Health & Wellness

TORONTO, ONTARIO — Babies born in Canada have a surprisingly high likelihood of dying on the day of their birth, a new study suggested Tuesday.
A report from international aid organization Save the Children assessed infant mortality data from 176 countries worldwide, focusing specifically on how many newborns are able to survive beyond their first day out of the womb.

NEW YORK — A federal judge, asked by the government on Tuesday to freeze his plan giving teenage girls broader access to morning-after birth control, instead seized the chance to accuse health officials of taking steps that would end up hurting poor people and improve their chances of prevailing in a protracted legal fight with reproductive rights advocates.

WASHINGTON — Indoor tanning beds would carry new warnings about the risk of cancer and be subject to more stringent federal oversight, under a proposal unveiled Monday by the Food and Drug Administration.

TRENTON, N.J. — Men who are bashful about needing help in the bedroom no longer have to go to the drugstore to buy that little blue pill.
In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press that the drugmaker will begin selling its popular erectile dysfunction pill Viagra directly to patients on its website.

WASHINGTON — It’s a chemical that’s been in U.S. households for more than 40 years, from the body wash in your bathroom shower to the knives on your kitchen counter to the bedding in your baby’s basinet.

TORONTO — A new study shows almost half of terminally ill cancer patients die in hospital, even though most people say they don’t want to spend their final days in a health-care institution.
The study by the Canadian Institute for Health Information found that about 45 per cent of Canadian cancer patients died in hospital in 2011-2012, although rates varied among provinces.

TORONTO — A supplement of 400 international units of vitamin D each day is enough to ensure an infant’s health for at least the first 12 months of life, Canadian researchers have determined after testing out several dosage levels in babies.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Tuesday lowered to 15 the age at which girls can buy the morning-after pill without a prescription and said the emergency contraception no longer has to be kept behind pharmacy counters.
The decision by the Food and Drug Administration is an attempt to find middle ground just days before a court-imposed deadline to lift all age restrictions on the drug.

TORONTO — Faced with evidence that drug-resistant gonorrhea is spreading in the province, Ontario is recommending a different treatment approach for the sexually transmitted infection.

TORONTO — Provincial and territorial HPV vaccination programs should be expanded to cover boys, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada said Thursday.
The professional organization’s CEO, Dr. Jennifer Blake, wrote to minist
ers of health across the country urging them to follow the lead of Prince Edward Island, which will be opening up its program to both genders.