Suicide and Self-Harm: The Importance of Putting People First
Every year, tens of thousands of people lose their lives to suicide. The issue is among the leading causes of death worldwide, yet is rarely discussed in an open and…
Author: Gordon Thane
Fall Prevention and Evidence-Based Interventions
An often overlooked, yet important, topic in public health is the issue of fall prevention. This is perhaps understandable, because falls are such a common life occurrence that we, as…
The Global Burden of Dementia: A Modern-Day Threat to Healthy Aging
Just 100 years ago, in 1913, the global life expectancy was only 34.1 years old (Our World in Data, 2019). Today, that age has jumped to 72.8 years (Macrotrends, 2021),…
Violence Against Health Workers
Health workers play a crucial role in the functioning and flourishing of our society. In hospitals, homes, and sites of natural disaster within Canada and around the world, these essential…
Social Determinants of Health: Educational Attainment and Public Health Literacy
It is often said that education is the foundational pillar of lifelong success. Indeed, a theme familiar to many modern families is the paramount importance parents place on getting their…
Barriers to Safe Consumption Sites: How Stipulation Stops Us From Solving The Opioid Crisis
Being an issue with multiple intersecting factors, the opioid crisis is a complex epidemic that is affecting the everyday person each day. There have been many approaches to this issue,…
Social Determinants of Health: Understanding the Causes of the Causes
Contemporary discourse commonly frames the root causes of good or poor health as a primarily biomedical phenomenon. We are told that it is the intersection of diet, lifestyle, genetic, and…
Opioids: The Prescription that Caused the Epidemic
Opioid use has been recorded throughout history but has recently experienced a sudden and dramatic surge in opioid use and dependence. With about 62 million people using opioids at least…
A Ticket to Freedom or a License for Segregation? The Evolution of the Immunity Passport Discussion
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic’s Delta-driven fourth wave, governments around the world, including many Canadian provincial and local jurisdictions, are turning to so-called “immunity” or “vaccine passports” to…
Racism, the Black Experience, and the Perpetual Fight for Equality
On Monday, May 25th, 2020, George Floyd, an African American man in his 40s was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. These scenarios have…