A new study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, has revealed that young homeless women are dying at a high rate.

The study shows the high mortality rate is an international problem. But it also shows that Toronto has a surprisingly high number of deaths.

The study followed close to 2,000 homeless single women for two years after they stayed in a Toronto shelter in 1995. The result is that 26 single homeless women under the age of 45 died. That's 10 times the rate of women in the general population and the same rate as young homeless men. Most of the women died from AIDS, drugs, alcohol abuse or suicide.

"Younger homeless women are at extremely high risk of death, and secondly, the things that they're dying from are potentially treatable," said Dr. Stephen Hwang, one of the co-authors of the report.

Angela Robertson, who runs a shelter in downtown Toronto, says the study confirms what she already knew. "The situation is, I think, desperate at best. These are the women who are seen as the undeserving poor, so therefore the services aren't extended to them in the same way."

The women on the street say they need subsidized housing, bigger welfare cheques and help getting into drug and alcohol treatment programs.

The authors of the study say they hope it will spur all levels of government to provide more of those specialized services to homeless women.