Search

Several recent collaborations between correctional facilities and community health organizations and community education organizations have enabled incarcerated women to access health and education programs that are also available in the community. In addition, health educational programs initiated by incarcerated women themselves illustrate that incarceration provides opportunities to engage hard-to-reach women in health and educational community-based programs with potential long-term healing benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

About 10% of the prison population in British Columbia is women; the annual number of provincial admissions for women may be as high as 3700. Consistent with the rest of Canada, Aboriginal people are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. There is a greater prevalence of bloodborne infections in incarcerated women. Women in prison tend to be of childbearing age, and the problem of separation from their children is inadequately dealt with in our current system. Continuity of health care delivery as women revolve from the community to prison and back to the community is essential for improved health outcomes. Incarcerated women share their ideas regarding their health goals and recidivism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented about methadone dosing in British Columbia.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the guest editors discuss the health of women prisoners in British Columbia.

The article reports on cases of agranulocytosis or neutropenia arising from the use of cocaine containing levamisole in British Columbia (BC). It reveals the investigations by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) on genetic markers and behavioral risk factors for the development of levamisole-associated neutropenia from patients who fill up questionnaires and provide saliva samples for genetic-marker analysis. It enjoins physicians who suspect agranulocytosis caused by cocaine with levamisole in their patients to report to the BCCDC.

The article focuses on the emergence of opioid overdose as a public health issue in British Columbia (BC). A warning was issued by the BC Coroners Service in May 2011 about the rise in heroin-related deaths as a result of increased heroin potency. It notes that the lifesaving potential of naloxone is hampered by its lack of availability in health care settings. Information on the BC Centre for Disease Control harm reduction program is provided.

The article reports on the concerns over the abuse of the drug fentanyl in British Columbia (BC) and the risk of its overdose. Topics discussed include its use as a synthetic opioid to prevent acute and chronic pain, rise in its overdose deaths in BC in 2014, strategies made by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) in response to the deaths, and partnership of BCCDC with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Vancouver Police Department to raise awareness for fentanyl-related overdose.