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FAO holds second emergency meeting on Famine; WHO warns of cholera spread; Turkish PM visits Mogadishu

For the second time in one month, representatives of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) held an emergency meeting on Thursday in Rome "to take stock of the humanitarian disaster" in the Horn of Africa, the Guardian reports.

20 Aug 2011

Nigerian Governors launch polio vaccination campaign

"The 36-member Nigerian Governors' Forum has launched a new initiative to rid the country of polio," VOA News reports.

20 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: Tea party & Medicare; Minn. health exchange politics; fixing drug shortages

Unlike the Florida district court that earlier found ObamaCare unconstitutional, the 11th Circuit did not invalidate the entire law. But it likewise reaffirmed the fundamental constitutional rule that our federal government is one of enumerated powers with judicially enforceable limits.

20 Aug 2011

Gulf Coast Medical Center in Panama City joins UAB Cancer Care Network

Residents of Bay County, Fla., and surrounding communities will have access to the advanced care of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Care Network now that Gulf Coast Medical Center in Panama City has joined as its first Florida affiliate.

20 Aug 2011

Researchers turn their attention to Chagas disease as developed countries see rise in infection rates

Chagas disease, a historically neglected tropical disease that the WHO estimates affects about 10 million people worldwide, is drawing increased attention as infection by the parasite spreads from Latin America to developed countries, such as Spain and the United States, Science reports.

20 Aug 2011

Research roundup: Majority of Docs face malpractice claims; colonoscopies in older adults; 'overwhelming' Medicare advantage choices

The authors "analyzed malpractice data from 1991 through 2005 for all physicians who were covered by a large professional liability insurer with a nationwide client base" and found that "by the age of 65 years, 75% of physicians in low-risk specialties had faced a malpractice claim, as compared with 99% of physicians in high-risk specialties." Most of those claims did not result in a pyament.

20 Aug 2011

White House budget chief orders agencies to find savings — sets target 5% below current year spending levels

It's a microcosm of the budget battling that has consumed Congress all year: The Obama administration wants federal agencies to save money while Republicans push for additional savings to take a substantial bite out of the government's towering pile of IOUs. White House budget chief Jacob Lew has ordered agency heads to submit spending plans for the upcoming budget at least 5 percent below this year's levels. He also wants them to propose ways to trim a total of at least 10 percent of their spending.

20 Aug 2011

News highlights: Calif. ruling limits medical damages; appeal filed in case challenging Ariz. Medicaid cuts

The state Supreme Court handed insurers and business groups a major legal victory -- and personal injury lawyers an equally big setback -- on Thursday by imposing limits on medical damages in one of the era's closest watched civil cases. The issue in the case, Howell v. Hamilton Meats & Provisions, was whether an injured party could collect the full medical care costs billed by doctors and hospitals, or the lesser amount that the medical providers accepted from an insurance company.

20 Aug 2011

First 5 LA awards Valley Presbyterian Hospital $500,000 to improve breastfeeding rates

First 5 LA announced today that it is awarding a grant of nearly $500,000 to Valley Presbyterian Hospital to improve the nutrition and health of the hospital's youngest patients by developing and maintaining policies and procedures to encourage increased breastfeeding among mothers of newborns.

19 Aug 2011

Cost is only one barrier to getting timely medical care, finds study

Cost is only one barrier to getting timely medical care, a new study finds. Just getting to the doctor, making appointments and taking time off from work or other responsibilities are also major hindrances for some people to getting the medical care they need.

19 Aug 2011

First Edition: August 19, 2011

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Susan Jaffe writes: Shopping for health insurance next year will be easier when hundreds of health insurers and employers use the same simple forms unveiled Wednesday by the Obama administration, consumer advocates and government officials say. But the new materials, required by the 2010 health law, are still a work in progress.

19 Aug 2011

VOA News examines ethics of clinical drug testing in African nations

VOA News examines the ethics of conducting clinical drug trials in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Several international ethical frameworks outline guidelines for clinical trials, "including the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki and the WHO's Good Clinical Practice Guidelines," but they are not mandatory, the news service writes.

19 Aug 2011

Virginia Tech to create portable fall prediction monitoring system for the elderly

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, falls among Americans over age 65 are the leading cause of injury-related death. Falls also are the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma. In 2007, more than 18,000 older adults died from unintentional fall injuries. In 2009, 2.2 million nonfatal fall injuries among elderly adults were treated in emergency rooms and more than 581,000 of these patients were hospitalized.

19 Aug 2011

USAID announces expansion of indoor residual spraying program in Africa

USAID is expanding its Indoor Residual Spraying program in Africa, according to a USAID press release. Through a $189 million, three-year contract, "the President's Malaria Initiative … together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will provide technical and financial support to the Ministries of Health and National Malaria Control Programs in African countries to build country-level capacity for malaria prevention activities," according to the release.

19 Aug 2011

States spend up to $15B a year in medical expenses related to obesity

States spend up to $15 billion a year in medical expenses related to obesity, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International, Duke University, and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

19 Aug 2011

U.K., Islamic countries pledge additional funds for famine aid in Somalia

During a visit to the Somali capital of Mogadishu, U.K. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell on Wednesday pledged an additional $41.5 million in aid to Somalia, to be distributed through UNICEF, BBC News reports.

19 Aug 2011

NCD Alliance says U.S., Canada, E.U. stalling efforts to fight NCDs

The NCD Alliance, which represents about 2,000 health organizations from around the world focused on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), "on Thursday accused the United States, Canada and Europe of harming efforts to fight cancer, diabetes, heart and other diseases because they will not agree to set United Nations targets," Reuters reports.

19 Aug 2011

New quick malaria diagnostic test may help reduce overtreatment

"Health workers often treat patients for malaria even when a test indicates a different cause of the illness," a behavior seen across sub-Saharan Africa "that worries many health experts," PRI's The World reports.

19 Aug 2011

New rules would help consumers comparison shop for health plans

The proposed regulations, issued Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services, are designed to make sure insurers and employers provide consumers with "plain English" information about health insurance coverage to empower them to make informed choices.

19 Aug 2011

Will spending cuts undo health industry's job market impact?

Even during months of stubborn unemployment, the health care industry has provided a solid underpinning, reliably adding jobs in an otherwise dismal environment.

19 Aug 2011

Health Care News and Research

FAO holds second emergency meeting on Famine; WHO warns of cholera spread; Turkish PM visits Mogadishu

Nigerian Governors launch polio vaccination campaign

Viewpoints: Tea party & Medicare; Minn. health exchange politics; fixing drug shortages

Gulf Coast Medical Center in Panama City joins UAB Cancer Care Network

Researchers turn their attention to Chagas disease as developed countries see rise in infection rates

Research roundup: Majority of Docs face malpractice claims; colonoscopies in older adults; 'overwhelming' Medicare advantage choices

White House budget chief orders agencies to find savings — sets target 5% below current year spending levels

News highlights: Calif. ruling limits medical damages; appeal filed in case challenging Ariz. Medicaid cuts

First 5 LA awards Valley Presbyterian Hospital $500,000 to improve breastfeeding rates

Cost is only one barrier to getting timely medical care, finds study

First Edition: August 19, 2011

VOA News examines ethics of clinical drug testing in African nations

Virginia Tech to create portable fall prediction monitoring system for the elderly

USAID announces expansion of indoor residual spraying program in Africa

States spend up to $15B a year in medical expenses related to obesity

U.K., Islamic countries pledge additional funds for famine aid in Somalia

NCD Alliance says U.S., Canada, E.U. stalling efforts to fight NCDs

New quick malaria diagnostic test may help reduce overtreatment

New rules would help consumers comparison shop for health plans

Will spending cuts undo health industry's job market impact?

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