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USAID, NGO partners testing nutritional impact assessment tool

USAID is working with non-governmental organization partners to test a "nutritional impact assessment tool" that "'would be a way for organizations designing or reviewing agricultural programs to mitigate any risks or potential negative effects on nutrition -- in other words a "do no harm" approach,' said Michael Zeilinger, head of the nutrition division with USAID's office of health, infectious disease and nutrition," IRIN reports.

28 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Lots of advice for super committee on Medicare, Medicaid

Obama partisans, you must consider at least two, possibly mixed results - a politically risky legal battle on the individual mandate in the middle of a presidential campaign, and added insurance that Obama administration lawyers will see the case through its final appeal.

28 Sep 2011

'Urgent action' needed to prevent resistance to antiretroviral therapy

"The clear pattern of increasing antiretroviral resistance in lower-income settings must be considered in the context of the worldwide HIV-control agenda," especially because "the increasing rates of antiretroviral resistance in low-income settings represent a potential threat to the emerging treatment-as-prevention strategy," Evan Wood and Julio Montaner of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS write in a Lancet Infectious Diseases opinion piece.

28 Sep 2011

Peru hopes to continue fight against child malnutrition under new government

Despite a seven percent annual growth rate over the past five years and a prediction from former President Alan Garcia that Peru will meet the millennium development goals (MDGs), "chronic infant malnutrition has been difficult to stamp out, particularly in rural areas," the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog" reports.

28 Sep 2011

Americans cutting back on health spending by skipping prescriptions, procedures

A Consumer Reports survey revealed that more Americans are ignoring their doctor’s advice and skipping prescription drugs or medical procedures to save money in 2011 than a year earlier.

28 Sep 2011

Transparent reporting tool needed to monitor progress in maternal, child health

In this post in the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, Nandini Oomman, director of the HIV/AIDS Monitor at the center, and Rachel Silverman, a research assistant at the center, respond to a one-year assessment of progress released by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) on September 20, calling it "strangely short on meaningful data and clear messages about progress."

28 Sep 2011

Rising health insurance costs shifted to employees, survey finds

An annual employer health benefits survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust found that premiums for employer-provided health insurance jumped in 2011. The survey also found, though, that 2.3 million young adults have gained coverage through their parents' policies as a result of the 2010 health law.

28 Sep 2011

Health insurance gets costlier

According to the latest survey, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance continued to escalate this year even as the share of workers getting less generous coverage reached a new high.

28 Sep 2011

GlobalPost interviews reproductive health expert Frederick Sai

GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog features an interview with Frederick Sai, a Ghanaian physician who is a member of Aspen's Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health and a former president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and director of population at the World Bank.

28 Sep 2011

Vietnam closes kindergartens to control outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease

"More than a dozen kindergartens in Vietnam have closed to deal with an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease that has killed 111 children and sickened more than 57,000 this year, an official and the government said," according to the Associated Press/Washington Post.

28 Sep 2011

Survey: Many physicians say patients in their own practices receive too much care

About half, though, said they were giving their patients "the right amount of care." In other news, a study from the Archives of Internal Medicine, according to Medscape, concluded that more frequent office visits by patients leads to faster diabetes control.

28 Sep 2011

Perry, Romney continue in GOP primary spotlight

News outlets report on the ongoing sparring between the two candidates and on Perry's health policy record as Texas governor. Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann points to her rivals' positions on issues including health care and says Republicans should not settle for a moderate candidate. Also, NPR flashes back to GOP candidate Herman Cain's 1994 debate performance. And, on the other side of the political spectrum, The Associated Press reports that Democrats are shifting their campaign message away from the health law and toward Medicare.

28 Sep 2011

Nearly 90% of women consider mammograms important to their health, well-being: Poll

According to a recent poll of 1,000 American voters conducted for the American College of Radiology, nearly 9-in-10 women reported that having a regular mammogram gave them a feeling of control over their own health care. Nearly 90 percent of women who had a mammogram considered mammograms important to their health and well-being.

28 Sep 2011

Survey shows rise in unprotected sex among youth, raises concern about sex education

"The number of young people having unprotected sex in the West has risen sharply over the past two years," according to a global survey conducted by the International Planned Parenthood Federation between April and May of this year, Agence France-Presse reports.

28 Sep 2011

Takeda, AACE partner to launch Diabetes Navigator website

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America Inc. (Takeda) have partnered to launch the Diabetes Navigator, a compendium capturing a selection of useful and reliable type 2 diabetes information available online for patients and caregivers.

28 Sep 2011

Humanitarian aid 'stolen' from U.S. taxpayers should be spent on domestic health issues

In this New American opinion piece, Beverly Eakman, an author and former editor-in-chief of NASA's newspaper in Houston, writes of humanitarian aid, "With the U.S. debt having surpassed 100 percent of gross domestic product August 3, to $14.58 trillion, it's crudely entertaining to see how multimillionaire lawmakers in Congress and administrations both past and present find 'compassionate' ways to spend ever-more of taxpayers' money," asserting that "such expenditure is not specifically sanctioned by American taxpayers, and therefore constitutes theft by the U.S. government for what the State Department probably hopes will buy international good will."

28 Sep 2011

With significant health care dollars at stake, interest groups focus on 'super committee'

Health care groups have started flooding the super committee with appeals to protect their sliver of federal health care programs. Because the panel's mandate is to find at least $1.2 trillion in debt-reduction over the next decade, Medicare and Medicaid are prime targets. Together, those two government insurance programs account for nearly one-quarter of all federal spending.

28 Sep 2011

Report raises questions about high costs of cancer care

Will the high costs of treating cancer bankrupt the world's economies? A new report says more people are getting cancer than ever before. And while cancer-care may be more advanced than ever, it's also more expensive - and that suggests some countries may not be unable to afford it.

28 Sep 2011

PRI's 'The World' interviews member of delegation that investigated hunger in North Korea

PRI's "The World" recently spoke with Matt Ellingson, director of Program Development at Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian relief organization, who was part of a mission to North Korea this month during which five U.S.-based, non-governmental organizations were allowed to send observers to the country to monitor delivery of aid to areas affected by severe floods this past summer. The group "came away concerned about widespread malnutrition and starvation in North Korea" and "is now calling for an urgent humanitarian intervention," "The World" reports.

28 Sep 2011

Selling the American 'health ecosystem' internationally?

A coalition of U.S. health care businesses, including Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group and Medtronic, proposes to rebuild America's battered economy by selling the country's "health ecosystem" internationally.

From Medtronic 28 Sep 2011