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Death, the irreversible cessation of life, has always intrigued and frightened mankind. Every known culture has attempted to provide an explanation of its meaning; like birth or marriage it is universally considered an event of social significance, amplified by ritual and supported by institutions.

Cod Liver Oil was in the past a primary source of vitamin A, essential for bone growth, health of skin and mucous membranes, and night vision. Today, many other preparations containing vitamin A are available. Before the 1920s, most cod liver oil came from Norwegian COD.

Contraception, see BIRTH CONTROL.

Food poisoning includes intoxication and infection resulting from consumption of foods contaminated by toxins (poisons) produced by specific micro-organisms, or the presence of infectious micro-organisms, heavy-metal contaminants (eg, copper) or natural toxins.

Physicians for Global Survival (Canada) (originally Physicians for Social Responsibility) is a voluntary nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of nuclear war. It came into being largely as the result of the efforts of the founding president, Dr Frank Sommers.

The Canadian Cancer Society is a national, community-based organization of volunteers whose mission is the eradication of cancer and the enhancement of the quality of life of people living with cancer.

Canadian Lung Association, Canada's first national voluntary health organization, was founded in 1900. Its roots were in the former Canadian Tuberculosis Association.

The Arthritis Society is the only registered nonprofit agency in Canada devoted solely to funding and promoting arthritis research, patient care and public education. The Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society, as the society was called until 1977, was founded on 14 October 1947.

Medical anthropology is the study of interactions between culture and health. Medical anthropologists are interested in how a person's cultural background influences his or her experiences with health, illness and medical systems.

Opting-Out originated as a device by which one or more provinces choose not to participate in a federal-provincial shared cost program; instead the province receives direct payment (in cash or tax room) of funds which would have been spent there.

Medical jurisprudence, broadly defined, covers the relationship between a patient and a health-care provider such as a doctor, nurse, dentist, physiotherapist, or even an institution such as a HOSPITAL.

Early settlers in Ontario experienced a disease called "fever and ague," which ravaged the first European settlements such as Newark [Niagara-on-the-Lake] and Cataraqui [Kingston].

The term medicine wheel is not an Aboriginal term, but was initially used around the turn of the century by Americans of European ancestry in reference to the Bighorn Medicine Wheel located near Sheridan, Wyoming. Later archaeological research on the Plains Aboriginal people identified other features characterized by a variety of stone circle, cairn and spoke configurations. Because of general similarities to the Bighorn Wheel, the term medicine wheel was extended to describe them as well.

General practice is the branch of medicine concerned with providing care (known as "primary and continuing care") to patients irrespective of their age, sex or type of problem.

Although medicines have been misused for as long as they have been available, a universally accepted definition of the term "drug abuse" does not exist.

The years since 1939 have seen great changes in Canadian medicine.

Like most industrial activities, mining involves risk. However, contemporary mining in Canada is much safer than it once was.

Muscular Dystrophy Canada (MDC) was founded in 1954 by a group of parents who had children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Now a national voluntary health organization with offices across Canada, MDC is dedicated to fighting over 40 different neuromuscular disorders.

Medicine bundles (also called “sacred bundles”), wrapped collections of spiritually significant items, were the focus of most Indigenous spiritual rituals in the Plains region (see Plains Indigenous Peoples in Canada). A bundle might be a few feathers wrapped in skin or a multitude of objects such as animal skins, roots, or stone pipes inside a rawhide bag.

In the early years of the mental-health movement, mental health was often defined as the absence of symptoms of mental illness. Since that time, attempts have been made to relate mental health to a concept of psychological well-being and to certain capacities of individuals, eg, the capacity to perceive reality "objectively," to be flexible in meeting new situations and to understand another's point of view. However, no clear line divides the mentally healthy from the mentally unhealthy, and in addition, the definition of mental health is relative and is dependent on cultural context. The characteristics of a mentally healthy person in one milieu may seem very different from those of a mentally healthy person in another.