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House passes bio-threat vaccines, Medicare coverage bills

The House passed several health measures Wednesday including bills on developing vaccines to thwart bio-threats and on Medicare coverage for immune deficiency care.

21 Dec 2012

Improvements in child survival a 'sweeping accomplishment'

"There is reason for optimism about the health of the world's youngest," columnist Tina Rosenberg writes in the New York Times "Opinionator" blog, noting, "A massive study published last week called the Global Burden of Disease report found that in the past 20 years, the death rate of children under five has dropped in every country in the world save three -- Kuwait, Tonga and Zimbabwe."

21 Dec 2012

New Nationwide Children's exercise program for pediatric cancer survivors

There are many health effects that a patient may need to overcome after winning a battle against cancer. Cancer treatments can affect the patient's balance, agility, coordination, prompt weight gain and other physical ailments. At Nationwide Children's Hospital, beating cancer doesn't mark the end of a child's treatment regimen. A new exercise program at the hospital helps pediatric cancer survivors and those in remission regain both physical strength and confidence.

21 Dec 2012

CMS awards $306M to states for enrolling more kids in Medicaid

The Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services on Wednesday awarded $306 million in bonuses to 23 states for enrolling more children in Medicaid. The move is meant to help offset the expense of covering more kids in the state-federal health care program.

21 Dec 2012

Voluntary moratorium on H5N1 avian flu research likely to end soon

Following the conclusion of a two-day meeting at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this week -- meant "to gather feedback from flu researchers, others in the science community, and the public on its draft framework for funding H5N1 gain-of-function studies and to continue an international dialogue on issues related to benefits and risks of the research" -- "experts anticipated that a voluntary moratorium on work with lab-modified strains that have increased transmissibility might end soon," CIDRAP News reports.

21 Dec 2012

U.S. 'unprepared for' resurgence of MDR-TB, Wall Street Journal reports

"Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is at epidemic proportions in some parts of the world -- a growing problem the U.S. is surprisingly unprepared for," the Wall Street Journal reports.

21 Dec 2012

International community condemns attacks on polio workers in Pakistan

"U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling the killing of health workers trying to vaccinate Pakistani children against polio in a U.N.-backed campaign 'cruel, senseless and inexcusable,'" the Associated Press reports, noting, "Ban said at his year-end news conference on Wednesday that the eight killed were among thousands across Pakistan 'working selflessly to achieve the historic goal of polio eradication.'"

21 Dec 2012

ACOEM receives ACCME Accreditation with Commendation designation

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) has been awarded status, with special distinction, as an accredited provider of Continuing Medical Education (CME) by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

21 Dec 2012

Report: States underprepared to meet public health needs during a crisis

The report by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that although some states have improved their preparedness, gaps persist largely because of state budget cuts.

21 Dec 2012

FDA seeks input from states on drug compounders

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg convened a meeting that included federal officials and representatives from state boards of pharmacy and governors' offices. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports on "rogue pharmacists."

21 Dec 2012

Real estate businessman delivers $2.5M gift to University of Chicago Medicine for GI study

Real estate businessman Seymour "Sy" Taxman and his wife, Nancy, presented a gift of $2.5 million to the University of Chicago Medicine on Wednesday in honor of the late Joseph B. Kirsner, MD, PhD, the Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and a pioneer in the research and treatment of digestive disease.

21 Dec 2012

Statement, article respond to new U.S. Office of Global Health Diplomacy

The State Department on Friday announced the selection of U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby to lead the State Department's new Office of Global Health Diplomacy.

21 Dec 2012

NPR, Inter Press Service examine efforts to prevent drug-resistant malaria

As part of its continuing coverage of malaria, NPR's "Shots" blog features a story on counterfeit anti-malarial drugs, which "are among the most popular drugs to fake." According to the blog, "These faux pharmaceuticals are particularly dangerous because malaria can kill a person in a matter of days," and, if the drugs contain only a small amount of the real drug, they can contribute to the development of drug-resistant malaria parasites.

21 Dec 2012

Surgeons make thousands of errors every year

So-called 'never events' happen more than 4,000 times a year, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers. Another report finds health care workers just as likely as people they treat to be overweight, avoid the dentist, get sunburned and not wear seatbelts.

21 Dec 2012

Longer looks: Disparities in nursing home penalties; Understanding dying with dignity

My mortality wake-up call came in a hospital after knee surgery, when I flat-lined because of a heart arrhythmia and was resuscitated by a nurse. In response to columns about those events, stories have streamed in from people who are running out of time themselves, or enduring the pain of watching loved ones fade. The deaths they face are as different as the lives they've lived, but a steady refrain runs through their emails and letters.

21 Dec 2012

Court challenge to contraception coverage mandate paused as administration writes rules

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals allows suit by religious school to continue but says it will hold the government to its deadlines for revising rules for religiously affiliated employers.

21 Dec 2012

Teen smoking falls to record low, study finds

Cigarette smoking among U.S. teenagers dropped to a record low in 2012, a decline that may have been partly driven by an increase in the federal tobacco tax, researchers said.

21 Dec 2012

Access to mental health care, increased funding key in emerging strategies to curb gun violence

As President Barack Obama vowed to restart the "national conversation" on gun issues, he included the need to improve access to mental health services among the central elements of this discussion. Meanwhile, a new Gallup poll concluded that Americans believe that increasing federal spending on mental health screenings and services is among the steps more likely to deter mass shootings than banning the sale of assault weapons.

21 Dec 2012

In Philippines, Church entitled to opinion on birth control, but women have right to choose

"Finally, after 14 years of debate and delay, lawmakers in the Philippines passed a bill that will provide free or subsidized birth control to poor people as well as require sex education in schools and mandate training in family planning for community health workers," a Los Angeles Times editorial states.

21 Dec 2012

USAID releases Action Plan on Children in Adversity

On Wednesday, USAID, "along with representatives from seven government agencies and departments, launched the first-ever, whole-of-government strategic guidance on international assistance for children in adversity," a USAID press release reports.

21 Dec 2012