News stories

What are the important health news stories of 2007 and the upcoming year? I’d like to hear what you have to say. I’ve written about different kinds of cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, and many other commonly discussed issues. I’ve also tackled issues like mental illness, addiction, and suicide – the last one being something that has affected me personally.

Of course, the news isn’t going to report a lot on issues that aren’t popular, that don’t raise too many eyebrows. If a disease, disorder, or disability is a concern, it’s up to us to raise the awareness because no-one else will. The more noise we make, the more news gets made.

So, how do we do that? Take suicide for example. I wrote a post earlier this year about suicide and I called it Suicide, not a disease, so no walkathons, ribbons, or research race. I also wrote: Quebec has one of the highest young male suicide rates in the country. Young men are one of the highest risk groups for suicide. In a youth suicide report published by the Canadian Task Force on Preventative Health Care, it says: “Suicide has accounted for about 2% of annual deaths in Canada since the late 1970s. Eighty percent of all suicides in 1991 involved men. The male:female ratio for suicide risk was 3.8 to 1. In both males and females, the greatest increase between 1960 and 1991 occurred in the 15- to 19-year age group, with a four-and-a-half-fold increase for males, and a three-fold increase for females.”

Where are the hue and outcry that so many lives are being lost?

What do other people feel are important health issues? I will look for information and news on the different topics suggested.

News for Today:

FDA mulls psych warning for 2 flu drugs
Montreal doctor exploring link between football and ALS
Cryoablation continues to show good results for kidney cancer patients
'Mismatched' prostate cancer treatment more common than expected
Non-Caucasians at higher risk for severe metastatic breast cancer pain