how these intersections contribute to unique experiences of health. This perspective reveals that, while sex and gender are important considerations, one should never assume that they are the most important categories for conducting health research or for developing, implementing, or evaluating policy. In short, an intersectional framework can be thought of as the next step in the evolution of women’s health research and policy.”

Visit the download page to download the primer.

Women's Healthy Environments Network’s winter 2009 newsletter is now out. See Volume 3, Issue 1, Winter 2009, WHEN Newsletter (PDF Format).

Terence Young's book, "Death by Prescription: A Father Takes on His Daughter's Killer - The Multi-Billion Dollar Pharmaceutical Companies", was published by Key Porter Books this month. According to the publisher's website and amazon.ca, it is only available for pre-order. It has already received a very favourable review in Quill and Quire.