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Senate health bill negotiators discussing, debating versions of public option

Senator Max Baucus says there is still the possibility for some sort of public option in the Senate health bill, though he doubts it can get 60 votes, as Majority Leader Harry Reid negotiates to shape the final legislation.

21 Oct 2009

IPS examines potential for future U.N. population meeting

Inter Press Service examines the possibility of another U.N. conference on development and population within the next five years. Despite progress made since the 1994 conference on population and development (ICPD), U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recently noted more than 200 million women cannot access safe and effective contraception, and "too many women resort to unsafe abortions because they lack access to family planning," according to the news service.

20 Oct 2009

Women Thrive commends subcommittee hearing on crisis of violence against women

DC-based Women Thrive hails the upcoming subcommittee hearing at the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the crisis of violence against women and girls globally.

20 Oct 2009

Diabetes represents a global health threat

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) released new data today showing that a staggering 285 million people worldwide have diabetes.

20 Oct 2009

Lead exposure in early childhood can impact test scores

Exposure to lead in early childhood significantly contributes to lower performances on end-of-grade (EOG) reading tests among minority and low-income children, according to researchers at Duke University and North Carolina Central University.

19 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: Asia-Pacific reproductive health; developing country medical waste disposal; draft bill in Uganda; diarrhea deaths in China

"China has called on Asia-Pacific countries to attach greater importance to population and family planning and put more funds into the reproductive health and family planning programmes," the Daily Times reports (10/19).

19 Oct 2009

Campaign seeks to hold governments accountable to meeting MDG targets

Inter Press Service examines the Stand Up Take Action campaign, which took place October 16-18 to highlight the Millennium Development Goals' [MDG] 2015 deadline.

19 Oct 2009

Recent releases in global health

In light of a recent Guttmacher Institute report that indicated 70,000 women in developing countries die each year from unsafe abortion, a Lancet editorial outlines ways to reduce deaths, and says, "The current political climate is favourable, because the global-gag rule (the U.S. Government's policy on banning funding of foreign organisations linked to any type of abortion practice) is out of favour" (10/17).

19 Oct 2009

Gates Foundation to announce grants to promote agriculture at world food prize symposium

During a "keynote speech" Thursday at the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, Bill Gates, cofounder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is expected to announce $120 million in grants "to promote dynamic, home-grown, sustainable agriculture in Africa and India,"

19 Oct 2009

Heifer International's initiative to end poverty and hunger through gifts of livestock, education and training

How do you gift wrap a goat? Or a cow, a pig, or a water buffalo?

14 Oct 2009

Permanent housing programs for homeless people can increase taxpayers' savings

United Way of Greater Los Angeles today unveiled findings from its Homeless Cost Study, uncovering the financial implications of living on the streets in Los Angeles and the social and economic benefits of permanent supportive housing programs.

14 Oct 2009

Mayo's decision to limit patients makes it a poor model, critics say

The Mayo Clinic has started limiting the number of Medicare and Medicaid patients it admits and critics argue that such restrictions have made Mayo too selective to serve as a model for health-care reform.

14 Oct 2009

Used hotel soaps help prevent disease in developing countries

The Associated Press/Washington Post profiled the efforts of Atlanta-based Derreck Kayongo, a Ugandan "anti-poverty advocate." Kayongo has launched "the Global Soap Project, an effort to help his country's poorest - one used bar of hotel soap at a time," the AP/Washington Post writes.

14 Oct 2009

Massive mismanagement leads to catastrophic decline in freshwater biodiversity

The world will miss its agreed target to stem biodiversity loss by next year, according to experts convening in Cape Town for a landmark conference devoted to biodiversity science.

13 Oct 2009

HIMSS honors eClinicalWorks with the 2009 Davies Award for excellence in implementing EHRs

eClinicalWorks®, a market leader in ambulatory clinical systems, today announced that eClinicalWorks’ customer Urban Health Plan (UHP) of New York received a 2009 Davies Award by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The award, which honors excellence in implementing electronic health records (EHRs), was presented in the Community Health Organizations category and announced on September 22, 2009>

12 Oct 2009

Today's selection of opeds: Cutting health costs

Many commentators have treated the Senate Finance bill as the likely template for any final legislation because it may be more palatable to conservative Democrats, and deficit hawks, in both houses.

12 Oct 2009

States struggle with Medicaid issues

Various newspapers examine Medicaid issues including the coverage needs of kids in Michigan, financial worries for Medicaid programs in California and New Hampshire and concerns that Medicaid pay may be cut again when stimulus money runs out.

12 Oct 2009

Public forum and scientific workshop on women's health issues

The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Memorial Hospital will host a public forum and scientific workshop Oct. 14 to 16 to discuss emerging issues of importance for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for women's health research in the coming decade.

12 Oct 2009

Socioeconomic and geographic disparities in the use of breast-conservating therapy

According to a new study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, although breast-conserving surgery (BCS), commonly known as lumpectomy, is increasingly being used to treat older women with nonmetastatic invasive breast cancer, there are still significant socioeconomic and geographic disparities in the use of this type of therapy.

12 Oct 2009