Resources

Report from the Ontario Women’s Health Network:

Project partners/partenaires du projet: Tekla Hendrickson, Barbara Kilbourn, Ontario Women’s Health Network

Overview: Through focus groups and an online survey, this project sought to identify the health issues that are of most interest to Ontario women, especially in relation to their personal experiences with health and access to services, information, supports and treatment. Over 2,000 women from across Ontario participated in this project, sharing their experiential wisdom and ideas on how health research, information, education and services can best meet women’s needs in Ontario.

To read more and to download the report, please visit OWHN’s website.

Obesity may well be one of the hottest health topics in North America today. We see and hear daily reports about ‘the war on obesity’ and ‘the obesity epidemic’.

How are women faring in this so-called “war”? Find out how in CWHN’s latest primer, and find a wealth of resources on the topic: Women, gender and obesity.

Evolving Toward More Personalized Care for Men and Women:  Incorporating Sex and Gender into the Treatment Paradigm

Men and women are different. Over the past twenty years, substantial scientific evidence has demonstrated unequivocally differences in women and men are reflected in every cell. Knowledge of these differences should be recognized and utilized to provide everyone with more patient centered health care. The Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative (SGWHC) announces the launch of the first and only dedicated digital resource library focusing on fostering sex and gender competence in health care. The SGWHC digital library gives medical and health professions students, faculty and practitioners access to a unique centralized resource that will aid them in providing individualized care.

The SGWHC is pleased to count the CIHR among their collaborative supporters.  Visit them at: www.sgwhc.org.

The film Pink Ribbons, Inc. looks at the pervasive impact of breast cancer fundraising. Every year, millions of dollars are raised, but where does all the money go, and what is actually achieved? The film offers a completely different take on the pink ribbon "success" story that has overtaken North America, with insight from leading doctors, activists and social critics, as well as women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Directed by Léa Pool
Produced by Ravida Din
Written by Patricia Kearns & Nancy Guerin and Léa Pool

Based on the book Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy by Samantha King 

Produced by the National Film Board of Canada

Pink Ribbons, Inc. is now available on DVD. You can order it online here.

This factsheet looks at how alcohol affects women’s health, and explains why Canada’s new low-risk drinking guidelines are lower for women.

Read Alcohol and women: Supporting health and life.

Find out more at Heretohelp.bc.ca.

How do women experience reproductive health? How is knowledge about health issues transmitted from one generation to the next? This new book, Reproducing women: Family and health work across three generations by Marilyn Porter & Diana L. Gustafson argues that women experience reproductive health as a part of their entire life story, rather than as discrete medical “problems.”

For more information about the book, as well as how to order a copy, see below.

The Guttmacher Institute has just released a new video on abortion worldwide. It focuses on the developing world, where abortion laws are highly restrictive, but may also be relevant to Canada where Motion 312 was recently debated.

The video is a stark reminder of that restrictive abortion laws take a terrible toll on women’s health. With the upcoming Pan-Canadian Day of Action for Reproductive Justice on October 20^th, the Abortion Worldwide video seeks to ensure that the debate over abortion in Canada is informed by facts, not misinformation.

Spanish and French versions of this video and the accompanying summary of key points are also available.

Full video transcripts are available in English, Spanish and French.

This new book by Phil Carpenter features the portraits and personal essays of more than 50 women from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador. Each of the women included is a breast cancer survivor who chose to undergo mastectomy.

See more about Breast Stories: Cancer Survivors Speak Out on the publisher’s website.

The Source has added a new entry on environmental issues relating to pregnancy. This is another in a series of resources for students and researchers of women's health

Read it here. 

A Best Practices Review of Smoking Cessation Interventions for Pregnant and Postpartum Girls and Women

The BC Centre of Excellence for Women's Health invites you to visit their bilingual website about smoking, pregnancy, change and support.  Here is what you can find at www.expectingtoquit.ca

1. A systematic review of research on tobacco interventions with pregnant women
2. "5 Ways to Change Your Practice" - Practice recommendations for physicians and other health care providers
3. "Meet Liz, Cristabel, and Noa" - Lessons from women who find their own path to becoming smoke-free

Download a copy of Expecting to Quit or order your free copy

More information: info@expectingtoquit.ca