B.C. health minister George Abbott announced May 5 that girls entering Grades 6 and 9 will be offered the controversial human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil.

With hopes fading for the discovery of an HIV vaccine in the near future, the director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS has called on the federal government to step up HIV prevention and treatment programs.

A potentially groundbreaking study on weight loss and diabetes in Native populations has wrapped up in Alert Bay, B.C. Its findings will be presented to the country on March 11 on CBC.From August 2006 to January 2008, Dr. Jay Wortman, a Métis physician with the First Nations and Inuit health branch of Health Canada, and Dr. Clayton Hamm, a physician at the Namgis Health Centre, worked with the Namgis First Nations of Alert Bay.

When's the last time you had a good laugh? A really good laugh?

New information is available to multiple-sclerosis patients thinking of smoking marijuana to help deal with their symptoms.On February 28, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada issued a medical-update memo, which calls attention to a recent study that indicates “street” marijuana could be harmful to an MS patient’s cognitive functions, such as memory and thinking.The report

Research in the area of brain imaging for Down syndrome has received a further boost courtesy of the first annual Josephine Mills Research Awards. On February 27, the Burnaby-based Down Syndrome Research Foundation announced the winners of the awards, which recognize outstanding researchers for their contribution to research in the area of Down syndrome and in brain imaging using magnetoencephalography (MEG).

A recent story in a Newfoundland paper, the Western Star, features the smiling face of Liam Marche with his government-supplied insulin pump.

Promoting Healthy Living: A Multicultural Health Fair on February 23 at the Croatian Cultural Centre (3250 Commercial Drive) aims to encourage a hale and hearty lifestyle among B.C.'s multicultural communities. There'll be more than 40 exhibitors and health information in eight languages, plus live entertainment, multicultural cooking demonstrations, a children's activities corner, as well as raffles and prizes.

Sitting in front of a computer all day in the office (or even at home), without proper breaks or awareness, can lead to a number of problems.

As the number of aboriginal people living with HIV and AIDS in Canada grows, efforts to address the situation should consider the social factors, such as poverty, behind the epidemic, advocates say.But for much-needed progress to be made, the stigma and discrimination borne by aboriginal people with AIDS must end, according to the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network.

Sometimes it seems like certain issues like eating disorders are given media attention almost like a fashion trend: one minute it’s being covered everywhere and you can’t seem to look anywhere without someone mentioning in it, then everyone gets tired of hearing about it and no one is covering it.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is different from just double checking to see if you locked the door or switched off a light because you couldn't remember if had done so.

Have you ever been sitting in your office cubicle while thinking "Gee, I wish I could be exercising right now?" or "Gee, I wish I were in Hawaii"?

When your partner pisses you off, do you yell at them, or bottle it up inside?

Have a persistent cold you can't shake and are wondering whether or not to resort to antibiotics?