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CVS demands employees offer health info or pay more for coverage

Chain drugstore CVS is offering employees a choice: Reveal health info, including their weight, or pay as much as $600 more per year for their health insurance.

22 Mar 2013

HIV home tests: an interview with Dr Nitika Pant Pai, McGill University

30 years into the HIV epidemic, there is no vaccine in sight. Yet, even though there are fantastic and effective cheap and universally available drugs, and a treatment as prevention strategy is known to work, people do not wish to get tested for HIV! If everyone got tested, and treated, we could have brought the infection under control a long time ago!

21 Mar 2013

Trained Spanish nurses provide quality care comparable to that of general practitioners, study finds

A new study has found that Spanish nurses trained specifically to resolve acute health problems of low complexity provide care of comparable quality to that of general practitioners. Published early online in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, the findings suggest that nurses may be able to take on some of the care generally provided by physicians.

21 Mar 2013

Study: News stories on mass shootings contribute to negative perceptions of mental illness

News stories about mass shootings involving a shooter with mental illness heighten readers' negative attitudes toward persons with serious mental illness, according to a new report by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

21 Mar 2013

Report: Adults experiencing mental or substance use disorders more likely to smoke heavily than others

Adults aged 18 or older who experienced any mental illness or who have had a substance use disorder in the past year are more likely to smoke and to smoke more heavily than others, according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

21 Mar 2013

First Edition: March 21, 2013

Today's headlines include various reports about what the public knows -- and doesn't know -- about the health law.

21 Mar 2013

New issue of GHD-NET's Health & Foreign Policy Bulletin available online

The February 2013 issue of the Global Health Diplomacy Network's Health & Foreign Policy Bulletin is now available online.

21 Mar 2013

Study examines impact of adult behaviors on children's coping and distress after surgery

A study in the April issue of Anesthesiology found adult behaviors influence children's coping in the recovery room after surgery. In addition, the study from Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, New Haven, CT, identified specific adult behaviors that increase or decrease the likelihood children will become distressed.

21 Mar 2013

U.S. continues to respond to Syrian crisis

Noting "[t]he two-year anniversary of the Syria uprising coincides with another dark milestone: over one million refugees have fled Syria," Anne Richard, assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, writes in the State Department's "DipNote" blog, "This escalating crisis ... is challenging all of us to do more. We must ensure more life-saving assistance reaches people who need it."

21 Mar 2013

Some public health experts concerned over Saudi Arabia's response to SARS-like virus

"A SARS-like virus has infected 15 people, nine of whom have died, mostly in Saudi Arabia, worrying some Western scientists who question whether the kingdom is sharing enough critical data on the outbreak," "[b]ut a top Saudi Arabia health official rejected those complaints on Tuesday and said the virus posed a low risk of pandemic," the Wall Street Journal reports.

21 Mar 2013

U.N. food agencies welcome Pope Francis's commitment to helping poor, hungry

"United Nations officials [on Tuesday] welcomed Pope Francis' public commitment to support those who live in poverty and suffer from hunger, and expressed their readiness to work with the new leader of the Catholic Church on these issues," the U.N. News Centre reports (3/19).

21 Mar 2013

U.S. foreign aid system needs 'overhaul' to better foster development

"In practice, the foreign aid system, and in particular, the U.S. Agency for International Development, work very well in accomplishing what Washington politicians want them to do," Charles Kenny, a fellow at the Center for Global Development and the New America Foundation, writes in Bloomberg Businessweek's "Small World" blog.

21 Mar 2013

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah publishes annual letter

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on Tuesday published his 2013 annual letter. "Today, I am pleased to share with you our third annual letter about the work our Agency does around the world to help answer President Obama's call," he writes in the letter, available on the USAID webpage.

21 Mar 2013

Philippines Supreme Court temporarily halts implementation of reproductive health law

"The Philippines Supreme Court temporarily halted the implementation of a law that provides state funding for contraceptives, legislation opposed by the dominant Roman Catholic Church but supported by reproductive health activists," the Associated Press reports, adding, "The Responsible Parenthood Law was passed by lawmakers late last year despite the church's opposition but petitioners questioned its legality on several grounds, saying it offends religious beliefs and fosters abortion, which remains illegal in the country" (3/19).

21 Mar 2013

More action needed to fight TB, as drug resistance spreading

"As we mark World [Tuberculosis (TB)] Day on Sunday March 24, there can be no denying that TB, fueled by drug resistance, continues to pose a serious global health threat -- one that must be urgently addressed," John Lechleiter, chair, president and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company and chair of the board of PhRMA, writes in a Forbes opinion piece, adding, "With resistance spreading, we need a renewed global commitment that combines public and private efforts to defeat TB."

21 Mar 2013

Report on Austrian national health care system approach to psychosomatic medicine

One of the last issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics has a report on the characteristics of a training program in psychosomatic medicine that places Austria in a top position in Europe.

21 Mar 2013

Lancet to launch new global health journal

The Lancet on Monday announced the launch of a new journal, Lancet Global Health, according to a press release (3/18).

21 Mar 2013

IRIN examines issues surrounding implementation of national drought policies

"There is quite a leap to be made between a country's declared intent to draw up a drought policy and actually making it happen on the ground," according to "several participants at the recent High-Level Meeting on National Drought Policy in Geneva," IRIN reports.

21 Mar 2013

Blog examines survival of Feed the Future initiative under sequestration

"While the [Feed the Future] program took a few years to get off the ground, and is probably not all that well known to the public, it is a favorite of USAID Administrator Raj Shah -- and also a go-to program budget hawks now want to cut back," development blogger Tom Murphy writes in the Humanosphere blog, noting the "House Budget Committee recommended to cut Feed the Future entirely last year."

21 Mar 2013

Social work professor explores U.N.'s task ahead to care for aging

In Norway, families receive public support that enables them to care for aging parents in their own homes and keep them out of nursing homes. This includes a salary for a son or daughter to provide care.

21 Mar 2013