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Kaiser Family Foundation report examines innovative financing mechanisms for global health

A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, titled "Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Global Health: Overview and Considerations for U.S. Government Participation," "examines some of the most prominent new financing mechanisms for global health across a broad range of categories, with particular attention to the current level of U.S. government involvement," according to a KFF press release.

20 Oct 2011

Winter health and safety tips

Winter is a special time for celebration. It should also be a time for added caution if you or someone in your family is an older adult. It is the season for falls, slips on icy streets, and other dangers that can be especially harmful for older adults. "Something as simple as a fall can be devastating for older men and women," says Dr. Evelyn Granieri, director of the Division of Geriatrics at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/The Allen Hospital. "Before the cold weather arrives, it is important to prepare."

20 Oct 2011

Despite progress in malaria vaccine development, funding remains potential stumbling block

In this Guardian opinion piece, the newspaper's health editor, Sarah Boseley, responds to the positive results of a large-scale clinical trial of an experimental malaria vaccine reported on Tuesday and recaps other strides made against the disease in recent years, writing that "there is a way to go yet, with more results from the trial to come, and many uncertainties, including how much this vaccine will cost and who will be persuaded to pay."

20 Oct 2011

USAID, Kimberly-Clark announce partnership to improve maternal, child health in Andean region

USAID and Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a manufacturer of health and hygiene products, on Tuesday announced "they will work together to improve maternal and child health in the Andean region, starting in Colombia and Ecuador," according to a USAID press release.

20 Oct 2011

Experimental vaccine halves risk of malaria in African children, results of large clinical trial suggest

"An experimental vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline halved the risk of African children getting malaria in a major clinical trial, making it likely to become the world's first shot against the deadly disease," according to a study "presented at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Malaria Forum conference in Seattle and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine" on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

20 Oct 2011

Regenstrief president to receive 2011 Morris F. Collen Award from AMIA

William M. Tierney, M.D., president and CEO of the Regenstrief Institute, will receive the 2011 Morris F. Collen Award from AMIA, the largest international professional biomedical informatics association, at the opening plenary session of AMIA's 35th Annual Symposium on Biomedical and Health Informatics in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 23.

20 Oct 2011

Common link between Type 2 diabetes and autism

A review of the genetic and biochemical abnormalities associated with autism reveals a possible link between the widely diagnosed neurological disorder and Type 2 diabetes, another medical disorder on the rise in recent decades.

20 Oct 2011

HIV advocates in Uganda 'losing faith' as country works to prevent, treat new infections, PlusNews reports

PlusNews examines how "corruption scandals, frequent treatment shortages and accusations of a misguided prevention program" have undermined progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Uganda, a country that had "won plaudits in the early days of the epidemic for the aggressive stance taken by President Yoweri Museveni." Uganda "lowered its HIV prevalence from 18 percent in the early 1990s to about six percent in 2000," the news service notes.

20 Oct 2011

First Edition: October 19, 2011

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Capsules, Marilyn Werber Serafini reports: "Medicare might fare better than other health care programs if the congressional super committee fails to agree on a deficit-reduction package and automatic cuts kick in, but even 2 percent is a big problem when it comes on top of other recent hits, warn Rick Pollack, executive vice president of the American Hospital Association, and Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans."

19 Oct 2011

ACP policy paper examines fears about re-uses of personal and research data

Fears about re-uses of personal data as well as re-uses of research data and samples are the focus of a policy paper released today by the American College of Physicians.

19 Oct 2011

FUTURAGE project to tackle Europe's ageing population over the next 10 years

An ambitious project led by researchers at the University of Sheffield is set to tackle the grand challenge of Europe's ageing population over the next 10 years.

19 Oct 2011

Many Americans do not have access to a 'medical home'

Many Americans do not have access to a "medical home"-a physician practice that is able to manage ongoing care for patients and coordinate care among specialists and other health care facilities, according to a University of Michigan Health System-led study.

19 Oct 2011

Medication therapy management in interprofessional heath care

Akinyele and other University of Maryland School of Pharmacy students at the Mercy Health Clinic in Gaithersburg, Md. are learning firsthand about the remarkable effectiveness of medication therapy management (MTM), a hot new pharmacy trend in interprofessional heath care.

19 Oct 2011

CDC: Visits to emergency rooms on the rise

Visits to hospital emergency departments increased to an all-time high of 136 million in 2009, according to new estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

19 Oct 2011

Aging population drives job growth in health care

Health care has been a standout when it comes to job creation and is likely to continue to be a major source of employment growth given the aging population, said Lawrence Katz, an economist at Harvard University. Some health-care areas that have seen growth over the past year are ambulatory health-care services, which have added almost 200,000 jobs; hospitals, which have added more than 80,000 jobs; and nursing- and residential-care facilities, which have added almost 60,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department.

19 Oct 2011

Snowe breaks from GOP pack on health care spending issues

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is one of two Republicans who did not sign on to the Finance Committee GOP recommendations for the super committee. Snowe reportedly took issue with calls to tighten Medicare eligibility requirements and to block grant the Medicaid program.

19 Oct 2011

Cholera claims nearly 200 lives in Somalia over 24-hour period

"During the past 24 hours, cholera has claimed the lives of nearly 200 women and children in famine-stricken Somalia," a Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported on Sunday. "More than 800 children suffering from the disease in refugee camps were reportedly transported to medical centers in south Mogadishu," the news service writes, adding, "As the number of sick is on the rise, doctors are facing a shortage of medicine."

19 Oct 2011

China vaccinates 4.5M children, young adults against polio after outbreak

"China vaccinated 4.5 million children and young adults over the last five weeks in the western region of Xinjiang in a fight against polio after the disease paralyzed 17 people and killed one of them, the World Health Organization said," according to Reuters.

19 Oct 2011

Population growth calls for new technologies, reduction in fertility rates

The world's population is expected to reach seven billion this month, which is "cause for profound global concern" and begs the question of "can we enjoy 'sustainable development' on a very crowded planet?" Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, writes in a CNN opinion piece.

19 Oct 2011

American Academy of Pediatrics expands guidelines on safe sleep for babies

Since the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended all babies should be placed on their backs to sleep in 1992, deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome have declined dramatically. But sleep-related deaths from other causes, including suffocation, entrapment and asphyxia, have increased.

19 Oct 2011