Health IQ: Why menopause costs the economy billions, giving birth in Gaza

A $3.5-billion problem

Menopause carries a substantial cost for the Canadian economy, amounting to an estimated $3.5 billion per year, according to a report released Monday by the Menopause Foundation of Canada.

Because of stigma, a lack of workplace support and the burden of debilitating symptoms, many women have to reduce their hours or leave the workforce altogether. This cost employers an estimated $237 million annually in lost productivity. Women also experience a substantial financial burden, with $3.3 billion in lost income,

“Many women are blindsided by menopause, which is really just being unprepared for this stage of life,” explained Janet Ko, president and co-founder of the Menopause Foundation of Canada.

“What that leads to is some women stepping back from the workforce, leaving altogether, taking a lesser job, reducing their hours, going part-time or not taking that promotion. We believe menopause is the missing link to explain why more women are breaking through the glass ceiling,” she added.

In Canada, there are more than two million working women aged 45-55, which is the average age at which most women experience menopause, according to the report.

Read more about the study and the firsthand experience of a woman navigating the challenges of menopause while at the peak of her career.

What it’s like giving birth amid bombs in Gaza

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, thousands of women in Gaza are confronted with the challenge of giving birth without access to water, food or life-saving medicines, according to medical experts.

There are around 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, with 5,500 expected to give birth in the coming month, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in a statement on Oct. 16. Similar statistics were not available for pregnant people in Israel.

And while many of these women are preparing to give birth, they are also confronted with the ongoing rocket attacks from Hamas and the Israeli military. The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for the devastating Hamas rampage in southern Israel more than two weeks ago.

Since the conflict started, humanitarian aid into Gaza has also been blocked.

“We know that those women can’t get access to basic maternal health services. They’re facing this double nightmare,” said Dominic Allen, the UNFPA representative for the State of Palestine.

“The health-care system is under attack on the brink of collapse and these pregnant women who continue to give birth every single day are really facing unthinkable challenges,” he said.

Read more about the dangers pregnant women face when giving birth in a conflict zone, like Gaza.

— THE TOPIC —

The U.K. has proposed phasing out smoking. Should Canada?

— WHAT EXPERTS ARE SAYING —

Earlier this month, the United Kingdom proposed raising the legal age that people can buy cigarettes by one year, every year until it is eventually illegal for the whole population. The goal is to phase out smoking among young people as soon as 2040.

If passed, the U.K. would be the first country in Europe to join New Zealand in banning smoking for future generations. Academics have said increases in the smoking age have successfully reduced smoking rates among young people globally.

Some experts believe the same should happen in Canada, but say it cannot be the sole strategy to effectively combat smoking and tobacco use.

Geoffrey Fong, a University of Waterloo professor of psychology and public health sciences, agrees that multiple measures should be taken and the “smoke-free generation” option is one.

However, he pointed to New Zealand’s “extraordinary” smoke-free plan, which includes reducing the amount of nicotine allowed in tobacco products to “non-addictive levels.”

“If you remove the nicotine or, rather, reduce it to non-addictive levels, the appeal of it and the requirement to go back to it because you’re addicted will be cut off,” he told Global News. “And so hardly any youth will start smoking and they won’t continue smoking.”

As of this month, the federal government is not currently pursuing a plan to raise the smoking age. But in a statement to Global News, a Health Canada spokesperson highlighted Canada’s Tobacco Strategy as how it is addressing tobacco use in the country, with its goal of achieving the target of less than five per cent tobacco use by 2035.