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USAID, Israel sign MOU to provide agricultural assistance to four African countries

"USAID and MASHAV, Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have signed a memorandum of understanding [MOU] to increase cooperation on the topic of food security in Africa," Globes reports.

21 Apr 2012

UNAIDS welcomes new WHO guidelines for HIV testing, counseling, ART for couples

UNAIDS on Thursday "called on all countries to implement new WHO guidelines that encourage couples to go together for HIV testing to ascertain their status" and recommend offering antiretroviral therapy (ART) to people living with HIV who have a partner without HIV, "even when they do not require it for their own health," the U.N. News Centre reports.

21 Apr 2012

Research roundup: Caring for dual eligibles; Antitrust policy and the health law

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this report notes a systematic difference in life expectancy across region and race. "Within in each sex-race group, there are striking geographical differences in the probability of survival to age 70. ... These differences are larger for males than females within each race and larger for blacks than whites within each sex."

21 Apr 2012

World finance, development ministers meet in Washington for high-level meeting on water, sanitation

The Guardian reports that "60 finance and development ministers will gather in Washington on Friday at a high-level meeting on sanitation and water." According to the newspaper, "The Sanitation and Water for All meeting, convened by Anthony Lake, executive director of the U.N. children's fund UNICEF, follows an announcement in March by UNICEF and the World Health Organization that the world had met the millennium development goal (MDG) overall target for access to safe drinking water in 2010, but that 783 million people were still missing out."

21 Apr 2012

To achieve AIDS-free generation, needs of youth living with HIV must be addressed in transition services

In this post in USAID's "IMPACTblog," Heather Bergmann of John Snow Inc., who is the technical officer for USAID's AIDSTAR-One project, reports on the need to include youth in transition services for adolescents living with HIV.

21 Apr 2012

Need to invest in new HIV prevention methods remains 'urgent,' International Microbicides Conference hears

"Although the research for new HIV prevention technologies has indeed made some progress, ... a formidable way lies ahead to find enough money to finish the research and to make 'from discovery to delivery' a reality for those in need of protecting themselves from HIV," CNS/Scoop.co.nz reports.

21 Apr 2012

Boston Children's Hospital introduces new mobile app

Boston Children's Hospital today announced the launch of its new mobile application (app), Boston Children's Hospital MyWay, providing patients and families with a one-stop mobile information hub for navigating the Boston Children's Hospital patient experience.

21 Apr 2012

JHSPH to host International Conference on Health in the African Diaspora

On July 5-8, 2012, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will host the first major international conference on the health of the descendants of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The International Conference on Health in the African Diaspora - ICHAD 2012 - will explore the health status of people of African descent living throughout the Western Hemisphere - from Canada to Argentina.

21 Apr 2012

Political cartoon: 'Knights Of Entitlements'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Knights Of Entitlements" by Chris Weyant.

21 Apr 2012

Aetna reaches three-year contract extension agreement with WakeMed

Aetna announced that it has reached agreement on a three-year contract extension with WakeMed Health & Hospitals. The agreement takes effect May 1.

21 Apr 2012

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Executive Director responds to Washington Post article on clean cookstove research

In a statement published on the website of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Executive Director Radha Muthiah responds to an article published in the Washington Post on Monday, which highlighted the results of a recent MIT/Harvard study on the public health benefits of clean cookstoves.

21 Apr 2012

U.N. SG ban warns of 'cascading crisis' of drought, conflict in African Sahel

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week "called on the global community to act quickly to address what he described as a 'cascading crisis' sweeping the Sahel region of West Africa, where 15 million people have been affected by the drought and conflict-related crisis in the area," the U.N. News Centre reports.

20 Apr 2012

Honduras becomes first LAC country to launch national plan to combat NTDs

"A major milestone was achieved on April 12, when Honduras became the first country in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region to officially launch an integrated national plan to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)," the the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog reports.

20 Apr 2012

Obama administration will expand use of competitive bidding in Medicare

A year-long experiment found that the competitive bidding approach saved money without harming beneficiaries. It also made inroads against waste and fraud.

20 Apr 2012

Health law implementation news: Most red states slow walk health exchanges

Politico reports that most GOP-controlled states are holding off on building insurance exchanges until the Supreme Court issues its decision. Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service's ability to enforce the health law is the topic of a Capitol Hill hearing and a former White House advisor offers his views during a Madison speech.

20 Apr 2012

Budget consideration continues in both the Senate and the House

In the Senate, a "voteless" markup was held on Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad's, D-N.D., presentation of the Bowles-Simpson plan. Meanwhile, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., says he will bring the House GOP budget plan advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., up for a vote by the full Senate later this year.

20 Apr 2012

First Edition: June 20, 2012

Today's headlines include reports that the Veterans' Administration will increase its mental health staffing.

20 Apr 2012

K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital announces opening of new specialty care center

K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital at Jersey Shore University Medical Center is proud to announce the grand opening of K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital Specialty Care Center, a consolidated outpatient pediatric center serving as the new home of Meridian Pediatric Associates. The center provides pediatric specialty care services in a comfortable and friendly environment, and is an important first step of the hospital's new pediatric expansion project.

20 Apr 2012

Blog examines potential effects of AIDS funding cuts, shortfalls

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog examines a memorandum from the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), distributed "to a targeted list of congressional leaders with jurisdiction over PEPFAR or the appropriations committees that fund it," "that makes the case for continued funding for the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program at least at fiscal year (FY) 2012 funding levels."

20 Apr 2012

Access to family planning services important for adolescent women

In a Huffington Post "Global Motherhood" opinion piece, UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin writes, "It warms my heart to see that safe motherhood and women's reproductive health are finally being recognized as important development issues," but "millions of women in developing countries still lack even the most basic care during pregnancy," leading to maternal death and injury and hundreds of millions of women lack access to family planning services, including modern contraceptives.

20 Apr 2012