Health Systems News and Research

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Grant for private, secure, electronic medical records search system

A Boston consortium has been awarded one of two national grants to form a CDC Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics.

28 Sep 2005

Quality-improvement improves mortality in hospital

Heart attack death rates dropped significantly at hospitals that participated in a quality-improvement process that increased the use of evidence-based therapies, according to a new study in the Oct. 4, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

28 Sep 2005

Impact of prevention strategies and improvements in stroke healthcare

Coinciding with National Stroke Week in Australia (19 - 25 September 2005) is the release of results from two recent stroke studies from the George Institute for International Health that investigate both the causative factors as well as a little studied outcome of stroke, that of depression.

19 Sep 2005

Health officials insist they were prepared for Katrina

Federal health officials in the U.S. are defending themselves against criticism that the government was not prepared to deal with disaster left by Hurricane Katrina.

7 Sep 2005

International SHAPE project reveals massive public lack of awareness on heart failure

An international survey of the public's awareness of heart failure has revealed a woeful and worrying level of ignorance, according to the lead author of the research, which is published (Wednesday 31 August) in Europe's leading cardiology journal European Heart Journal.

31 Aug 2005

Building stronger health systems key to reaching the health millenium development

Building up and strengthening health systems is vital if more progress is to be made towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report. Unless urgent investments are made in health systems, current rates of progress will not be sufficient to meet most of the goals.

22 Aug 2005

Cognitive therapy programs help prevent repeat suicides attempts

Adults who had attempted suicide reduced their risk of a repeat attempt by participating in a cognitive therapy program, compared to adults who received the usual care, according to a study in the August 3 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, a theme issue on violence and human rights.

2 Aug 2005

U.S. stockpile of anti-flu drugs is "totally inadequate"

The United States does not have nearly enough antiviral drugs on hand to fight a coming influenza pandemic, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).

19 Jul 2005

The potential benefit that IVF children bring to society far outweighs the cost of 'producing' them

Dr. Maria Granberg, from the Fertilitetscentrum, Göteborg, Sweden, told the conference that, although the total cost of IVF financed by health care systems in Nordic countries had increased over the last few years, it was still highly profitable to society.

27 Jun 2005

$5.1 billion could save 6 million children

Six million children could be saved if $5.1 billion in new resources for preventive and therapeutic interventions were provided each year, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions.

27 Jun 2005

Digital mammography no better than traditional film X-rays in the ability to detect cases of breast cancer

Digital mammography provides no clear-cut improvements over traditional film X-rays in the ability to detect cases of breast cancer, says a new technology assessment report. The technology does, however, offer other benefits, including slightly lower radiation doses for patients, that may prompt its increasing use despite its much higher costs.

10 Jun 2005

Basic sanitation must reach 138 million more people every year through 2015

...close to 2 billion in total - to bring the world on track to halve the proportion of people living without safe water and basic sanitation, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF warn in a new report.

6 Jun 2005

Half of NHS stafff come from outside the UK and Europe

Almost half of the recent 16000 staff expansion of the NHS came from the recruitment of health professionals trained outside the UK and Europe, states an article in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

26 May 2005

Integrated approach to child survival achieving important results

An integrated approach to child survival designed to deliver a package of lifesaving health services for children in hard to reach communities has shown remarkable results, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman announced at the World Health Assembly.

18 May 2005

Six million doses of polio vaccine shipped to Yemen

Six million doses of monovalent oral polio vaccine type 1 (mOPV1) have been shipped to Yemen, as part of emergency measures to stop the ongoing polio outbreak in the country.

11 May 2005

Call for a United States Global Health Service

The federal government should create and fund an umbrella organization called the United States Global Health Service (GHS) to mobilize the nation's best health care professionals and other experts to help combat HIV/AIDS in hard-hit African, Caribbean, and Southeast Asian countries, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

19 Apr 2005

105 new health center grants totaling more than $63 million

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has announced plans to award 105 new health center grants totaling more than $63 million. These grants will help an estimated 632,000 Americans, including many without health insurance, obtain comprehensive primary health care services.

12 Apr 2005

Increased scrutiny of new multiple sclerosis-fighting drugs after Tysabri withdrawal

The removal of Tysabri from the market soon after its introduction is expected to increase scrutiny of other similar drugs in development for multiple sclerosis (MS), says ECRI, a leading, independent health services research agency.

11 Apr 2005

Millions of mothers and children are dying unnecessarily

The millions of seemingly preventable deaths of women and children each year has prompted the United Nations to devote this year’s World Health Day to highlighting their plight.

7 Apr 2005

Mental health service costs offset by savings in other public sectors

Penn State researchers have found that reduced expenditures for inpatient hospitalization, the juvenile justice system, the child welfare system and the special education system offset the costs of the improved mental health services delivered to youth through the system of care approach now being tried in communities in every state in the U.S.

28 Mar 2005