With renewed investment in diabetes research, Canada can be home to the next breakthrough again
When Banting and Best co-discovered insulin in 1921, they made it possible to successfully treat type 1 diabetes (T1D). Up until that point, life was short for those diagnosed with the disease. Over the past 100 years, insulin has saved millions of lives. However, it remains the only effective treatment for diabetes. As Banting once […]
Canadians would be much better served by a cooperative, coordinated, and sustained pandemic response
OTTAWA—About 40 years ago, I found myself at the Calgary Stampede and spent a couple of hard-earned, oil-patch dollars at a carnival booth that used a machine to examine handwriting and graph a line against a number of personal attributes. When the machine was graphing my line above “procrastinate” it went so high that it […]
Pharmacies eager to help with vaccination efforts, but details still in flux
As vaccine doses “trickle” into the country, pharmacies are gearing up in anticipation that they will be enlisted in the vaccine campaign, says one industry expert. While timelines of when sites will be brought into the fold remain up in the air, some pharmacies can be ready within four days of getting approval from authorities, […]
Prison authorities falling short on transparency in reporting COVID-19 data
The Correctional Service Canada isn’t known for being transparent. A case in point is its recent stonewalling of an expert panel led by Anthony Doob appointed by the Government of Canada to examine its compliance with legislation that purportedly meant to abolish segregation in federal penitentiaries. It should come as no surprise that tracking the […]
Government’s response to crisis in long-term care must include robust data-driven change
More than 19,000 people in Canada have died from COVID-19—more than 17,000 of them aged over 60 years. The majority of those deaths occurred in long-term care homes. This crisis continues now, even after governments and operators have put in place emergency strategies and, in some jurisdictions, creative solutions to address staff shortages. For example, […]
Cross-country COVID response too easily swayed by political winds of change
CALGARY—The Weeknd walking deliriously through a candescent, mirrored hallway in his Superbowl halftime performance is a metaphor for Canada’s COVID response. The incompetence delivered as a train wreck is breathtaking and frankly, globally embarrassing, yet easy to see coming. This week, Alberta, Quebec, and Ontario are lifting COVID-19 restrictions, which will only be reversed in […]
Why healthy aging must be the upshot of the COVID-19 pandemic
Last month, while the world was distracted by political turmoil and the pandemic’s roaring second wave, a very significant proclamation came and went with little fanfare. The United Nations General Assembly launched 2020-2030 as the Decade of Healthy Ageing, calling for a decade of concerted global action to extend the health and well-being horizons of […]
Pharmacare, patient groups, and the need for open discourse
Will Canadians ever have the universal national pharmacare program that repeated investigations show will support fair, appropriate health care and that 86 per cent of Canadians say they want? The long-simmering question is once again on the minds of voters. In his supplementary mandate letter, the prime minister called on Health Minister Patty Hajdu to […]
Supply delay offers opportunity to get mass vaccination campaign right, experts say
Issues with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing in Europe has left Canada receiving fewer doses in recent weeks than the federal government initially predicted, but the drop in supply offers an opportunity for governments to get the planning right for when mass vaccinations begin later in the year when supply ramps up again, experts say. “We should […]
What’s up (or down) with drug shortages?
With complaints and fears swirling around COVID-19 vaccine supply, we take up our devices once again to report on drug shortages in Canada. When we last communicated in Hill Times back in April 2020, Canada had already spent a decade facing severe shortages of prescription drugs. We argued that COVID-19 might exacerbate those shortages and, […]
