Community Corner

From the Kingston Whig-Standard: Words important to wellness: study; More than half of Canadians can’t understand health-care info However, Statistics Canada released an article in Education Matters: Insights on Education, Learning and Training in Canada, showing that things have improved slightly: “Literacy skills of Canadians across ...

A great article on the Canadian Health Network (CHN) by health columnist André Picard is on Page L6 in the Life Section of yesterday’s Globe and Mail. Picard points out that individuals are being told to take greater responsibility for their health, but finding the latest Canadian health information in both languages on the Web is [...]

Canada’s leading web-based source for health information is slated for closure on March 31, 2008.  Facts about the Canadian Health Network (CHN): 20,000+ quality, peer-reviewed resources in English and French In-depth information on 25 health topics and population groups biweekly electronic newsletter CHN is used by 395,000 people (unique users) ...

A few things for today — Lots of coverage of the Street Health 2007 report, and about health and the homeless in general: Health care for homeless (Toronto Star editorial) Homeless denied health care (Toronto Star) Health study of Toronto homeless demands action, says group (CBC) Cruel news from the streets of Toronto (Wellesley ...

The World Health Organization Commission on the Social Determinants of Health has released an interim statement (PDF, 441kb). More information on the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health. More information on Canada’s Response to the WHO Commission. POPLINE worries that health inequity could increase in poor countries if ...

It’s a busy time of year at OPC and we’ve accumulated a bit of a headline backlog! I’ll try to put some pictures in to break things up a bit. Parents everywhere are saying “I told you so!” to this: Food Dyes and Preservatives May Make Junior Act Up (MedPage Today Pediatrics). This [...]

Epidemiologists are learning real-life lessons from a virtual pandemic in the online game World of Warcraft — Globe and Mail, BBC. But Statistics Canada says that Canadians have been getting more active (français), both in leisure time and for transportation reasons, so perhaps we can all just run away from the bugs. About a quarter [...]

The Health Communication Unit and the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition are offering a two-part proposal-writing webinar. For those that have or are working through the self-directed on-line proposal writing course at http://thcu.ca/ohcc-thcu-proposal-writing-course, a 2-part webinar will be offered as follows: Part I: October 3, 1:00-2:30 ...

Women’s Health Matters is featuring the booklet and web resource Primer to Action: Social Determinants of Health (PDF), co-written by OPC. From Preventing Chronic Disease, CDC (USA): Charting the Future of Community Health Promotion: Recommendations From the National Expert Panel on Community Health Promotion, July 2007 Navarro AM, Voetsch ...

Vaccinations of teens become big news, and controversy ensues! Ontario to provide teenage girls with HPV vaccine (Globe and Mail) Premier Dalton McGuinty announced August 2nd that 85,000 Grade 8 girls will be targeted beginning this fall. The voluntary three-shot course of treatment will be administered by public-health nurses at schools. Ontario ...