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Canadians are living longer, StatCan says Life expectancy for the average Canadian is nearly back at pre-pandemic levels, Statistics Canada says. That’s an increase for the second consecutive year, the agency said, rising from 81.68 years in 2023 to 82.16 years in 2024, representing a gain of 0.48 years. This is nearly on par with pre-pandemic life expectancy levels in 2019, which was 82.22 years. While women are living longer than men, at 84.29 years on average, men saw a higher increase in life expectancy. Men now live 80.30 years on average, an increase of 0.55 years compared to 2023. Western Canada saw the highest increases in life expectancy at birth from 2023 to 2024. Saskatchewan saw life expectancy increase by 0.68 years, Alberta by 0.82 years and British Columbia by 0.62 years. Read more to find out about life expectancy in Canada and the leading causes of death in the country. 
Australia teen social media ban Social media companies have collectively deactivated nearly five million accounts belonging to Australian teenagers just a month after a world-first ban on under-16s took effect, the country's internet regulator said, a sign the measure has had a swift and sweeping impact. The eSafety Commissioner said platforms had so far removed about 4.7 million accounts held by under-16s to comply with a law that went live on December 10. Some platforms had said they would start closing affected accounts in the weeks before the deadline. A study with mental health experts will track the ban's long-term impact for several years. Read more to find out how its playing out in Australia. 
— THE TOPIC — What experts say about the effectiveness of GLP-1 pills Health Canada has approved a GLP-1 daily pill for the first time. The once-a-day semaglutide pill is approved for reducing the risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, the company said in a statement Monday. Rybelsus is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drug, the same type of medication as injectables Ozempic and Wegovy by the same manufacturer. The pill has only been approved for adults with Type 2 diabetes who also have a cardiovascular disease or are at high risk for heart disease, though Novo Nordisk has applied to bring a separate pill form of weight loss medication Wegovy to Canada as well. While the oral pill offers convenience, that may come at the expense of effectiveness, said Dr. Fahad Razak, an internal medicine physician at St. Michael's Hospital and professor at the University of Toronto, speaking to Global News after the U.S. FDA approved the Wegovy pill. "The first thing that people should be aware of is that the weekly injection is a more effective means of weight loss. And for most of my patients, I would say with time and experience, they're able to do the self-injection without too much burden," he added. The oral semaglutide pill might come in larger doses than the injectable versions in order to make them similarly effective, said Jennifer Lake, pharmacist and assistant professor at Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. "It's a protein, a peptide, which means that when you take it orally, the stomach disintegrates some of it. And so that's why it was given as an injectable in the first place," Lake said. Read more to find out about Health Canada's approval of the pill. | 
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