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Physician shortage could hinder health reform

The number of new primary care doctors each year has fallen nearly 50 percent since 1997, the Dallas Morning News reports, leaving a shortage that could hinder Congress's ambition to reform health care and cover millions of uninsured Americans.

7 Jul 2009

AP/Los Angeles Times examines Haiti's fight against HIV

The AP/Los Angeles Times examines Haiti's success at reducing the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in the country through the work of the "nonprofit groups, Boston-based Partners in Health (PIH) and Port-au-Prince's GHESKIO, widely considered to be the world's oldest AIDS clinic."

7 Jul 2009

Communicable disease epidemics in developing world not being adequately addressed, IFRC says

The "crippling" and "growing burden" of communicable diseases such as dengue fever, polio, or meningitis is not being sufficiently addressed in developing countries, according to "The Epidemic Divide," a report released Monday by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), AFP/Google.com reports. According to the report, resources to deal with existing epidemics are "scarce."

7 Jul 2009

International health experts hold two-day H1N1 meeting

WHO leaders and international health ministers met Thursday for a two-day meeting in Cancun, Mexico, to share the lessons learned from the spread of H1N1 (swine flu) (Xinhua, 7/3) and strategies for "battling the pandemic," the AP/Washington Post reports (Rodriguez, 7/2).

7 Jul 2009

World poverty gains reduced, countries unlikely to achieve most MDGs, U.N. report says

The global economic downturn has "reversed a 20-year decline in world poverty" and could "add up to 90 million to the ranks of the hungry in 2009, an increase of six percent over current totals," according to a U.N. report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched in Geneva on Monday, Reuters reports (Evans, 7/6).

7 Jul 2009

IRIN examines government officials, advocates reaction to global fund restructuring in Zimbabwe

IRIN examines how government officials and HIV/AIDS advocates in Zimbabwe are responding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's decision to channel funds through the UNDP rather than the government-operated National AIDS Council (NAC).

7 Jul 2009

Pakistani refugees continue to be at high risk for disease, U.N. says

The 2 million Pakistani refugees forced from their homes due to a military offensive against Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat Valley continue to be at high risk for diseases "as they cope with damaged water and sewage systems in towns and villages," according to the U.N., Bloomberg reports.

7 Jul 2009

Global Fund faces $3 billion funding shortfall

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is facing a budget shortfall of about $3 billion, Marcela Rojo, a Global Fund spokesperson, said on Friday, Reuters reports.

7 Jul 2009

Research reveals that sick children do not always have their pain-relief needs met

Despite great effort to reduce anxiety, fear and pain, related to health care, children still considered "being in pain" as the worst aspect of their procedure, according to Karin Enskär, associate professor at the School of Health Sciences, Jönköping, Sweden.

6 Jul 2009

European research project focusing on quality and patient safety in hospitals

A research project focusing on quality and patient safety in hospitals has been offered €3 million from the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme - Health. The Jönköping Academy for Improvement of Health and Welfare is one of six collaborating project partners.

5 Jul 2009

The single life can increase some people's dementia risk

The researchers from the Karolinska Institute suggest that people who have a particular gene variation and live alone in middle-age, have a higher risk of developing dementia.

5 Jul 2009

Question marks on credibility of some published clinical trials

Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) are considered the 'gold standard' research method for assessing new medical treatments. But research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Trials shows that the design of a remarkable 93 percent of 2235 so-called RCTs published in some Chinese medical journals during 1994 to 2005 was flawed, casting doubt on the reliability of research that is likely to influence medical decision-makers.

2 Jul 2009

Moxidectin being tested for onchocerciasis

A clinical trial is being launched in three African countries of a drug that could eliminate onchocerciasis, or river blindness, one of the leading infectious causes of blindness across Africa. The drug, moxidectin, is being investigated for its potential to kill or sterilize the adult worms of Onchocerca volvulus, which cause onchocerciasis.

1 Jul 2009

Chantix and Zyban to get boxed warnings on serious mental health events

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that it is requiring manufacturers to put a Boxed Warning on the prescribing information for the smoking cessation drugs Chantix (varenicline) and Zyban (bupropion). The warning will highlight the risk of serious mental health events including changes in behavior, depressed mood, hostility, and suicidal thoughts when taking these drugs.

1 Jul 2009

Improved communication encourages patients to seek colorectal cancer screening in primary care setting

Improved communication among patients and primary care physicians increases the chances those due for colorectal cancer screening will follow their doctors' advice and complete the procedure, a University at Buffalo study has found.

30 Jun 2009

Prostate cancer: current evidence weighs against population screening

The recent release of two large randomized trials suggests that if there is a benefit of screening, it is, at best, small, says a new report in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

30 Jun 2009

Health care ads leave Washington, follow lawmakers home during break

Roll Call reports that "several major industry stakeholders" will be "noticeably absent from the advertising airwaves over the July Fourth recess.

30 Jun 2009

Long-term care program would provide revenue - at first

A long-term care program could produce some needed dollars, at least in the short range, CQ Politics reports: "A new insurance program for long-term care that Democrats have included in a Senate health overhaul bill would produce about $58 billion in revenue for the government over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, helping to offset the cost of the legislation.

30 Jun 2009

Democrats are increasingly confident about health reform

Despite costs and public skepticism, Democrats are increasingly confident that they'll enact a vast health care overhaul. McClatchy reports: "The White House is ramping up its behind-the-scenes lobbying of Congress.

30 Jun 2009