News and Issues

Read our most recent guest columnist on CWHN to take on a hot issue in women's health. In To the Point, Cornelia J. Baines writes about Unpacking the great mammography debate.

Cornelia Baines was co-principle investigator and deputy director of the Canadian National Breast Screening Study, a major trial of breast screening that enlisted 90,000 women across Canada in the 80s. She is Professor Emerita at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in Toronto.

Rainbow Health Ontario is seeking three Community Outreach Workers (part-time positions -10 hours per month) for the following areas:

• Waterloo Wellington Region (LHIN 3), which includes the communities of Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph and the surrounding rural areas.  
• Central West Region (LHIN 5), which includes which includes all of Dufferin County, the northern portion of Peel Region, parts of north-western Toronto, and south-west York Region.
• Central Region (LHIN 8), which includes the northern section of Toronto, most of York Region and the southern part of Simcoe County.

Please note: Outreach Workers must live for the majority of the year in LHIN where they will be working.  

Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO) is a province-wide program designed to improve access to services and to promote the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) communities. RHO has a central office in Toronto and outreach workers in each of the regions corresponding to Ontario's 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINS).   

Are you interested in LGBT health and wellness? Can you help build networks with health and social service providers and community members?  Are you able to identify local concerns and advocate for better services? Can you share information at health fairs and meetings?

We are seeking community members with strong interpersonal skills and good networks in local LGBT communities. You must be comfortable with public speaking and enthusiastic about attending health related events.

For immediate release - January 15, 2013

Abortion Rights Group Launches Website to Celebrate Jan 28, 1988 Supreme Court Decision and Dr. Henry Morgentaler

NATIONAL – In honour of the upcoming 25^th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s historic 1988 decision to overturn the nation’s criminal abortion law, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada is delighted to dedicate a new website to the anniversary: www.morgentaler25years.ca

The day of the court decision – January 28, 1988 – was one of jubilant celebration for Dr. Henry Morgentaler and pro-choice movement activists who had worked for decades to win abortion rights. “Our website honours the heroic sacrifices of Dr. Morgentaler, including numerous trials and a jail sentence, before he was finally and fully vindicated by the court,” said Julie Lalonde, the Ottawa-based spokesperson for the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC).

“The website also lists the benefits that decriminalizing abortion has had for Canadian women and society, including improved health outcomes and more equality for women,” said Joyce Arthur, Executive Director of ARCC. “Canada is the first country in the world to prove that abortion care can be ethically and effectively managed as part of standard healthcare practice, without being controlled by any civil or criminal law. Our success should be a role model to the world, because Canada’s experience is proof that laws against abortion are unnecessary,” said Arthur. 

Alcohol is a favourite drug for many people, and women may be having more problems with alcohol than many of us would like to think. Journalist Ann Dowsett Johnston spent a year talking with women, researchers and policy-makers to learn why women drink, and how alcohol affects us differently from men.

The results are unsettling.

CWHN recently co-hosted a webinar on this issue, with the British Columbia Centre of Excellent in Women’s Health. Hear Ann Dowsett Johnston talking about her research and read her article here.

January 22 is the 40^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States. 

Many US pro-choice and reproductive justice organizations will be holding events to mark this anniversary.

Learn more on Our Bodies, Ourselves’ website.

Women who take zolpidem - a very popular sleeping pill – process the drug much more slowly than men, and tend to have more traffic accidents related to the pill.

With this new finding about the drug's effect, the US Food and Drug Agency (FDA) has just ordered that zolpidem makers lower the dose for women. Doses for women will be lowered from 10 milligrams to 5 milligrams for regular products, and 12.5 milligrams to 6.25 milligrams for extended-release formulations.

Zolpidem is sold as generics and under the brand-names Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, Zolpimist, and Intermezzo.

The FDA recommends that manufacturers lower the dose for men as well, due to reports of driving-related problems related to the drug’s use.

The FDA did not learn why women metabolize zolpidem much more slowly than men.

Read the MeDWatch alert, including links to the Drug Safety Communication, News Release, and Q&As.

Women in the Philippines have just gained important reproductive rights, as a landmark health bill was recently ratified in that country. 

Read the whole story in The Guardian.

Do you ever watch a movie, riveted by those slow, languorous, delicious lovemaking scenes; or the rip-your-clothes-off-and-get-sweaty-in-the-heat-of-the-moment scenes that make you want to howl at the moon: “I want that!” … 

Curious? Want to read more?

This month in her CWHN blog Spring Talk Sex, Lyba Spring talks about what makes sex fabulous.

Check out Great Sex.

The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care has issued new recommendations for cervical cancer screening.

They recommend starting routine Pap tests at age 25, a significant change to the previous (1994) guideline that Paps tests start at age 18 at the latest.

The main changes in the new guidelines are:

-  Routine Pap tests are not recommended for sexually active women under age 25. Previously, Pap tests were recommended when a woman first started being sexually active, or at age 18, whichever came first.

- For asymptomatic women (women without symptoms of cervical cancer) from age 25-69 who are or have been sexually active, Pap tests are recommended only every three years. Previously, the recommendation varied, but generally annual tests were recommended for women 20-69, possibly changing to once every two or three years after two normal tests in a row.

-  Screening is now more explicitly recommended in women over 69 if “prior screening has not been adequately performed.” Previously, screening for women 70 and older was not recommended.

The reasons given for these change are:

-  The Task Force recommends against cervical cancer screening (with Pap tests) for women aged younger than 25 because minimal or no benefit was found to outweigh the potential harms in this group.

- The Task Force found moderate quality evidence showing that screening with Pap tests may have a small effect in reducing cervical cancer mortality and morbidity among women aged 25‐29 and recommends screening these women at intervals of 3 years.

- The Task Force found high quality evidence showing that screening for cervical cancer with Pap tests reduces mortality and morbidity among women aged 30‐69, and strongly recommends screening these women at intervals of 3 years.

Éduc’alcool in Qubec has recently launched a campaign explaining exactly what a “standard drink” is. The goal is to get everyone in Quebec to put this information into practice and become accustomed to pouring the appropriate amount when serving common alcoholic beverages.

Test your knowledge with their online Standard drink server.

Watch their video on how to pour a standard drink. 

Read about how women drink and how alcohol affects our health, in CWHN's article Women and alcohol: To your health?  by Ann Dowsett Johnston.