News and Issues

This free online film follows the life of a woman and her family in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Della: Hurdles to Health provides a glimpse into the family's daily struggles as a working poor family and illustrates how poverty affects health and wellbeing. Issues of housing, childcare, nutritious, accessible and affordable food, diabetes, and social supports are explored.

The film was made by the Saskatoon Poverty Reduction Partnership.

Watch Della: Hurdles to Health online (8 min. 18 sec.).

This week CWHN’s blogger Lyba Spring talks about the ins and outs of monogamy, casual sexual relationships, what “monogamish” means, and more!

Read all about it, in Spring Talks Sex: Monogamy.

What is the relationship between heart disease, stroke and menopause? Does reaching menopause really mean you have one foot in the grave?

Read our thought-provoking new article in Network by Laura Wershler questioning the message of the recent fundraising campaign by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The “Make Death Wait” campaign ads strongly suggest that menopause makes women more vulnerable to heart disease and stroke. But is it true?

Read about it in Death loves Menopause.

As attacks on women’s access to reproductive health care continue, some states in the U.S. are slashing their budgets for family planning clinics.  The PBS news show “Need To Know“ that aired December 7, 2012, examines the effects of these cuts on women in Texas.

The episode features Our Bodies Ourselves Executive Director Judy Norsigian offering an historical perspective of the fight for women’s reproductive freedom and women’s health policy debates over the past 40 years.

You can see the show online on PBS' website. 

A review of CWHN’s webinar Endocrine Disruptors in the Workplace: The Case of Women and Automotive Plastics Manufacturing recently appeared in CAND Vital Link, the magazine of the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors, with praise for the webinar.

Author Dr. Verna Hunt will also be publishing an article on our website about other ways to think about breast health and cancer prevention, which we are planning to run later in December.

Read Dr. Hunt’s review below.

CWHN highlights some of the activities for remembrance and action

(Original rose button distributed by YWCA Canada since 1991)

Rose Campaign – YWCA Canada  (since 1991)

Canadian Labour Congress commemorates National Day of Remembrance and Action

“December 6, Remembrance is Not Enough”, an article by Jody Dallaire of New Brunswick, published in the online magazine, Straight Goods.

Purple Ribbon Campaign Against Violence in Prince Edward Island (since 1991) 

See also, CWHN "There's no place like home" poster and other resources on domestic violence.

December 1 is the beginning of Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week, and this week the Native Women’s Association of Canada will be launching their new HIV prevention and stigma reduction tool for young women and girls.

NWAC announced the upcoming launch of TIPI Dreams: Transforming Indigenous Power Inside-out in a press release yesterday.

Read about it on NWAC's website.

Read more about Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week on the website of Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) .

A new CBC Radio podcast highlights the arguments for and against the use of testosterone to treat a condition that is being called “female orgasmic disorder”. Trials of this hormone on women are now being carried out in Canada.

Critics say this disorder does not exist, and that is a marketing ploy by drug companies.

Listen for Barbara Mintzes’ critique of the trials. Mintzes, a drug assessment specialist, is co-author of the book, Sex, Lies, and Pharmaceuticals: How Drug Companies Plan to Profit from Female Sexual Dysfunction. 

Listen to the CBC podcast, originally broadcast on the Current on November 21, 2012

Read the CBC story.

Learn more about the medicalization of women’s sexuality in a webinar CWHN sponsored featuring Barbara Mintzes.

A new Canadian study demonstrates that women working in particular occupations have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. 

Read the press release from The National Network on Environments and Women's Health, and find the summary and study on our website.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) is calling for actions on toxic exposures in fast growing global electronics industry.

Last week the APHA called on the global electronics’ industry, public health officials and international agencies to step up efforts to protect workers and communities, citing well documented adverse health effects caused by many toxic chemicals used in the manufacture of electronic and electrical products worldwide.

“The rapid growth of the electronics industry has been accompanied by massive increased use of toxic chemical substances and an increase in adverse health outcomes during manufacturing and end of life stages,” said Joe DiGangi, PhD, IPEN. “Manufacturers need to address this problem up front in the design phase by reducing and eliminating toxic chemicals.”

In making its recommendations, APHA noted the dramatic increase in the production and use of electrical and electronic products, including a global supply chain that works through a complicated web of subcontractors, often located in Asia.

Read their press release.