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Investing in adolescents can help reduce poverty, improve health, UNICEF report says

Additional investment in the world's 1.2 billion adolescents - 88 percent of whom live in the developing world - has the potential to help alleviate inequality and poverty, UNICEF said in its annual State of the World's Children report released on Friday, IRIN reports.

28 Feb 2011

Governors want flexibility from federal officials on health issues

The National Governors Association is meeting in Washington this weekend and some of the state leaders spoke out about their difficulties funding health programs and flexibility and changes they would like to see from the federal government.

28 Feb 2011

Study may help explain link between education and lower risk of heart disease

Freshmen on the eve of finals and graduate students staring down a thesis committee may not feel this way, but the privilege of obtaining an advanced education correlates with decades of lower blood pressure, according to a study led by a public health researcher at Brown University. The benefit appears to be greater for women than for men.

27 Feb 2011

Research Roundup: Health costs at life's end; Assessing hospital quality; Surgeons' burnout; Per capita Medicaid spending

Annals of Internal Medicine: Determinants Of Medical Expenditures In The Last 6 Months Of Life - Identifying factors about patients in the final six months of life that affect the level of care needed "may reveal opportunities for patient-centered interventions to predict and to reduce medical costs," write the authors, while noting that the study had "a large proportion of unexplained variation."

25 Feb 2011

New policy research brief examines patients at risk of losing care under health center spending cuts

A new policy research brief released today by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services examines the characteristics of patients whose access to health center services is at risk because of a potential $1.3 billion in direct spending cuts for community health centers.

25 Feb 2011

Bristol-Myers Squibb awards $1 million grant to reduce hepatitis-related health disparities in Asia

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation has awarded four new grants to help improve awareness, prevention and care of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in China and India.

25 Feb 2011

Advocates say ending violence against women must be top priority for U.N. women

Nearly three quarters of women's rights advocates say ending violence against women must be a top priority for U.N. Women, according to a report released Wednesday at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York, Inter Press Service reports.

25 Feb 2011

New study: Internet kiosks help reduce infant, child and maternal mortality rates in rural India

A new study by a researcher at the University of Arkansas shows that Internet kiosks providing information on prenatal and postnatal care for mother and baby have helped reduce infant, child and maternal mortality rates in rural India.

24 Feb 2011

U.N. commission on the status of women opens in New York

Kicking off the two-week 55th Annual Session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women in New York on Tuesday, Michelle Bachelet, the first under-secretary-general and executive director of U.N. Women, highlighted the role of gender equality in country development, peace and security, Angola Press reports (2/23).

24 Feb 2011

Opinions: Foreign aid lessons from Britain; food security; Global Fund investigation; U.S. food aid cuts; Africa needs trade

"Before Republican budget hawks wield their knife, ... they should take a lesson from their conservative cousins in the United Kingdom: When belt-tightening gets serious, foreign aid should be improved, not gutted," according to an opinion piece in the New Republic written by Thomas Carothers, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

24 Feb 2011

Former U.N. Secretary-General Annan discusses Africa's agriculture potential at IFAD conference

Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general who now heads the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), discussed the possibilities for agriculture in Africa and called for reforms to improve farming on the continent in a speech given Saturday during the opening day of the U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development's (IFAD) annual meeting in Rome, Italy, the Jakarta Post reports (Asrianti, 2/21).

23 Feb 2011

AAFA study: Richmond ranked as No. 1 Asthma Capital in the U.S.

For the second year in a row, Richmond, VA, has been ranked as the No. 1 Asthma Capital – the most challenging place to live with asthma in the U.S. – according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, which conducted the study.

23 Feb 2011

As G20 financial leaders discuss food prices, some push for fulfillment of G8 pledges

As G20 financial leaders met in Paris over the weekend, the Washington Post reports on the "debate over how to respond" to the recent increase in food prices. France, the G20 chair, spurred discussion about "whether new regulations on commodity trading might prevent speculators from pushing up prices by investing heavily in grains or other goods on the expectation that they will increase even further in value. Yet it is unclear how much of a role speculation plays in the movement of prices," the Washington Post writes.

23 Feb 2011

CAMH introduces mobile research lab to study mental health, addictions in communities across Ontario

Today, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health launched Canada's first mobile research laboratory to study mental health and addictions in communities across Ontario.

23 Feb 2011

House passes FY11 budget bill

The House voted 235-189 on Saturday to pass legislation that "would fund government operations through Sept. 30, the end of fiscal 2011, while sharply reducing spending across a wide swath of federal agencies and programs," CQ reports. "Most spending levels under the bill would be based on fiscal 2010 levels, less eliminations, reductions and rescissions totaling roughly $61.5 billion. The measure would provide $99.6 billion less than President Obama sought for fiscal 2011," the news service writes (Weyl, 2/19).

22 Feb 2011

Healthcare disparities seen in epilepsy patients with low socioeconomic status

A newly published report reveals patients with epilepsy and low socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to have uncontrolled seizures, drug-related side effects, and a lower overall quality of life. The study also indicates that low SES patients used the hospital emergency room more often and had more visits to a general practitioner than epileptic patients at higher socioeconomic levels. Full findings are now available in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy.

22 Feb 2011

Epilepsy patients with low SES more likely to have poor quality of life

A newly published report reveals patients with epilepsy and low socioeconomic status are more likely to have uncontrolled seizures, drug-related side effects, and a lower overall quality of life.

22 Feb 2011

U.S. House approves bill cuts for older Americans

Cuts included in the spending bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives this past week would harm seniors by drastically slashing initiatives that help older Americans to sustain their economic independence and health.

22 Feb 2011

Canada Scholar presents research on link between cities and water-related diseases at AAAS conference

Despite clean water and improved public services, water-related diseases continues to spread in cities around the world. Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar Kate Mulligan presents her research on the connection between cities, water and health at the THINK CANADA Press Breakfast at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference Sunday.

21 Feb 2011

House to vote on FY11 budget bill, Senate likely to reject it

House Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) said on Thursday that Republicans had reached an agreement with Democrats to reduce the the number of pending amendments to a bill that would fund the government through the end of the current fiscal year, CQ reports (Carter, 2/17). "A final vote on the 2011 budget measure may come as soon as today. It then would go to the Senate, where the Democratic majority is likely to reject the proposal, raising the prospect of a government shutdown," Bloomberg Businessweek reports (Faler, 2/18).

19 Feb 2011

Poverty News and Research

Investing in adolescents can help reduce poverty, improve health, UNICEF report says

Governors want flexibility from federal officials on health issues

Study may help explain link between education and lower risk of heart disease

Research Roundup: Health costs at life's end; Assessing hospital quality; Surgeons' burnout; Per capita Medicaid spending

New policy research brief examines patients at risk of losing care under health center spending cuts

Bristol-Myers Squibb awards $1 million grant to reduce hepatitis-related health disparities in Asia

Advocates say ending violence against women must be top priority for U.N. women

New study: Internet kiosks help reduce infant, child and maternal mortality rates in rural India

U.N. commission on the status of women opens in New York

Opinions: Foreign aid lessons from Britain; food security; Global Fund investigation; U.S. food aid cuts; Africa needs trade

Former U.N. Secretary-General Annan discusses Africa's agriculture potential at IFAD conference

AAFA study: Richmond ranked as No. 1 Asthma Capital in the U.S.

As G20 financial leaders discuss food prices, some push for fulfillment of G8 pledges

CAMH introduces mobile research lab to study mental health, addictions in communities across Ontario

House passes FY11 budget bill

Healthcare disparities seen in epilepsy patients with low socioeconomic status

Epilepsy patients with low SES more likely to have poor quality of life

U.S. House approves bill cuts for older Americans

Canada Scholar presents research on link between cities and water-related diseases at AAAS conference

House to vote on FY11 budget bill, Senate likely to reject it

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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