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Articles on Barriers to care

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As apps are direct-to-consumer health technologies, they represent a new folk medicine. Users adopt these technologies based on trust rather than understanding how they operate. (Shutterstock)

Health-care AI: The potential and pitfalls of diagnosis by app

Future AI large language models like Google’s AMIE might prove to fill gaps in health-care delivery, however, they must be adopted with caution.
A proton therapy treatment room at a facility in Prague, Czech Republic. Canada lags behind other countries in providing this treatment. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Proton beam therapy: A modern treatment for cancer, but not in Canada (yet)

Proton beam therapy is a precise form of radiation that can reduce the side-effects of cancer treatment. It is available around the world, but not in Canada.
The Government of Canada recently announced more than $1.6 million for endometriosis patients and research, the largest single investment in endometriosis care in Canada for the last 20 years. (Shutterstock)

Endometriosis: It’s time to change the pattern of pain, stigma and barriers to diagnosis and treatment

Endometriosis often means years of severe pain, lost productivity and dismissed symptoms before getting a diagnosis — followed by ineffective treatment. New funding aims to change this pattern.
Throughout the pandemic, much discussion about COVID-19 transmission focused on individual-level decisions, making it easy to blame the unvaccinated. (Pixabay)

Beyond vaccine hesitancy: Understanding systemic barriers to getting vaccinated

Systemic social issues affect vaccine access and acceptability. Yet, the term ‘vaccine hesitancy’ overlooks this, reducing the multiple factors that affect vaccine uptake to individual-level choices.
With many vaccine-eligible people in the U.S. staying away, some vaccine sites have no lines. Mario Tama/Getty Images

US Black and Latino communities often have low vaccination rates – but blaming vaccine hesitancy misses the mark

People who haven’t gotten vaccinated for COVID-19 often have complex reasons for their relunctance or may face other barriers. Lumping them all together undercuts the vaccination campaign.

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