Canadian Affairs

Just over 75 per cent of the world’s land has been left “permanently drier” over the previous three decades, a UN-backed report coinciding with COP16 talks on desertification in Saudi Arabia said on Monday. Dry land now covers around 40 per cent of the Earth’s land mass, excluding Antarctica, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) study found, cautioning the shift could affect up to five billion people by 2100. “Some 77.6 per cent of Earth’s land experienced drier conditions during the three decades leading up to 2020 compared to the previous 30-year period,” the report said. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e_wf3BVN

Despite the federal government spending billions of dollars each year on income assistance for seniors, six per cent remain in poverty. A recent report from the auditor general of Canada recommends the government determine whether current benefits for seniors meet their needs. Seniors’ advocates and policy experts say developing proper tools to measure seniors’ financial needs is difficult, but that the existence of such tools would be helpful. “This government doesn’t really know how to tackle our aging population, despite the fact that it is one of the most pressing issues that there is,” said Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge, a national seniors’ advocacy organization. “This is just a reiteration of previous reports with no change.” Read more from Meagan Gillmore: https://lnkd.in/eV-PbKvi

Experts in men's mental health say that loneliness is a risk factor for developing substance use disorders. Stereotypes about masculinity may be a contributing factor as well. Dr. Don McCreary, a psychologist and men’s health consultant, says traditional masculinity norms reinforce that it is un-masculine to express emotions, and that certain types of activities are manly and acceptable, while others are not. “If you didn’t meet in the bar [after your shift], then you were perceived as an outsider,” he said. These masculinity norms can lead men to feel isolated, he says, which can trigger substance use and other health issues. “Loneliness is a predictor of poor health,” he said.  Read more from Alexandra Keeler: https://lnkd.in/eNvwdzxE

OP-ED: Health Canada is reporting a 35 per cent increase in newly diagnosed cases of HIV in Canada in 2023. The increase may make it seem like HIV is spiralling out of control. But comparing absolute case numbers between years is like comparing apples to oranges, as the nature of the population changes each year. To properly assess trends over time, we need to consider the rate of new cases relative to the population at risk. When normalized to the population, the incidence rate of newly diagnosed HIV cases in 2023 was 6.1 cases per 100,000 people. Dat Nguyen, a cancer biologist at Princess Margaret Hospital, explains more: https://lnkd.in/eZyF2gEU

The fatal shooting last week of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in Manhattan on Wednesday, set off a citywide manhunt - and a series of social media memes cheering his death. The situation exposes deep frustrations about the United States' health-care funding. The dark humor “is a coping mechanism for a population of people who feel powerless in our health care system,” said Will Flanary, a comedian and ophthalmologist who goes by the moniker “Dr. Glaucomflecken” and enjoys a large online following for his medical satire skits. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eEp8kgME

Will Parliament's ongoing gridlock impact Canadians? Samuel Forster reports: https://lnkd.in/eCwaGAC9

Experts in men’s mental health say male loneliness is a significant risk factor in substance use disorders. They say men who are expected to adhere to traditional masculinity norms are particularly prone to experiencing loneliness and turning to substances to cope. A traditional masculinity norm is that men should not seek help, says Line Ouellet, a psychotherapist at CRIPHASE - Centre de Ressources et d'Intervention Pour Hommes Abusés Sexuellement et leur Entourage, a Montreal non-profit that works with men who have experienced sexual abuse. “Men usually wait a long time before … calling for help because of the male stereotype [that says] they’re not supposed to get help,” she said. Read more from Alexandra Keeler: https://lnkd.in/eNvwdzxE

The Auditor General has slammed the federal government for not tracking the effectiveness of seniors' benefit programs - even though they are one of the government's biggest expenses. Despite this, six per cent of Canada's seniors live in poverty, according to Statistics Canada. Some say there needs to be a poverty measure specifically designed for seniors. Creating a measure to determine poverty specifically for seniors is “an important exercise,” said Alexi White from Maytree. “But if it distracts in any way from actually raising more seniors up to living in dignity, then we’ve gone astray.” Read more from Meagan Gillmore: https://lnkd.in/eV-PbKvi

Baby names in England are changing. Muhammad was the most popular name for baby boys in England and Wales last year, topping the annual rankings for the first time, the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Thursday. The name, which has been in the top 10 for newly-named boys in England and Wales since 2016, leapfrogged Noah as the top choice after being the second most popular in 2022. There were 4,661 boys named Muhammad in the two nations last year, according to the ONS. That figure does not include variants such as Mohamed. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ea8fj8XA

Parents who see their autistic children struggling to learn — and struggling with related issues of mental health and social isolation — may feel they have no choice but to pull their kids out of public school. “We’ve really realized how many neurodivergent families are homeschooling,” said Lindsey Casselman, who runs Schoolio Learning Corp., an online homeschooling platform. . “[For] a lot of them, it was never their intention to homeschool. School just was such a bad fit for their kids that they felt like they didn’t have any choice.” Read more from Hadassah Alencar: https://lnkd.in/gth75RrZ