This article is adapted from Girl-Centred Approaches to Prevention, Harm Reduction, and Treatment and Heavy Alcohol Use Among Girls and Young Women: Highlights of Findings from Literature Review and Web Search. It illustrates how increasing attention is being brought to the issue of substance use by girls and young women, and the associated health and social consequences of heavy drinking, smoking cigarettes, as well as the use of both licit and illicit substances. Local, national, and international data now show that the gender gap in substance use is closing.
This article examines the National Eating Disorder Information Centre's new public service campaign which puts pressure on the industries that create and distribute the unrealistic ultra-thin images of womoen.
The author pulls out the main points and outcomes of a three-day international consultation on Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs). The consultation brought together 90 participants from over 10 countries to discuss issues and concerns around the proliferation, and normalization of the industry of ARTs.
A book and a series of workshops were created by the Atlantic, British Columbia and Prairie Centres of Excellence which outline the core concepts and process of undertaking sex- and gender-based analysis (SGBA). This article describes the successes of both the book and workshop in helping people understand and integrate SGBA into their work.
Lesbian and bisexual women and trans people are less likely to get pap tests according to Statistics Canada. A working group called the Queer Women's Health Initiative was formed and the Check it Out campaign was created to encourage queer people to access pap tests.
This article describes the POWER (Project for an Ontario Women's Health Evidence-Based Report) Study who are producing a women's health equity report that measures the health of Ontarians, the performance of the health care system , gender differences in access to, quality and outcomes of care for the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. A full copy of the POWER study report is available online at http://www.powerstudy.ca/the-power-report/the-power-report-volume-1/cardiovascular-disease.
This article is adapted from "Not Just Victims: Women in Emergencies and Disasters" from Women and Health Care Reform. The authors make an arguement for why looking at sex and gender can help identify and prepare for different strengths and vulnerabilities in times of crisis.
Outlines the research being done by the National Network on Environments and Women's Health (NNEWH) on women's relationship to our most essential resource. The author looks at the NNEWH's website www.womenandwater.ca , a research initiative on women and water in Canada exploring Canadian water issues and the implications for women's health.
This article highlights the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer's 2008 report entitled "Where Do We Go From Here? Suport services for women with breast, cervical, ovarian and uterine cancer in Atlantic Canada" which looks at the idea of merging services to meet the needs of the underserved gynaecological cancer population.
This article investigates whether or not there is evidence that antidepressant prescription drugs benefit pregnant women and if that benefit outweighs the potential risks. Author Jane Shulman refers to Dr. Barbara Mintzes' expertise on the growing trend for doctors to encourage women to continue taking anti-depressants when they get pregnant.
