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Health law preparations go full throttle

The re-election of President Barack Obama all but ensured the survival of the law, news outlets report. Now, a slew of regulations must be issued and political and financial and organizational obstacles overcome.

9 Nov 2012

Dems, GOP assess campaign shortcomings

Stories look at what went wrong for both parties in this week's elections: how comments about rape by two Republican Senate candidates fed a GOP gender gap, and how Democrats' offensive against a Republican plan to overhaul Medicare fell flat.

9 Nov 2012

FAO Food Price Index falls slightly during October

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Food Price Index, "which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar," fell slightly in October, "largely because of falling cereals and oils prices, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday," Reuters reports.

9 Nov 2012

USAID unveils plans to harmonize nutrition efforts

"The U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID] has unveiled plans to harmonize its funding and efforts surrounding nutrition," Devex reports.

9 Nov 2012

Blog examines future of global development agenda

"For more than a decade, the global conversation about development has been dominated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," Stewart Patrick, a senior fellow and director of the program on international institutions and global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes in the Council's "The Internationalist" blog.

9 Nov 2012

Maine may warm to 'Obamacare' after Democratic sweep

Obama's health law than Maine. ... But Maine's voters may have short-circuited further resistance Tuesday by initiating a Democratic sweep that flipped control of both houses of the State Legislature, and is now poised to challenge Gov. Paul LePage, a tea party Republican opposed to the law."

9 Nov 2012

IPS examines generic drug scheme in India's Rajasthan state

"As the northern Indian state of Rajasthan rolls out an ambitious universal health care plan, the discontent of the state's doctors stands in stark contrast to the joys of the 68 million people who will benefit from the scheme," Inter Press Service reports.

9 Nov 2012

Yellow fever outbreak in Sudan's Darfur kills 67, WHO reports

"A yellow fever outbreak in Sudan's Darfur region has killed 67 people so far," and "the number of cases has more than doubled since the start of the epidemic last month," the WHO said in a statement on Wednesday, the U.N. News Centre reports.

9 Nov 2012

Semprus BioSciences to develop surface-modified endotracheal tube

Teleflex Incorporated, a leading global provider of medical devices for critical care and surgery, has announced that Semprus BioSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of Teleflex Incorporated, has been awarded the initial phase of a $2.3 million research grant from the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), located at Fort Detrick, MD.

9 Nov 2012

Mass. fires head of board overseeing compounding pharmacies

Officials say James Coffey did not investigate a complaint from Colorado about the center now tied to the meningitis outbreak.

9 Nov 2012

Examining the importance of 'practical knowledge' in global health

Noting World Bank President Jim Yong Kim at the World Knowledge Forum last month "spoke of the need to 'lay the foundations for a new field that will collect and distribute practical knowledge that countries can use to get delivery right in their unique contexts,'" Wolfgang Munar, a senior program officer in the Family Health Division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Larry Prusak, an advisor on knowledge networks for the Foundation, examine in the organization's "Impatient Optimists" blog why "practical knowledge is a topic worth exploring and better understanding for business, governments and philanthropies."

9 Nov 2012

Boehner, Obama signal willingness to work together on fiscal crisis

The House speaker says he would accept a deal that raises federal revenues, but not the top tax rates, if it also includes an overhaul of entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

9 Nov 2012

Republicans consider old, new ways to hinder health law implementation

Some Republicans and religious leaders are following through with challenges to the law's contraception coverage mandate, looking for ways to repeal a Medicare cost-cutting board and trying further to delay implementation.

9 Nov 2012

CHOP presents new findings on pediatric cardiovascular disease at AHA 2012

Physician-researchers from the Cardiac Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia presented new findings on pediatric cardiovascular disease at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012 in Los Angeles.

9 Nov 2012

Scarce resources threatening progress against AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa

"With donor money to fight HIV and AIDS falling, spending in sub-Saharan Africa must be targeted to get the best results," Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, writes in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters" blog, noting, "Sub-Saharan Africa has 10 percent of the world's population but is home to 70 percent of those living with HIV and AIDS."

9 Nov 2012

International community must step up fight against TB in Southern African region

"With $2.5 trillion in mineral reserves, South Africa has the largest mining sector in the world," but "[t]he work can be devastatingly toxic for the body," with "inhumane and untenable" working conditions, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

9 Nov 2012

Paul Ryan assesses his role in Congress; Dems face health debates without Rep. Stark

Ryan, who was the GOP vice presidential nominee, is in a tricky spot as a key negotiator between Congress and Capitol Hill on any possible fiscal deal. Meanwhile, Stark, one of the key health congressional care experts, was defeated.

9 Nov 2012

Blog posts address possible global health, foreign policy priorities in second Obama administration

After President Barack Obama's re-election on Tuesday, the following blog posts addressed possible foreign policy priorities during the next administration.

9 Nov 2012

Longer looks: People with mental disabilities have a vote; Genome sequencing raises hope - also anxiety

I may get Alzheimer's disease, I was told after getting my DNA analyzed. I could suffer the consequences of an abnormal blood clot in my heart or my brain. Or perhaps I'll suffer from a disease called primary myelofibrosis that's caused by an overactive bone marrow. All of these were possible outcomes, based on my genetic profile. In each case, the test only gives an increased risk for disease, not a definitive diagnosis.

9 Nov 2012