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 | | The logo of the World Health Organization. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order this week withdrawing the U.S. from the global health agency, a move that has worried public health experts around the world. (Robert Hradil/Getty) | | From flu vaccinations to preventing future pandemics, what Canadian doctors are most worried about
| Jennifer Yoon | Those working at the World Health Organization had been expecting the worst — but Donald Trump's executive order still landed like a gut punch.
"The mood here is pretty sombre and quite gloomy," said Dr. Madhukar Pai, who happened to be working from WHO headquarters in Geneva when the U.S. president signed an executive order withdrawing America from the global health agency.
The United States is slated to leave the WHO in January 2026, says the U.N, since it has to provide a year's notice before withdrawing. The United States is by far the biggest financial supporter of the WHO, contributing 18 per cent of its overall funding, which amounts to roughly $1.2 billion for the agency's most recent two-year budget for 2024-25.
It's bad timing. Pai, who chairs the department of global and public health at McGill University, says there's so much to do to curb the spread of infectious diseases around the world right now.
Bird flu – specifically H5N1 – could be just one mutation away from being more transmissible among humans, according to a peer-reviewed study published in Science in December. There's currently an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in Tanzania, following a fatal outbreak in Rwanda in the fall of 2024. There are several outbreaks of mpox in multiple African countries, and there's potential for the disease to spread outside the continent.
Pai worries that weakening the WHO could be catastrophic, not just for Americans but for the entire world.
| |  | The U.S. withdrawal comes as the world faces several infectious diseases, like bird flu. H5N1 could be just one mutation away from being more transmissible among humans, according to a December 2024 study. (Luc Gnago/Reuters) | | That, he says, should concern Canadians.
"What happened in Wuhan came to Canada. What happened somewhere else will come to Canada."
It's a fear shared widely by other public health and infectious disease experts, who worry the move could also set back progress in fighting diseases like polio and malaria. Zimbabwe worries the move will hurt HIV/AIDS relief programs in the country and in other African nations, given that the withdrawal from the WHO could signal the U.S. might cut its foreign aid — something those programs rely upon. And Germany said Tuesday it would try to persuade the U.S. to reconsider pulling out of the WHO.
'50% chance' of a COVID-scale pandemic by 2050
Every day, an estimated 400,000 people cross the Canada-U.S. border, the largest land border in the world. And there are about 800,000 Canadian citizens living in the United States. All this means the infectious disease threat could be even more pressing for Canadians.
Dr. Peter Singer, who was special adviser to the WHO director general between 2017 and 2023, says the decision will make Americans less healthy — and that'll also affect Canadians.
"If our biggest and best neighbour is not a member of WHO, that makes the world, the United States and Canada less safe from pandemics like the one we just went through," said Singer, who is also a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.
"Experts estimate there's a 50-per-cent chance that a COVID-scale pandemic will happen between now and 2050. We have to be prepared for that."
Read more on why doctors say a U.S. withdrawal from the WHO could make Canadians unsafe. |
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Cross-Canada health news from CBC |  | 'I feel trapped': Regina meningitis patient faces barriers to rehabilitation support | CBC Saskatchewan |
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| | Kingston, Ont., declares emergency as roughly 1 in 3 households struggle with food insecurity | CBC Ottawa |
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| | This First Nation lost a 10-year-old girl to suicide. The community is speaking out about it | CBC Thunder Bay |
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 | | Drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy may carry a myriad of health benefits and risks beyond diabetes and obesity. (George Frey/Reuters) | | Ozempic could also help fight dementia but raise other health risks, study says |
A study this week of 200,000 people in the U.S. taking GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic for diabetes suggested the drugs' potential benefits extend beyond those currently recognized, such as a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease.
For those already prescribed GLP-1 medications to lose weight, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, the study's senior author, said they may find other advantages, such as curbing addictions.
"It will also help them to stop smoking," said Al-Aly, clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in Saint Louis, Mo. "In effect, they will be hitting two birds in one stone."
Other possible benefits included lower risk for heart disease, stroke, most kidney diseases as well as lower incidence of schizophrenia and less suicidal ideation.
But the U.S. researchers also found new risks associated with GLP-1 use, such as pancreatitis — an inflammation of the pancreas that can lead to life-threatening complications.
Canadian physicians cautioned against broader use of the drugs until data supports it, such as from clinical trials that show cause-and-effect relationships beyond the associations in this study.
Read more from CBC Health's Amina Zafar on why this class of drugs seem to be tied to such a wide array of potential benefits and risks.
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THE NATIONAL | VIDEO | New Canadian research by Dr. Dan McIsaac suggests that ‘prehab,’ or hospital programs to get patients healthier ahead of their planned surgery through exercise, can result in reduced complications and recovery time.
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THE BIG NUMBER
447 | Alberta Health Services says it has identified 447 people with Shigella since August 2022 — 309 of whom were hospitalized.
The bacterial infection, one of the main causes of dysentery, spreads easily from person to person through an infected person's stool. The bacteria remain contagious for weeks after episodes of intense diarrhea. Stomach cramps and fever can also occur.
The spread is preventable through simple hygiene and sanitation measures. But it's impacting some of the most vulnerable in Canadian cities — and becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
Toronto has an outbreak of 11 confirmed cases, all among people experiencing homelessness, who don't always have reliable access to facilities like washrooms. Toronto Public Health suspects that's an undercount.
For most of the cases in Toronto and Vancouver, no oral antibiotic therapies work. More severe cases require IV antibiotic treatment — meaning more people having to go to the already strained emergency department or hospital, doctors say.
Read more from CBC Health's Jennifer Yoon on the call to give people who are unhoused access to public washrooms and washing sinks to prevent and not just treat outbreaks.
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Stories we found interesting this week | | | Many doctors don't discuss sex after cancer. But survivors wish they would | NPR |
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| | Human hands are astonishing tools. Here's why robots are struggling to match them | BBC |
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|  | Jan. 23
How can I cut back or even quit drinking alcohol?
The U.S. surgeon general has called for cancer warnings on alcohol and Health Canada suggests a maximum of two drinks a week.
As Dry January winds down, we ask: How can I cut back or even quit drinking alcohol?
Dr. Peter Butt, an addiction medicine specialist and clinical associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan, explains how much alcohol is too much and breaks down how people can cut back.
Play on CBC Listen |
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|  | Jan. 25 & 26 Palliative home care isn't just for the patient. It's for their family
Faced with a life-limiting illness, most Canadians would like to die at home. But only 13 per cent are offered the palliative support to do so – something that Dr. Sammy Winemaker is keen to change.
The palliative home care physician takes Dr. Brian Goldman to meet the family of patient Shelley McCarthy two years after her death at home from thyroid cancer. They say a palliative approach of making sense of Shelley's many medical procedures and addressing the difficult questions head on should be offered early and include everyone in the family.
Tune in on CBC Listen |
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