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China to maintain current family planning policy, minister says

"China will stick with its current family planning policy to maintain the country's low birthrate but will make an effort to fine-tune it, ... Wang Xia, minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said at a national conference in Beijing on Monday amid widespread speculation that the one-child rule on the Chinese mainland might soon be relaxed," China Daily reports.

17 Jan 2013

WHO presents '2012 In Review' photo essay

"Key public health milestones were reached in 2012, including the end of polio transmission in India and meeting the Millennium Development Goal target on drinking water ahead of schedule," the WHO reports in a summary of a "2012 In Review" photo essay.

17 Jan 2013

Continued investment needed to maintain gains against malaria

In this post in Management Sciences for Health's (MSH) "Global Health Impact" blog, Frederick Hartman, the global technical lead for communicable diseases and epidemic preparedness, and regional portfolio director, East Africa at the Center for Health Services at MSH, examines advances made in malaria control over the past decade, writing, "Malaria is still one of the five leading causes of child under-five mortality worldwide, and deserves continuing attention."

17 Jan 2013

Global maternal mortality conference focuses on quality of care

Jocalyn Clark, senior editor of PLoS Medicine, reports on the three-day global conference on maternal health taking place this week in Arusha, Tanzania, in a post on the PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog.

17 Jan 2013

Big cities face funding gaps for pensions, retiree health benefits

Major U.S. cities emerged from the financial crisis with increasingly underfunded pension and retiree health-care plans, according to a study released Tuesday.

17 Jan 2013

EHRs: Quality care versus cost savings, next 'meaningful use' rules

Some say adoption of electronic health records are not saving money like they'd hoped, but that it does improve care. In the meantime, doctor groups want a delay in the next round of "meaningful use" rules that give doctors financial incentives for utilizing such records.

17 Jan 2013

American Association of Heart Failure Nurses, Milner-Fenwick announce partnership

Milner-Fenwick, a multi-media publisher for the healthcare community, and the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AAHFN) announced a partnership which includes the AAHFN's endorsement of Milner-Fenwick's Heart Failure Patient Education Video Series.

17 Jan 2013

Cuban authorities work to contain cholera outbreak in capital city

"Cuban authorities are scrambling to contain a cholera outbreak that has sickened dozens of people in Havana, the capital city of 2.2 million residents and a popular tourism destination," Reuters reports.

17 Jan 2013

Partisan strife, interest group concerns emerge in spending debate

The New York Times explores how intra-GOP allegiances to the business community are changing. Meanwhile, AARP acknowleges that adjustments must be made, but argues against cutting back entitlements. Also in the news, the director of the National Institutes of Health expresses his wariness about the impact sequestration could have on biomedical research.

17 Jan 2013

Republican Rep. Ed Royce to chair House Foreign Affairs Committee

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog profiles Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who will chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

17 Jan 2013

Obama unveils gun control policies, including mental health provisions

The plan includes a variety of executive actions which touch the health care system, including clarifications that the health law does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes and that no federal law prohibits health care providers from reporting threats of violence to law-enforcement authorities.

17 Jan 2013

State roundup: Maine hospitals fighting for timely Medicaid payments

New York police plan to distribute "bait bottles" of fake pain-killers equipped with invisible GPS devices in a drive to combat the scourge of pharmacy robberies by addicts and sellers looking for oxycodone tablets, which can fetch more than $80 per pill on the street.

17 Jan 2013

Venture social investment 'could be a new thinking' in development aid

In an opinion piece in The Hill's "Congress Blog," Taufiqur Rahman, an international health consultant and founder of the Center for Implementation Efficiency, explores the concept of "venture social investment or VSI," in which the idea of venture capitalism is used "to reward good ideas or sustainable initiatives by investing limited foreign aid money to gain a much bigger and sustainable impact in developing countries" and creating "a partnership between developed world and low-income countries."

17 Jan 2013

WHO warns of dengue's spread, says progress made against NTDs in new report

"Dengue is the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease and represents a 'pandemic threat,' infecting an estimated 50 million people across all continents, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday," Reuters reports.

17 Jan 2013

Lancet commentary cautiously optimistic about public health system in Haiti

In this Lancet commentary, John Vertefeuille, Scott Dowell, Jean Domercant and Jordan Tappero of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) examine the state of the public health system in Haiti three years after a 7.0 earthquake struck the country, writing, "Haiti is starting to show that its health services have expanded far beyond those in place before the earthquake occurred."

17 Jan 2013

Reviews show little evidence of widespread efficacy of mobile health interventions

"Mobile phone technology is frequently heralded as a solution to many health challenges facing the developing world, but two systematic reviews have found that evidence to back such claims is still largely non-existent," SciDev.Net reports.

17 Jan 2013

Role of mental health professionals becomes flashpoint in efforts to curb gun violence

Just a day after New York passed a landmark gun control law which would require mental health workers to report to authorities patients deemed to be a danger to themselves or others, President Barack Obama is also expected to unveil his gun control agenda. The New York measure, however, is already drawing criticism from experts who worry that its reporting requirement could hinder treatment.

17 Jan 2013

People most often visit doctors because of skin issues, joint disorders and back pain

A new Mayo Clinic Proceedings study shows that people most often visit their health care providers because of skin issues, joint disorders and back pain. Findings may help researchers focus efforts to determine better ways to prevent and treat these conditions in large groups of people.

17 Jan 2013

U-M researchers to develop disorders of sex development decision-making tools for parents

When a child is born with a disorder of sex development, decisions regarding gender assignment and genital surgery are often made quickly and under pressure.

17 Jan 2013

FDA approves St. Jude Medical’s Merlin.net Patient Care Network

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the next-generation Merlin.net Patient Care Network (PCN), a secure, Internet-based remote care system for patients with implanted medical devices.

17 Jan 2013