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Human Rights Watch report says foreign aid indirectly supporting forced labor in Vietnam's drug rehabilitation centers

In a report released Wednesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch "accused the United States government, the World Bank and other international donors of indirectly funding forced labor in Vietnam's drug rehabilitation centers," Inter Press Service reports.

9 Sep 2011

Medicare fraud investigation nets 91 offenders

A nationwide sweep on lawbreakers has charged 91 people - including doctors and other medical professionals - with participating in Medicare fraud schemes involving $295 million in false billing.

8 Sep 2011

First Edition: September 8, 2011

In today's headlines, reports from last night's GOP presidential debate, as well as explorations of what the future might hold for the 'Super Committee' and news developments related to physician payment issues.

8 Sep 2011

Rwandan health ministry campaign promotes vasectomy for family planning

"Rwanda's health ministry has launched a campaign encouraging men to undergo vasectomies, in an effort to curb population growth in Africa's most densely populated country," Reuters reports. The government says to compete with Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the country's economy must continue to grow at an average seven to eight percent per year, and to do so, "the birth rate must be below three children per family," according to the news agency.

8 Sep 2011

Sweating the details: Health reform supporters fret over HHS rules

Kaiser Health News staff writers Mary Agnes Carey and Marilyn Werber Serafini write: "Publicly, consumer and patient advocates continue to cheer wildly for last year's health care law. Behind the scenes, however, some worry that they are losing a few key battles to the insurance and business communities.

8 Sep 2011

HRSA announces $5.1M in awards as part of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) today announced awards of $5.1 million to provide training and technical assistance (TA) as part of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which provides HIV-related services in the United States for those who do not have sufficient health care coverage or financial resources for coping with HIV disease.

8 Sep 2011

TB vaccine candidate shows early potential in mice

Scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Colorado State University report in the September 4 issue of Nature Medicine that "[a] potential vaccine against tuberculosis [TB] has been found to completely eliminate tuberculosis bacteria from infected tissues in some mice," according to a HHMI press release.

8 Sep 2011

Proposed federal requirement for contraceptives drawing some fire

A proposed rule that birth control be a free preventive service under the health law is drawing partisan cheers and jeers.

8 Sep 2011

CDC chooses PHI's CHLP for new national leadership development program

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has selected the Center for Health Leadership and Practice (CHLP) at the Public Health Institute (PHI) to run a new national program focused on improving community health by developing collaborative, multi-sectoral leadership teams across the country.

8 Sep 2011

Increased consolidation among health plans linked to reduced hospital costs

Increased consolidation among health plans nationally may benefit consumers by lowering hospital prices, at least in those regions where health plans are the most consolidated, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

8 Sep 2011

CDC reports slight drop in smoking; tick worries blood experts

Fewer American adults are smoking cigarettes, and those who do are smoking less, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday. The CDC's latest data from 2010 show that an estimated 19.3 percent of American adults, or 45.3 million people, smoke. This is a slight decline from 20.9 percent in 2005. Of those adults who smoke, the new data show, 78.2 percent -- or 35.4 million -- do so every day.

8 Sep 2011

U.S. calls for 'unfettered' access to provide humanitarian assistance to 4M Somalis

Nancy Lindborg, USAID's assistant administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, writes in this post in USAID's "IMPACTblog" that the U.S. "continues to call on all parties involved to allow unfettered humanitarian access to Somalis in need."

8 Sep 2011

FTC seeks more details on drug company deal

Pharmacy benefits management company Express Scripts announced in July it was acquiring a similar firm, Medco.

8 Sep 2011

Potential budget cuts threaten U.S. diplomacy and development aid, Reuters reports

Reuters examines how budget debates in Congress "could undo" President Barack Obama's "'smart power' approach, which elevates diplomacy and development alongside military power as guarantors of U.S. security in a rapidly changing world." Programs run through the State Department and USAID that provide "food aid to hungry countries, improved medical services for expectant mothers and the U.S. response to natural disasters such as earthquakes and droughts could be hit in a major scale-back of U.S. assistance," the news agency writes.

8 Sep 2011

Suit accuses generic drugmakers of overcharging Medicaid

Three generic drugmakers are being accused in a whistleblower lawsuit of scheming to overcharge the government by tens of millions of dollars for medicines.

8 Sep 2011

Med schools lack curriculm on gay health, survey finds

A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association and a Mayo Clinic study examine medical school students' curriculum and stress levels.

8 Sep 2011

HSPH receives Gates Foundation grant to improve maternal health in developing countries

A new three-year, $12 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support a Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) effort to significantly improve maternal health in developing countries.

8 Sep 2011

UM educator named RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar

Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, Ph.D., R.N., an assistant professor at the University of Miami, School of Nursing & Health Studies, has won a competitive grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to develop, manualize, and test an intervention for preventing teen dating violence among Hispanics. Gonzalez-Guarda is one of just 12 nurse educators from around the country to receive the three-year $350,000 Nurse Faculty Scholar award this year.

8 Sep 2011

Attention focuses on 'super committee' and Medicare

Health care industries and professionals have contributed millions of dollars over the years to the lawmakers now on the special deficit panel, The Associated Press reports. Meanwhile, some liberal groups are pressuring to protect safety-net programs, while a member of the committee comments on the possibility of compromise.

8 Sep 2011