Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) are valuable members of the healthcare team who assist in health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliation. RMT visits have increased across Canada over the past decade with the highest increase in British Columbia (BC). Currently, RMTs are private practitioners of healthcare operating within a largely publicly funded system, positioning them outside of the dominant system of healthcare and making them an important case study in private healthcare. In another paper we examined the perspectives of RMTs themselves. Here, we offer perspectives of regulators, educators and funders of Massage Therapy (MT) on advancement of the profession.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned crises of violence, hunger and impoverishment. Maternal and Infant Health Canada (MIHCan) conducted this policy action study to explore how changes that have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic may catalyze potential improvements in global women’s health toward the creation of a more equitable post-pandemic world. In this mixed methods study, 280 experts in women’s health responded to our survey and 65 subsequently participated in focus groups, including professionals from India, Egypt/Sudan, Canada and the United States/Mexico. From the results of this study, our recommendations include augmenting mental health through more open dialogue, valuing and compensating those working on the frontlines through living wages, paid sick leave and enhanced benefits and expanding digital technology that facilitates flexible work locations, thereby freeing time for improving the wellbeing of caregivers and families and offering telemedicine and telecounseling, which delivers greater access to care. We also recommend bridging the digital divide through the widespread provision of reliable and affordable internet services and digital literacy training. These policy recommendations for employers, governments and health authorities aim to improve mental and physical wellbeing and working conditions, while leveraging the potential of digital technology for healthcare provision for those who identify as women, knowing that others will benefit. MIHCan took action on the recommendation to improve mental health through open conversation by facilitating campaigns in all study regions. Despite the devastation of the pandemic on global women’s health, implementing these changes could yield improvements for years to come.

COVID-19 is catalyzing both crises and opportunities for communities of color.¹ The crisis of high mental and physical morbidities and mortalities exposes persistent inequities while providing opportunities to celebrate the power of rejuvenated anti-racism movements, fueled partly in response to the extremism of ultra-conservative governments, the circumstances to reflect deeply on racism because of forced stay-at-home-orders, and digital technologies primarily driven by youth. In marking this historical moment of longstanding anti-racism and decolonial struggles, I assert the importance of foregrounding women’s needs. In analyzing racism, rooted in colonialism and white supremacy, and its impacts on mental and physical health status, I focus on improving racialized women’s lives within the larger context, concentrating on the determinants of health. I contend that fanning the flames to scathe the racist and sexist foundations of North American society will break new ground for sharing wealth, bolstering solidarity and sisterhood, and ultimately improving Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWOC) health. Canadian BIWOC earn approximately 59 cents to the dollar earned by non-racialized men, creating vulnerabilities to economic downturns, such as the one Canada is currently in. BIWOC care aides, at the bottom of the healthcare hierarchy, are emblematic of other Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), who face risks of frontline work, low wages, poor job security, unpaid sick days and so forth. To that end, policy recommendations include employment equity initiatives that hire groups of racialized women who consciously express solidarity with each other. Cultural shifts within institutions will be key to providing safe environments. Improving food security, internet access and BIWOC-related data collection linked to community-based programming while prioritizing research on BIWOC will go a long way toward improving BIWOC health. Addressing racism and sexism within the healthcare system, aiming for equitable diagnostic and treatment foci, will require transformative efforts including determined leadership and buy-in from all levels of staff, long-term training and evaluation programs, audited by BIPOC communities.

Background: As global climate change accelerates, the crisis of species survival invites holistic ways of knowing. There is a resurgence of engagement in Indigenous spiritual wellbeing systems as part of anti-colonial liberation movements. Green collective wellbeing systems (GreenCoWell) offer opportunities to heal both people and the planet, addressing the notion of separation between life forms. Objective: We plan to study and elaborate upon 6 BIPOC health practices based on interconnection, including family constellation healing (Zulu nation, Southern Africa), fa (Ghana), yoga (India), shinrinyoku (Japan), Danza Azteca (Central America), and one practice to be identified in the course of the study. From a feminist, anti-racism and decolonial lens, our work aims to support ways of knowing which originate from the Global South and Indigenous communities. Methods: Applying a participatory action research approach, we will blend qualitative and arts-based methods to portray 6 global GreenCoWell. Healers from each tradition will be interviewed separately and will engage in a collective dialogue on the desire, need, and methods for proliferating GreenCoWell systems. Results: The results of this project will be a film, poems, stories, academic products, social media messages, and a manifesto emanating from the collective dialogue. Conclusion: This mixed methods arts-based, feminist, anti-racism, and decolonial project brings together healers from 6 traditions, representing a novel approach to addressing climate change. Those who practice GreenCoWell engage in environmental conservation. Our long term aspiration is for more people to experience mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing through these and related GreenCoWell and take action for climate justice.

Background: Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) are valuable members of the healthcare team who assist in health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliation. RMT visits have increased across Canada over the past decade with the highest increase in British Columbia (BC). Currently, RMTs are private practitioners of healthcare operating within a largely publicly funded system, positioning them outside of the dominant system of healthcare and making them an important case study in private healthcare. In another paper we examined the perspectives of RMTs themselves. Here, we offer perspectives of regulators, educators and funders of Massage Therapy (MT) on advancement of the profession. Methods: We interviewed 28 stakeholders of MT in BC – including members of the MT regulatory board, representatives from MT colleges in BC and public and private health insurers. Results: All three groups identified research, particularly on efficacy of MT, as playing a vital role in enhancing the professional credibility of MT. However, participants noted that presently research is not a large feature of the current MT curricula and we analyze why this may be and how it can improve. Finally, conferral of baccalaureate degree status could assist RMTs in gaining recognition with the general public and other healthcare professionals. Conclusion: RMTs have potential to ameliorate population health in a cost-effective manner. Their role in British Columbia’s healthcare landscape could be expanded if they produce more research and earn degree status.

Objectives: Peer-reviewed literature on southeastern Nigerian women's health status is scant. This participatory action research project explored mental and physical health status issues within a sample population of childbearing women in Cross River State.Methods: We conducted an initial study using the formal chieftaincy channels in villages and learned that those who expressed themselves were primarily men. We found that their concerns differed from those of women. We conducted this study in an attempt to hear from women about their health needs in the context of their lives. Local women carried out face-to-face interviews in their language with childbearing women in their community. We interviewed 70 women from ages 18–45 in 12 villages.Results/discussion: Most participants had their own farms and grew rice, cassava and yam to feed their families. The majority of participants had not completed elementary school and had given birth to an average of 6 children, 4 of whom survived. Most of the women who were included in this study walked 6–8 h per day to retrieve drinking water. Their young children and babies often accompanied their mothers on these journeys. Participants reported that they had suffered from malaria, diarrhea, anemia, hernia, waist pains, cough, eye problems and continuous headaches. Traditional healers were their first choice for treatment, partly because of physical and financial accessibility and partly because of cultural resonance and positive outcomes.Conclusion: Despite tremendous social, economic and political barriers, our participants generally reported a strong sense of well-being and had positive outlooks on their lives. We also interviewed 15 traditional healers to enhance the statements made by our female participants regarding their health-seeking behaviors.