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What the health law's future holds

At the health law's three-year mark, news outlets look ahead to the major provisions slated to take effect in 2014, exploring their impact on insurance premiums and who might be left uncovered.

25 Mar 2013

Somalia aims to provide universal basic health care by 2016

"Every Somali citizen will have access to basic health care by 2016 if a new, government-led strategic plan achieves its aims," IRIN reports.

25 Mar 2013

First Edition: March 25, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the continuing outlook for progress on the federal budget as well as a variety of stories related to the health law's implementation.

25 Mar 2013

New guidance highlights risk factors and treatments for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women

A new Guidance recently published by the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis (ESCEO) and the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) reflects the most current advances in the diagnosis and management of osteoporosis, the 'silent disease' which affects up to one in two postmenopausal women.

25 Mar 2013

To stop mother-to-child transmission of HIV, focus on safe breastfeeding strategies

"There is great hope that we can finally stop infants from getting infected with HIV by their mothers. But first, countries with high rates of HIV infection must work out how to deliver reliable health programs to protect babies form their mothers' infected breastmilk," Pierre Barker, senior vice president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, writes in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

25 Mar 2013

Scientists call for leaders to combine poverty, environmental goals

Writing in the journal Nature, 10 scientists from around the world "say the only chance of achieving global prosperity is for all countries to combine poverty and environmental targets," and they ask "[w]orld leaders [to] set six goals around universal clean energy, an end to water and food shortages, thriving lives and livelihoods, and healthy and productive ecosystems," the Guardian reports.

25 Mar 2013

The Lancet examines changes to China's family planning policy

The Lancet reports on changes in the governance of China's family planning policy. "On March 10, nearly 32 years to the day since China's National Population and Family Planning Commission was established to oversee the world's largest, longest-standing population control program, the country's leaders announced plans to dissolve it into the Ministry of Health," the journal writes, noting, "Four days later, the National People's Congress rubber-stamped the proposal and the commission ceased to exist, leaving the future of the country's fertility policy in doubt."

25 Mar 2013

Patient participation in care (PPC): an interview with Professor Wendy Chaboyer, NHMRC

Patient-centred care, that is partnering ‘with’ patients, rather than providing services ‘to’ them, is advocated as a way to improve patient safety.

25 Mar 2013

Governments' attention to health policy can promote dignity, freedom

In a Lancet opinion piece, the journal's editor-in-chief Richard Horton writes about "[w]hy governments should take health more seriously," stating, "The purpose of government is to uphold the dignity of its people.

25 Mar 2013

Study uncovers new relationship between nuclear architecture, gene activity

Every time a cell divides it makes a carbon copy of crucial ingredients, including the histone proteins that are responsible for spooling yards of DNA into tight little coils.

25 Mar 2013

Opinion pieces recognize World Water Day 2013

World Water Day is recognized on March 22 to raise awareness of water and sanitation issues worldwide. This year also marks the International Year of Water Cooperation, according to the World Water Day website (3/22).

25 Mar 2013

Loyola's School-based Health Center at Proviso East High School holds health fair for students

Health care reform has highlighted the importance of comprehensive, culturally appropriate interventions at the community level to prevent disease and encourage healthy behaviors. Providing young people with the knowledge and skills to make healthy lifestyle choices is the best way to reduce the risk chronic disease in later life.

25 Mar 2013

GlobalPost blog examines first progress report for 'USAID Forward' initiative

USAID on Wednesday "released its first progress report for USAID Forward, the major reform effort it initiated in 2010 'to change the way the agency does business,'" GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog reports.

25 Mar 2013

Women, girls around the world at risk from inefficient cookstoves

"For mothers around the world, preparing the family meal is a daily ritual and an act of love. But it's also a grave risk for approximately three billion people who cook with open fires and inefficient stoves that burn solid fuels such as wood, animal and agricultural waste, and coal," Kathy Calvin, CEO of the United Nations Foundation, writes in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

25 Mar 2013

International community observes World Water Day

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson on Thursday "launched a call for urgent action to end the crisis of 2.5 billion people without basic sanitation, and to change a situation in which more people worldwide have mobile phones than toilets," the U.N. News Centre reports (3/21).

25 Mar 2013

Study: Experts question cost benefits of 'telehealth'

Monitoring patients at home using modern technology, so-called 'telehealth', is tipped as the next big thing in healthcare, but a new study by British researchers suggests it may not be worth the extra expense.

25 Mar 2013

Study suggests greater transparency, coordinated implant selection and purchase process

In a study, presented today at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, researchers obtained and compared the hospital purchasing records from 45 academic medical centers on the unit costs and volume of spinal products - pedicle screws, anterior cervical plates and posterior interbody cages - purchased from a total of seven vendors.

25 Mar 2013

Financial Times special report focuses on tuberculosis

The Financial Times has published a special report, titled "Combating Tuberculosis 2013," as World TB Day on March 24 approaches.

25 Mar 2013

Development advocates urge Congress to protect global health funding, blog reports

"Earlier this week, the [Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC)] and other global health and international development advocates called on the House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations subcommittee to fully fund key programs in the foreign affairs budget," Ashley Bennett, the GHTC's policy officer, writes in the coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog.

25 Mar 2013

States and exchanges: Mich. Senate rejects plan to partner with feds

The Michigan action means that running the health insurance marketplace in that state will fall to the federal government. In Idaho, the Senate approved a proposal to create a state-based health exchange.

25 Mar 2013