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Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale reports WHO's Commission

A child born in a Glasgow, Scotland suburb can expect a life 28 years shorter than another living only 13 kilometres away. A girl in Lesotho is likely to live 42 years less than another in Japan. In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 17 400; in Afghanistan, the odds are 1 in 8. Biology does not explain any of this. Instead, the differences between - and within - countries result from the social environment where people are born, live, grow, work and age.

28 Aug 2008

Time is right to make cancer control a development priority

For public health, the complexity of cancer control has increased enormously following the shift of the disease burden from wealthy to less affluent countries. Cancer causes around 7.9 million deaths worldwide each year. Of these deaths, more than 72% are now occurring in low- and middle-income countries. This is a shocking statistic, with huge implications for human suffering, health systems, health budgets, and the drive to reduce poverty.

27 Aug 2008

The challenge of an ageing population

Worldwide many developed nations are facing the challenges presented by an aging population in terms of an increased burden on health systems.

26 Aug 2008

Top Sydney hospital appoints specialist to treat childhood obesity

As Australian children appear to be getting increasingly overweight one of the country's top hospitals has taken the apparently unprecedented step of appointing a specialist to treat childhood obesity.

18 Aug 2008

NHS is a sickness system not a health system, according to new book

The UK Government has largely ignored lessons to be learnt from 60 years of NHS reorganisation leading to failures in the system, argues the author of a forthcoming book.

12 Aug 2008

HIV/AIDS advocates protest stigma, discrimination ahead of AIDS conference

HIV/AIDS advocates in Mexico City have begun protesting the problems of stigma, discrimination and a lack of access to antiretroviral drugs in Latin America ahead of next week's XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, Agence France-Presse reports (Rosenthal, Agence France-Presse, 7/29).

3 Aug 2008

ACLU urges Congress to define medical privacy as patient control of electronic health records

The American Civil Liberties Union today urges the House Energy and Commerce Committee to require patient control of medical records and compensation for privacy breaches to be a part of the standards set for converting to electronic patient records.

23 Jul 2008

New Orleans area hospitals hope Iowa health system doesn't suffer same fate

The residents of southern Louisiana have all faced difficult times in the almost three years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. No individual, business, or community in the metropolitan New Orleans region was unscathed. Natural disasters can, and do, strike anywhere, anytime. We only have to follow the Mississippi River north to Iowa to see the devastation of floodwaters to other communities.

18 Jul 2008

President Bush signs war supplemental spending bill that blocks six new Medicaid rules

President Bush on Monday signed into law a supplemental war appropriations bill (HR 2642) with a provision that will delay for one year six new Medicaid regulations proposed by his administration, CongressDaily reports (Sanchez, CongressDaily, 6/30).

2 Jul 2008

WHO creates new safety checklist for surgical teams to use in operating theatres

With major surgery now occurring at a rate of 234 million procedures per year - one for every 25 people - and studies indicating that a significant percentage result in preventable complications and deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a new safety checklist for surgical teams to use in operating theatres, as part of a major drive to make surgery safer around the world.

24 Jun 2008

Public health agencies call on G8 leaders to allocate increased resources to health programs worldwide

The heads of several organizations involved in public health issues worldwide on Tuesday called on the Group of Eight industrialized nations to invest more resources in health and disease programs, the AP/USA Today reports.

11 Jun 2008

European businesses not properly advised on how to prepare for flu pandemic

A new report entitled Business Continuity Planning and Pandemic Influenza in Europe, published by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), has found huge gaps and differences across Europe in the level of advice given to businesses to prepare for a possible influenza pandemic.

11 Jun 2008

Philadelphia Inquirer examines health care price transparency issue

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday examined the issue of "price transparency," in which hospitals and health systems make their charges for treatments more apparent.

10 Jun 2008

South Los Angeles residents face difficulties receiving medical care for variety of reasons

A shortage of primary care physicians and low Medi-Cal reimbursement rates have made South Los Angeles "one of the most difficult places in the nation to both receive and give medical care," the New York Times reports.

8 Jun 2008

UK to provide about $12 billion to improve health services in developing countries, fight HIV/AIDS, official says

United Kingdom International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander on Monday announced that the government will provide six billion British pounds, or $11.8 billion, over seven years to improve health services and systems in developing countries to fight HIV/AIDS, AFP/Google.com reports (AFP/Google.com, 6/2).

3 Jun 2008

Members of European Parliament discuss food labelling and heart health

Members of the European Parliament Heart Group meet today, 3 June, in Brussels, to discuss the link between nutrition and cardiovascular diseases and how labelling of food can help people choose products that are better for their hearts and vessels.

2 Jun 2008

3 million now receiving anti-retroviral therapy HIV drugs

The close of 2007 marks an important step in the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Nearly 3 million people are now receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in low- and middle-income countries, according to a new report jointly launched today by WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF.

2 Jun 2008

Delegates at Tokyo conference discuss ways to address health issues, including HIV/AIDS, in Africa

About 2,500 delegates from 52 African countries, United Nations agencies and aid groups met Wednesday in Yokohama, Japan, for the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development to discuss strategies aimed at solving health issues, including HIV/AIDS, and other challenges on the continent, the Kyodo News reports (Tang, Kyodo News, 5/27).

30 May 2008

US$28 million needed for Myanmar says WHO

WHO and its Health Cluster partners in Myanmar have launched a six-month and US$ 28 million action plan to provide immediate health care for cyclone survivors and to support longer-term efforts to rebuild the country's ravaged health system.