Editorial
Addressing Stigma through a Theatre-Based Program in Western Kenya
The streets of Eldoret, Kenya play a critical role in the lives of street-connected youth who often find themselves in situations that violate their basic human rights…
Maximizing the Potential of Technology through Assistive Products: The Launch and Evolution of the WHO’s GATE Initiative
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than one billion people worldwide require assistive products. The number of people requiring assistive products is expected to increase to over two billion by the year 2050…
Mental Health, the Global Sphere, and UofT
The juxtaposition of mental health with campus life can be troubling for many, as the holistic experience of a post-secondary education comes with a host of challenges that students are usually ill-equipped to handle…
The California Wildfires and their Impact on Health
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the 2018 wildfires have been the most destructive in history, with close to 2 million acres of land burned…
Public Health Policy Implications for the Legalization of Cannabis in Canada
On October 17th, 2018, marijuana was legalized in Canada. Despite its popularity amongst citizens, discussions surrounding marijuana and its public health policies are lacking…
The Impact of Climate Change and Vector-Borne Diseases: The Case for Dengue Fever and Lyme Disease
Vector-borne diseases are among the most well-studied diseases, with an extremely high global disease burden of approximately 96 million…
The Connection between Increased Rates of Infectious Disease and Deforestation in Tropical Rainforests
In recent history, dangerous pandemics of emerging infectious diseases, such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2003 and the Ebola outbreaks of 2013 and 2018, have had devastating effects…
Defining WHO’s Stance on “Health Equity”: Potential Goal of the 72nd World Health Assembly
When we think about global health, the World Health Organization (WHO) is inarguably one of the most prominent players. Acting as the specialized health agency of the United Nations, the WHO operates across a broad array of areas…
Food Insecurity as Social Determinant of Health: The Case for a Canadian National School Lunch Program
School lunch programs ought be considered as a valuable strategy for mitigating food insecurity, reducing the impacts of poverty, and more specifically, improving health outcomes in vulnerable populations during the formative stages of early childhood development…
Health at Risk: Health Implications of Human Trafficking in the Context of Globalization and Migration
Human trafficking affects approximately 40.3 million people worldwide, and has come to be known as ‘modern slavery’. We argue that human trafficking is a product of poverty and a response to changing economic and social dynamics due to globalization…
When the Movie Industry and Global Health and Development Collide
Stories are powerful. They shape our ideas, beliefs, emotions and experiences. They can educate us, they can compel us to action, and they connect us. In the present-day, no entity does a more skilful job of harnessing the power of storytelling than the movie industry…
Dr. Paula Braitstein, Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Awarded 2017 CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Award
Residing in North-Western Kenya, Dr. Braitstein received the CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Award for her research and service to street youth in Eldoret, Kenya…
Mending the Broken Hoop: Indigenous Health and the Dis-ease of Disconnection
In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) identified significant gaps in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities…
In Freefall: Scarcity in Venezuela
The lines begin to stretch around the block well before 5:00 each morning. People wait for hours, hoping that there will be something left by the time they reach the door. They’re waiting for a loaf of bread.
A Community-Based Response to the Indonesian Childhood Tobacco Use Epidemic: Toronto Thinks 2016 Semi-Finalists’ Take on the Issue
In 2010, a video of a two-year old Indonesian boy who smoked over 40 cigarettes a day went viral and garnered millions of views. Though the video shocked the world, it failed to cause uproar in the boy’s homeland, where childhood tobacco use is largely viewed as a norm…
Where does Canada stand in its obligation to make Assistive Technology accessible to all?
Today’s public health situation is quite different from what it was in the 20th century. Today, in many parts of the world we see populations living longer, surviving communicable and non-communicable diseases and injuries due to better healthcare and related factors…
Screening for Food Insecurity in Canadians
Household food insecurity is a serious public health problem in Canada. In addition to being associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes, the stress endured by children from food-insecure households predisposes them to a cascade of disadvantages…
Good Parenting for a Good Life: Breaking the Cycle of Street-Involvement (Malezi Bora na Maisha Mazuri)
The streets of Kenya are home to up to 300,000 children and youth (IRIN, 2007), many of whom reside in the city of Eldoret. These young people enter into a life on the streets for a number of reasons…
The Mountain of Youth: What We Can Learn from Okinawa, Japan
The elderly population of Okinawa, Japan has gained worldwide recognition for enjoying exceptionally long lives with autonomy even into advanced age. This phenomenon has inspired many researchers seeking to unlock the secrets of healthy aging…
“The Fight of the Moment”: Bernie Sanders on the fight to bring universal health care to the United States
On Sunday, October 29th, 2017, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and Dr. Danielle Martin, Associate Professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation based in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, met at Convocation Hall to discuss what lies ahead in the fight for a universal health care system in the United States…