GLOBAL HEALTH
U.S. Shifts Focus of Health Aid, Says Clinton
Cindy Shiner
(allAfrica.com, August 18, 2010)
"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the United States has moved to a more holistic approach to investing in global health and that countries receiving aid need to 'step up' to demonstrate their commitment to improving the lives of their people. Clinton spoke Monday at the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C, about the Global Health Initiative, an effort launched in 2002 by the World Economic Forum and its partners to improve global health through three key activities: advocacy, dialogue and partnerships…To galvanize countries' leaders, Clinton said, the United States was 'bringing to bear the full weight of American diplomacy.' She said diplomats were working closely with their counterparts worldwide to embed a deep commitment to health…She said before the end of the year the administration of President Barack Obama would be releasing the first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. Clinton cited examples of where a more integrated approach has been successful."
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Darryl Fears
(The Washington Post, August 18, 2010)
"Health centers across the country are lining up for a shot in the arm from the Obama administration: $250 million in federal grants to build clinics and bolster services at existing clinics for low-income patients such as public housing residents, the homeless, seasonal farmworkers and others who struggle to pay for care…The administration set aside $11 billion to expand and bolster community health centers over the next five years as more Americans gain medical insurance through health-care reform. About 45 million people live in areas designated by the federal government as medically underserved. Rural and urban health centers served 19 million people last year, a number federal officials hope to double when the health-care law is fully implemented in 2014."
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Susan Logue Koster
(VOANews.com, August 18, 2010)
"In the United States, more patients are turning to alternative and complementary medicine as part of their health care. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health say that nearly 40 percent of adults have used some type therapy that isn't taught in medical schools. But more than 40 U.S. universities, including Stanford, UCLA, Duke and The George Washington University have integrative medicine centers…With more Americans turning to alternatives, the U.S. government founded The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine as part of the National Institutes of Health."
Robert Pear
(The New York Times, August 16, 2010)
"The economic crisis in the United States has reduced the use of routine medical care, and the cutbacks here are much deeper than in countries with universal health care systems, researchers say in a new report. The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, finds that 'Americans, who face higher out-of-pocket health care costs, have reduced their routine medical care' much more than people in Britain, Canada, France and Germany. Individuals and families in all five countries lost income because of unemployment and lost wealth because of steep declines in stock prices."
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Rita Rubin
(USA Today, August 16, 2010)
"Massachusetts, which in 2006 passed a law that led to nearly universal coverage of its 6.6 million residents, might provide some clues. In that state, fewer and fewer internists and family practice doctors are taking new patients, and wait times to see family practice doctors are lengthening…Even before Congress in March passed the landmark law designed to make health care more affordable and expand coverage, an aging population and doctors' increasing preference for higher-paying specialties set the stage for a primary care shortage…But some innovative programs provide a glimpse of what the future of primary care -- a future in which a one-on-one visit at the doctor's office takes a back seat -- could look like."
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Related story:
Could 'Challenge' of Primary Care Lure Med School Students?
Rita Rubin
(USA Today, August 16, 2010)
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Robert Pear and Kevin Sack
(The New York Times, August 14, 2010)
"Faced with the need to review insurance rates and enforce a panoply of new rights granted to consumers, states are scrambling to make sure they have the necessary legal authority to carry out the responsibilities being placed on them by President Obama’s health care law. Insurance commissioners in about half the states say they do not have clear authority to enforce consumer protection standards that take effect next month. Federal and state officials are searching for ways to plug the gap. Otherwise, they say, the ability of consumers to secure the benefits of the new law could vary widely, depending on where they live."
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Editorial
(The Washington Post, August 14, 2010)
"One of the most promising aspects of the new health-care reform is the creation of an independent board to recommend changes in federal health programs and a fast-track provision that would allow these changes to take effect automatically unless Congress comes up with alternatives that would save a similar amount. There are legitimate concerns about the new Independent Payment Advisory Board, but these involve whether its mandate is broad enough."
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Reed Abelson and Natasha Singer
(The New York Times, August 13, 2010)
"At independent drugstores and some national chains…pharmacists work with doctors and nurses to care for people with long-term illnesses. They are being enlisted by some health insurers and large employers to address one of the fundamental problems in health care: as many as half of the nation’s patients do not take their medications as prescribed, costing nearly $300 billion a year in emergency room visits, hospital stays and other medical expenditures, by some estimates. The pharmacists represent the front line of detecting prescription overlap or dangerous interaction between drugs and for recommending cheaper options to expensive medicines. This evolving use of pharmacists also holds promise as a buffer against an anticipated shortage of primary care doctors."
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Laura Landro
(The Wall Street Journal, New York, August 16, 2010)
"Thanks to smartphones and wireless monitoring devices…it is getting much easier to capture such data and summarize it in easy-to-read graphics and charts for patients and physicians…Several Web-based programs…allow consumers to input medical information and track their conditions using mobile devices, as well as create summaries or charts to bring or email to doctors. A number of websites allow patients to keep their own health records. But the sites are primarily for patient use, so unless they share that information with doctors, it isn't of much use for treatment plans…Reviewing reams of daily-life data gathered by patients could be overwhelming for doctors. But researchers in the program are using a number of Web-based applications to summarize data in charts, trend lines, and other visual aids."
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Opinion
Harald Himsel, managing director and partner at consulting firm AGEG eG
(TMCnet, United States, August 16, 2010)
"In order to improve maternal health care service in rural areas of Pakistan, the Pakistani government trained Lady Health Workers, the so-called LHWs. They provide preventive, curative and rehabilitation services. The problem was that these workers had no means to properly communicate with their supervisors in the health centers in various district capitals. Especially when it came to refer serious cases, the LHWs were more or less on their on. In a pilot project, LHWs received mobile phones for simple communication needs, but also to connect directly with hospitals and ambulances. Results show that simply satisfying communication needs at this level reduced mortalities through referring serious cases in time."
Jeremy Laurance
(The Independent, London, August 14, 2010)
"A new era of 'intelligent medicines' is heralded today with the disclosure that the NHS is about to begin trials of pills that contain a microchip, reminding patients when to take them. When the pills are swallowed the 'edible' microchips react with the acid in the stomach sending a message to a sticking plaster containing a sensor strapped to the shoulder. If the patient has forgotten a dose, the sensor delivers a text message to the patient's phone reminding them to take their pills. In addition, the sticking-plaster sensor monitors the patient's bodily functions such as heart rate and can recommend adjustments to the dose accordingly, which can also be delivered to the patient via text message. The sensor can also send messages via the internet to carers...updating them on the patient's condition. If successful, the system could improve patients' well-being while reducing costs by avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions."
Patrick G. Lee
(The Boston Globe, August 13, 2010)
"The Agriculture Department awarded $20 million to Massachusetts and a Cambridge-based research firm to test whether providing subsidies for buying produce will encourage food stamp recipients in Hampden County communities…to eat more nutritious meals. Of the 50,000 households in Hampden County that rely on food stamps, several thousand will be offered a 30-cent discount for every dollar spent on fresh fruits and vegetables...Households will be tracked for 15 months to see whether their eating habits change and health outcomes, including obesity rates, improve. State officials hope to begin the program in fall 2011. The experiment, authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill, will guide policy makers in Washington as they consider how to revamp food stamps."
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Related opinion:
Doctors: Tk Appl or Orang 6x Pr Day Editorial
(The Boston Globe, August 17, 2010)
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Vikki L. Conwell
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 16, 2010)
"Practicing play helps children develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime, say health and nutrition experts. Simple routine activities, such as walking, running and throwing a ball, can help shrink the nation’s obesity epidemic. For parents in Georgia, getting involved in their children's fitness is important for another reason...Physical education is not mandatory for students in Georgia, but programs are offered in various forms. Still, only 34 percent of ninth-grade to 12th-grade students in Georgia participate in physical education during school, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2010 State Indicator Report on Physical Activity. Parents should begin incorporating physical play into children’s routines prior to preschool so it becomes a normal part of their lives."
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Denis Campbell
(The Guardian, London, August 16, 2010)
"Almost a third of children regularly go without breakfast before school and are more likely than classmates to be inactive, unfit and obese, research shows. While 68% of pupils eat before leaving home, 32% do not…according to findings which have raised fresh concern about children's eating habits and general health. The study of 4,326 children, aged 10-16, in England was reported in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition and found that 26.6% of boys and 38.6% of girls skipped breakfast some or all of the time. Boys often blame lack of time, while many girls missed breakfast because they believe doing so would help them lose weight."
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Erin Allday
(San Francisco Chronicle, August 16, 2010)
"For the first time in more than three decades, obesity rates for white and Asian children are falling in California, and they seem to have leveled off for Hispanic kids - all good signs that public health campaigns aimed at keeping young people away from unhealthful sweets and fatty foods are starting to work, according to a UCSF study. The bad news is that those programs don't seem to be reaching all children…The study, which is appears in today's edition of the journal Pediatrics, suggests that public health programs created to fight obesity need to become much more widespread, said Dr. Kristine Madsen, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF and lead author of the study."
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Janet Adamy
(The Wall Street Journal, New York, August 18, 2010)
"Wisconsin is pushing to expand a controversial program that uses federal Medicaid funds to provide free birth-control pills, vasectomies and other forms of contraception to low-income people, an effort made possible by the federal health-care overhaul. It and 26 other states already provide free contraception and other reproductive-health services through a Medicaid pilot project to lower-earning women who otherwise wouldn't qualify…Wisconsin's plan has already been in political cross-hairs at times. The state touts it as cost-effective…But critics point out that it allows girls and boys as young as 15 to participate without having to notify their parents. Now, Wisconsin wants to widen the reach of its plan. Where funding previously was conditional and states had to reapply regularly, a provision in the health-care law allows states to make their plans permanent and get federal funding faster."
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Cassandra Brooks
(The Seattle Times, August 15, 2010)
"Less than a quarter of all infant boys in Washington are circumcised -- one of the lowest rates in the nation…The reasons why circumcision...may help reduce STDs, sexually transmitted diseases, remains unclear. Some doctors and scientists suggest that the moist region below the foreskin is a more favorable environment for the virus or that the foreskin may increase a man's susceptibility to abrasion and infection during intercourse. Currently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and CDC guidelines, last revised in 2005, don't recommend routine circumcision, citing a lack of evidence that the procedure is medically necessary. As a result, Medicaid doesn't cover the procedural cost in many states, which may have contributed to the slow but steady nationwide decline in circumcision rates over the years."
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Rob Stein
(The Washington Post, August 14, 2010)
"The Food and Drug Administration approved a controversial new form of emergency contraception Friday that can prevent a pregnancy as many as five days after sex. The decision to allow the sale of the pill, which will be marketed under the brand name 'ella,' was welcomed by family-planning proponents as a crucial new option to prevent unwanted pregnancies. But critics condemned the decision…Supporters and opponents both said the decision marked the clearest evidence of a shift in the influence of political ideology at the FDA…Ella, which was approved in Europe last year and is available in at least 22 countries, was unanimously endorsed by an FDA advisory committee less than two months ago. Women will need a prescription but could keep a supply at home."
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Timothy W. Martin
(The Wall Street Journal, New York, August 17, 2010)
"Drugstores, still struggling with a weak economy, are pushing flu vaccinations earlier and harder than ever. They've bolstered the ranks of pharmacists certified to give shots and are promoting the service through TV commercials, in-store displays, Facebook and Twitter…Traditionally, influenza-vaccination season started in October. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the timing be moved up by a month. Now, the shots are available before Labor Day, mixing it up with suntan lotion and back-to-school supplies. Pharmacies could use a sales boost, as prescriptions have shrunk as people cut back on doctor visits in the poor economy. Fewer visits to the pharmacy mean fewer chances to sell toothpaste, mascara and potato chips."
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Kounteya Sinha
(The Times of India, August 16, 2010)
"According to the global health watchdog [World Health Organisation], the new H1N1 virus has largely run its course. But for India, the reality seems to be different. Some say the pandemic is actually peaking in the country now. Take for example the number of new cases in just the past week…Globally, the levels and patterns of H1N1 transmission now being seen differ significantly from what was observed during the pandemic. Out-of-season outbreaks are no longer being reported in either the northern or southern hemisphere. Influenza outbreaks, including those primarily caused by the H1N1 virus, show an intensity similar to that seen during seasonal epidemics."
Erin Allday
(San Francisco Chronicle, August 15, 2010)
"Global health officials declared the swine flu pandemic officially over last week. And epidemiologists say the Bay Area and the rest of the United States probably will see a normal flu season this year -- that means two or three strains will circulate, probably starting around midwinter…That's why doctors and public health officials are recommending that anyone who didn't get the swine flu vaccine last year get the seasonal vaccine this year. This year's seasonal vaccine will include protection from swine flu as well as one or two other influenza strains."
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(IRIN PlusNews, United Nations, August 16, 2010)
"In a country with the highest HIV infection rate in the world and the lowest life expectancy, experts are still at a loss as to why Swazis have resisted all attempts to change the behaviours that put them at risk from the virus. The ABC (Abstain, Be Faithful, Condomise) approach has guided Swaziland's HIV prevention efforts for years, but has dismally failed to slow the spread of the virus…Director of the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA) [Dr. Derek] Von Wissell has called for new approaches and is hoping to get some answers from a countrywide study looking into Swazis' sexual behaviour being undertaken with the assistance of the World Bank."
Ayanda Yeni
(Health-e, South Africa, August 16, 2010)
"Women leaders in South Africa have hailed the outcome of a microbicide gel study, saying it will help protect women who can't negotiate safe sex with their partners against HIV infection. As the country marks Women's Month, a milestone is being celebrated. The search for a microbicide, which will ultimately afford many women the ability to protect themselves from getting HIV, is showing promising results… The microbicide study was done in Vulindlela in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, a semi rural area. More than 800 women participated in the study. The results showed that the tenofovir gel protected almost 40% of the women from contracting HIV."
Jon Hilkevitch
(Chicago Breaking News, August 18, 2010)
"Safety experts have a new pet peeve related to distracted driving. In addition to texting or talking on a cell phone while driving, lap dogs and other pets left unrestrained inside moving vehicles pose a major distraction that could be deadly, a new study released Wednesday warns motorists. About two-thirds of dog owners surveyed by the AAA organization said they routinely drive while petting or playing with their dogs, sometimes even giving them food or water while maneuvering through traffic. It has been a common sight for many years to see dogs hanging their heads out of open car windows with their ears flapping in the breeze. But in the cocoon that the automobile has become, more drivers are nonchalantly cradling their dogs atop their laps or perching the animals on their chests with the pet's front paws clutching the driver's neck or shoulders. It's risky behavior for the driver and dangerous for the pets, too."
Michael M. Grynbaum
(New York Times, August 16, 2010)
"[A] report released Monday by the city’s [New York] transportation planners offers unprecedented insight into the precarious life on the city’s streets -- pinpointing where, when and why pedestrian accidents are likely to occur -- while undercutting some of the century-old assumptions about transportation in the country’s biggest city. Taxis, it turns out, were no careering menace: cabs accounted for far fewer pedestrian accidents in Manhattan than privately owned vehicles. Jaywalkers, surely the city’s most numerous scofflaws, were involved in fewer collisions than their law-abiding counterparts who waited for the 'walk' sign."
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Jon Rabiroff
(Stars and Stripes, Washington D.C., August 17, 2010)
"A sharp drop in the number of Philippine women available to work in tawdry 'juicy bars' in South Korea that are widely associated with human trafficking and prostitution is forcing bar owners to rethink how they should operate. A crackdown by the Philippine government on South Korea's importing of bar girls has led to a 50 to 60 percent drop in the number of women working as hostesses at the 200-plus bars near U.S. military bases…The decline in bar workers has occurred since a Stars and Stripes investigation a year ago detailed how prostitution and human trafficking were flourishing in the juicy bars that cluster by the dozens in seedy base-area entertainment districts."
Estrella Torres
(Business Mirror, Philippines, August 15, 2010)
"The Philippines is considered one of the world’s sources and transit places for human trafficking due to its heavy dependence on migrant workers, 8 million of them working abroad. Around 600,000 to 800,000 people were trafficked worldwide in 2003, according to the 2010 US government report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP), a figure believed to be understated even, owing to so many unreported cases. At least 70 percent of them are women and children forced into prostitution and forced labor. In the Philippines estimates from the Visayan Forum indicates that around 10,000 reaching up to 100,000 victims are being trafficked every year within the country, as well as sent abroad in large-scale forced labor, slavery and sexual exploitation to destinations like Malaysia, Sudan, Syria, Nigeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and even as far as Eastern Europe."
Stephen Smith
(The Boston Globe, August 19, 2010)
"Researchers from the Boston hospital are reporting today, however, that patients with advanced lung cancer who started palliative care soon after diagnosis not only suffered less, they lived almost three months longer than patients not provided these services. That longer survival came even though the palliative care patients were less inclined to opt for aggressive end-of-life care. The survival benefit surprised and heartened authors of the study and doctors elsewhere, though they cautioned that the findings need to be replicated at other hospitals…The findings, guaranteed to reach a large audience through publication in The New England Journal of Medicine, have the potential to reshape cancer treatment and dispel myths about the best time to initiate palliative care, specialists said."
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Marilynn Marchione
(Associated Press, August 16, 2010)
"Cancer is the world's top 'economic killer' as well as its likely leading cause of death, the American Cancer Society contends in a new report it will present at a global cancer conference in China this week. Cancer costs more in productivity and lost life than AIDS, malaria, the flu and other diseases that spread person-to-person, the report concludes. Chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes account for more than 60 percent of deaths worldwide but less than 3 percent of public and private funding for global health, said Rachel Nugent of the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based policy research group. Money shouldn't be taken away from fighting diseases that spread person-to-person, but the amount devoted to cancer is way out of whack with the impact it has, said Dr. Otis Brawley, the cancer society's chief medical officer."
Rob Stein
(The Washington Post, August 16, 2010)
"The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the recommendation of influential scientific advisers to revoke authorization of the drug [Avastin] to treat metastatic breast cancer. Contrary to initial research, new studies indicate that the benefits of the drug, which costs $8,000 a month, do not outweigh its risks, the advisory panel concluded. Citing a dearth of evidence of the drug's effectiveness, its potential toxic side effects, and its high cost, many cancer experts, patient advocates and others are welcoming the prospect that Avastin's authorization for breast cancer might be repealed. But the possibility is alarming other cancer specialists, women taking the drug, some members of Congress and advocates for giving patients as much access to as many treatments as possible."
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Related opinion:
Avastin Shouldn't Make the FDA Give Up on 'Accelerated Approval' of Drugs
Opinion,
Henry I. Miller, physician and fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, former official at the FDA, and author; and
Jeff Stier, associate director of the American Council on Science and Health
(Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2010)
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Megan Iacobini de Fazio
(Inter Press Service, August 15, 2010)
"Although long treated as a problem exclusive to high-income and developed countries, cancer is also a major cause of mortality in the developing world. A group of leading cancer and global health experts is now calling for new strategies to effectively prevent and treat cancer in poor countries. The paper, published Sunday in The Lancet and written by Dr. Felicia Knaul, from the Harvard Global Equity Initiative, together with Drs. Paul Farmer, Julio Frenk and Lawrence Shulman, aims to draw attention to the inequalities in the standards of cancer treatment across the countries. 'Cancer in developing countries remains an unforeseen and underrecognised health priority,' Knaul told IPS, adding that 'it is still perceived as a disease of the rich and the developed world.' Out of the 7.6 million people who die of cancer every year, two-thirds come from developing countries."
Sharon Jayson
(USA Today, August 14, 2010)
"Adolescents underestimate the degree to which their peers are bullied, new research suggests. The online study of 1,454 adolescents ages 12-17, conducted by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, tried to gauge the differences between school bullying and cyberbullying and found that young people underestimate the bullying of their peers, particularly when it takes place online…The study didn't use the term 'bullying.' Instead, students were asked how frequently 'mean things' happened to them in the past year; the study defined 'mean things' as 'anything that someone does that upsets or offends someone else.' It included behaviors such as insults, threats or sharing embarrassing photos."
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Diana Gregor
(MediaGlobal, August 14, 2010)
"According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental and neurological disorders represent the leading causes of global health disabilities. The organization estimates that over 80 percent of people with mental and psychosocial disabilities live in developing countries and have little to no access to any form of psychological or psychiatric treatment. Mental disabilities are charged with a massive stigma, forcing many to remain hidden and excluded from mainstream society."
Kay Lazar
(The Boston Globe, August 18, 2010)
"A team of researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford said yesterday they have pinpointed evidence of a new disease that mimics ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis] in the brains of two former National Football League players previously thought to have died of ALS. They also found the new disease in the brain of a deceased professional boxer who was a military veteran. In most cases, ALS strikes people…with no apparent rhyme or reason. The progressive nerve disorder, which affects an estimated 30,000 Americans, slowly paralyzes patients while leaving their mind intact. But if this early research is borne out by autopsies of additional athletes and veterans, it would support the idea that an ALS-type illness can be triggered by the traumas of sports and war."
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See also:
NFL Tackles Head Injuries
Editorial
(San Francisco Chronicle, August 16, 2010)
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Shari Roan
(Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2010)
"[A] new study shows that surgery can be safely performed in areas with minimal resources and little or no sophisticated technology…More effort is needed to provide government, non-government and missionary groups with quality-improvement programs to assist in surgical care in remote areas around the world, said the authors of the study, from Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and Medecins Sans Frontieres, in Johannesburg, South Africa…Although about 230 million surgical procedures are performed worldwide each year, only about 4% of them take place in impoverished countries. Yet, those countries are the most likely to need surgical care...surgical societies have done little to promote an organized and sustained system providing free surgical care to the poor."
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Alok Jha
(The Guardian, London, online, August 18, 2010)
"Scientists have uncovered a molecular fingerprint in the blood of patients with the active form tuberculosis. The finding could help doctors predict which infected patients will become ill, and which will carry the infection without effects. TB, a disease primarily of the lungs, kills up to 1.7 million people a year. Approximately one-third of the world's population has been exposed or infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but only 10% of these people become ill. The question is why and what is it that determines which people actually get active TB,' said Anne O'Garra an immunologist at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London, who led the latest study."
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James Thirst
(The Independent, London, August 18, 2010)
"Drug companies have been accused of conning the public by hyping up patented medicines with little new to offer while downplaying their side-effects. A study concluded that up to 85 per cent of new drugs offered few if any new benefits while having the potential to cause serious harm due to toxicity or misuse. The author of the research, Donald Light, professor of comparative health policy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, said: 'Sometimes drug companies hide or downplay information about serious side-effects of new drugs and overstate the drugs’ benefits. Then, they spend two to three times more on marketing than on research to persuade doctors to prescribe these new drugs. Doctors may get misleading information and then misinform patients about the risks of a new drug."
Liz Szabo
(USA Today, August 17, 2010)
"Nearly 1 million children may have been misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, not because they have real behavior problems, but because they're the youngest kids in their kindergarten class, researchers say…Misdiagnosing children can have long-lasting effects…In fifth and eighth grade, the youngest kids in a class were more than twice as likely to use Ritalin, a stimulant commonly prescribed for ADHD, compared with the oldest students, his study says…The findings could influence the way that teachers evaluate children with ADHD symptoms -- as well as complicate parents' decisions about when to start children in kindergarten."
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Martin Mittelstaedt
(The Globe and Mail, Toronto, August 16, 2010)
"Teenagers may carry the highest levels of bisphenol A -- about 30 per cent more than the rest of the population, according to the first national survey about the compound conducted by Statistics Canada, but exposure to the estrogen-mimicking chemical is widespread, with detectible levels in 91 per cent of Canadians. The survey, released Monday, found that the average level of BPA, as the substance is known, was just over one part per billion, an exceedingly small amount, but still a thousand times higher than natural levels of estrogen found in the body…Some scientists and public-health advocates are worried about even these trace amounts, saying they could contribute to increased risk of breast cancer and precocious puberty in girls, among other hormonally caused health impacts that have been observed in animal experiments using low-level exposures to the compound."
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Opinion
Sylvain Charlebois, professor at the University of Guelph’s College of Management and Economics
(The Globe and Mail, Toronto, August 19, 2010)
"Russia’s decision to stop all grain exports as a result of extreme heat and unpredictable weather patterns will eventually hit consumers’ pocket books -- it’s just a matter of time. There and elsewhere, agriculture is increasingly wilting under the wrath of climate change…What’s happening to agricultural commodities is hardly a crisis but rather a continuing recalibration between supply and demand. We’re merely going through a transition period in our food production and distribution systems. More than a billion people will join the middle class by 2030, and many of them won’t live near arable lands. This will put a strain on grain supplies and will expose food systems to significant systemic pressures. No one knows how things will evolve, but we’re definitely seeing the beginning of a new world order in food."
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Esther Nakkazi
(The East African, August 16, 2010)
"Over $32 billion is needed for Africa to reduce maternal deaths and deaths of children under five. The money, to be spent on health interventions -- antenatal care, emergency care at the time of birth, post-natal care, treatment of childhood illness and immunization among others -- in the next five years, could save 11 million African women and children. This would create a near-universal availability of key saving interventions that would see most African countries achieve UN Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, which call for reductions in the number of deaths among children under five by two thirds, and reducing maternal deaths by three-quarters by 2015."
Saeed Shah
(The Sydney Morning Herald, August 15, 2010)
"Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said yesterday 20 million people had been affected by the worst floods in the country's history as the UN confirmed the first cholera case…The United Nations has appealed for $US460 million ($513 million) to deal with the immediate aftermath of the floods, but charities say the figure falls far short of what is needed…Charities said relief for those affected by the worst natural disaster in Pakistan's history was lagging far behind what was needed. 'There are millions of people needing food, clean water and medical care and they need it right now,' said Jacques de Maio, head of operations for South Asia at the International Committee of the Red Cross…Humanitarian agencies in Pakistan were monitoring the risk of 'a second wave of deaths induced by the floods in the shape of water-borne diseases,' Mr de Maio said, adding that it was impossible to measure the full scale of the disaster."
Related opinion:
Opinion
Lord Julian Hunt, visiting professor at Delft University and former director-general of the UK Met Office
(The Independent, London, August 16, 2010)
Tom Parfitt
(The Guardian, London, online, August 18, 2010)
"City authorities in Moscow have announced a ban on the sale of spirits between 10pm and 10am, in the most recent of a series of measures designed to break the country's drinking habit. The average Russian drinks a litre and a half of pure alcohol every month, a habit that kills half a million people a year and is a major factor in population decline…[President] Medvedev announced a war on alcohol last summer saying he was shocked by the 'colossal' level of consumption…Russia has since increased excise on beer, raised the minimum price of a bottle of vodka...and announced plans to cut sales at kiosks. Legal changes to make it a criminal rather than an administrative offence to sell alcohol to minors are also in the pipeline and last month police began enforcing a zero drink-drive limit."
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Denis Campbell
(The Guardian, London, August 18, 2010)
"Three-quarters of Britons want smoking in cars carrying children to be banned, according to a poll. Many doctors already support such a ban. Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, last week caused controversy when he said that parents who smoked in front of their young children were 'committing a form of child abuse.' A YouGov poll for the UK Faculty of Public Health (FPH) found 74% support for banning anyone from smoking in a car in which children are on board, with 10% against and 11% undecided…'There's a wealth of medical and public backing for a ban on smoking in cars with children,' said Rachael Jolley, the FPH's head of policy. 'Attitudes to smoking have changed dramatically.'"
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Related opinion:
How to Get Public Health Policy Right: Listen to the Public
Opinion, Denis Campbell
(The Guardian, London, August 18, 2010)
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Opinion
Emily Dwass, writer and contributor to FairWarning
(The Baltimore Sun, August 16, 2010)
"For people with food allergies, ingredient labels are like a book that's missing a few chapters -- you're not getting the whole story…If you happen not to be one of the 12 million Americans with a food allergy, don't think this issue doesn't matter. With one in 25 people affected, chances are someone you care about deals with this problem on a daily basis. Since 2006, food manufacturers have been required by the Food and Drug Administration to tell you if a product contains milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat or soybeans. These account for approximately 90 per cent of all food allergies. If you're allergic to something not in that group, deciphering labels is more challenging."
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Marie McCullough
(The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 15, 2010)
"The American way of life is facing a new threat, one as profound as climate change or pandemic flu. Bedbugs. OK, that's a bit hysterical. But without DDT and the other now-banned pesticides that kept bedbugs in check for more than 50 years, the United States is as vulnerable as parts of the world where the insects remain a plague. From New York to Los Angeles, and everywhere in between, these apple-seed-size vampires are spoiling sleep, vacations, and the bottom line of just about every business except pest control. Not just hotels and apartments, but nursing homes, schools, churches, movie theaters, cruise ships, subways, fire stations…have struggled to vanquish the vermin. 'This is the most difficult, challenging pest problem of our generation,' University of Kentucky entomologist Mike Potter declared in April at the Environmental Protection Agency's first-ever National Bed Bug Summit."
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