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Medicaid programs in Ga., Ill. under microscope

States wrestle with Medicaid funding and opportunities to reshape the programs.

8 May 2012

PEPFAR releases 8th annual report to Congress

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog notes that PEPFAR recently released its 8th annual report to Congress.

8 May 2012

Calif., Ore. and Mass. try new ways to control health costs

In Massachusetts, House lawmakers released their proposal to curb health care spending, by setting a goal.

8 May 2012

VOA News examines South Africa's rural public health sector

VOA News features a five-part series on South Africa's rural public health sector, which the news service writes is "plagued by a high burden of infectious diseases, severe doctor and nurse shortages, lack of medicines and essential medical equipment and incompetent management," resulting in high patient death rates.

8 May 2012

Newsweek examines Melinda Gates' focus on family planning issues

"In an exclusive interview with Newsweek," Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discussed how "she has decided to make family planning her signature issue and primary public health a priority."

8 May 2012

Obama on the stump: Don't turn back the clock on health reform (video)

Kaiser Health News has video clips of a pair of speeches Saturday by President Barack Obama, in which he fired up Democratic party faithful in Ohio and Virginia. He spoke about his plans for -- and record on -- Medicare, health insurance and birth control. And he vowed that the country "will not go back to the days when insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy."

8 May 2012

Humanitarian groups call on G8 to address food security at upcoming summit

Several humanitarian groups say that despite the G8's pledge made at the 2009 L'Aquila Summit to provide $22 billion over three years to improve agriculture and food security, "the commitment is about to expire" and "much more needs to be done to end hunger," VOA News reports.

8 May 2012

Man-made waterways contribute to malaria breeding grounds, study suggests

A recent study, conducted by Elizabeth Whitcombe, visiting senior research scholar at the earth system science interdisciplinary center at the University of Maryland, and published in the May 13 issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, "mapped meteorological, irrigation and medical reports during British rule in India" and concluded modern-day India should learn lessons from the past to improve engineering plans and epidemiological "modeling of environmental factors controlling vector borne disease," especially malaria, SciDev.Net reports.

8 May 2012

Blog examines fight against NTDs in Burundi

The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog examines the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in Burundi, writing, "In 2007, the Legatum Foundation, an international private investment organization that promotes sustainable development throughout the world agreed to fund the treatment of NTDs in Burundi and brought together several partners to assist Burundi's Ministry of Health."

8 May 2012

U.N. officials warn additional funding will be needed to fight food insecurity in African Sahel

"Sahelian governments and local and international aid groups are struggling to cope with both the continual arrivals of people fleeing ... northern Mali, and the mounting number of hungry people across the region as the lean season gets underway," IRIN reports.

8 May 2012

Capsules: Ain't no Sunshine yet for docs; Rivlin on Medicare and the debt: 'we know what to do'

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Jenny Gold reports on a new timelime for implementation of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act: "CMS has announced that the agency will not require companies to collect transparency data before January 1, 2013.

8 May 2012

Ariz. governor signs bill banning public funding of Planned Parenthood; Appeals court bar Texas from cutting the group from the Women's Health Program

Supporters of the Arizona bill said the law was needed to keep money from indirectly funding abortions. In the Texas case, the panel of federal appeals judges said Texas must continue funding Planned Parenthood until a lower court decides the case.

8 May 2012

Viewpoints: Diabetes, future health ills & the GOP; Debate on FDA OTC plan; Sen. Brown's daughter's health insurance

A study of diabetes in overweight and obese youngsters bears an ominous warning about future health care trends in this country. It found that Type 2 diabetes, a new scourge among young people, progresses faster and is harder to treat in youngsters than in adults. ... Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, are bent on dismantling health care reforms that could greatly assist in curbing the obesity epidemic.

8 May 2012

WellNow Urgent Care opens two new Middle Tennessee clinics

WellNow Urgent Care, based in Nashville, continues its growth trajectory for 2012 with two new Middle Tennessee clinics. WellNow Dickson is now open following the acquisition and renovation of the former Walk-In Quick Care, according to J. Scott Jordan, M.D., WellNow's Chief Medical Officer. WellNow Dickson is located at 199 Henslee Drive. WellNow Springfield is slated for its opening this summer and is located at 2660 Memorial Boulevard.

8 May 2012

Abbott to resolve all outstanding issues related to Depakote

Abbott has reached a settlement with U.S. federal and 49 state authorities, plus the District of Columbia, to resolve all outstanding issues regarding a previously disclosed investigation of past sales and marketing practices relating to its neurologic medication Depakote.

8 May 2012

State roundup: Calif. fight over group homes for seniors; New agency proposed to police disabled care in NY; Conn. retiree health plan expansion could endanger protections

Neighbors were already concerned about the growing number of group homes for the elderly and recovering addicts in the area, many of them for profit. A Times analysis found 24 licensed facilities offering residential care for the elderly within a mile of the proposed project and three more waiting for state approval. It is one of several such clusters that have emerged in Los Angeles County -- including parts of the San Fernando Valley and South Bay -- where families can afford fees that run into thousands of dollars per month. Large swaths of the county's less affluent areas have no such facilities.

8 May 2012

NIH responds to criticism over handling of controversial bird flu studies

In a letter dated April 25, Amy Patterson, associate director for science policy in the office of the director of the National Institutes of Health, "has refuted criticism of the way a meeting held to allow a biosecurity advisory group to review controversial bird flu studies was handled," denying "the agenda was crafted to achieve a predetermined outcome," the Canadian Press/Winnipeg Free Press writes.

7 May 2012

School-based health centers highly effective in delivering comprehensive care

New research from the University of Colorado School of Medicine shows that school-based health centers are highly effective in delivering comprehensive care, especially vaccines to adolescents.

7 May 2012

Scientific American examines worldwide spread of drug-resistant gonorrhea

Scientific American examines how strains of cephalosporin-resistant gonorrhea have "been emerging in Japan, and moving east and west from there, for at least a decade." The magazine writes, "Rapid international travel allowed the resistance mutation to hopscotch the globe," noting antibiotic-resistant strains that have been identified in Sweden, England, Norway, the Philippines, Spain, and France.

7 May 2012

House GOP budget cuts social programs – including Medicaid -- to stave off Pentagon cuts

As Congress returns after a weeklong recess, House Republicans will advance legislation to trim almost $380 billion from the federal budget, with social programs bearing the brunt of the cuts.

7 May 2012