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International HIV/AIDS funding to African nations inadequate, MSF says

"African nations are not receiving adequate international funding to fight HIV/AIDS, leaving them to face catastrophic consequences without enough medication, an independent, global medical and humanitarian organization said Thursday," the Associated Press reports.

21 Jul 2012

Guardian examines U.S. food aid program

The Guardian has analyzed "hundreds of food aid contracts awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2010-11 to show where the money goes," the newspaper reports.

21 Jul 2012

New CHAIT initiative on development of novel immunological therapeutic interventions

The CHAIT initiative is a public-private partnership focusing on the development of novel immunological therapeutic interventions to achieve a 'functional HIV cure' with the ultimate goal of HIV eradication.

21 Jul 2012

U.S. travel restrictions on sex workers inhibit effective HIV/AIDS response

"[D]isappointingly, one group that will be absent [from the XIX International AIDS Conference next week] due to U.S. travel restrictions is sex workers," a Lancet editorial states.

21 Jul 2012

State roundup: Texas Medicaid fraud probes use controversial tool

When it comes to finding cost savings in the state's unwieldy Medicaid program, the Health and Human Services Commission's Office of Inspector General gets high marks. … But OIG's dollar-recovery strategy -- which includes an increased reliance on a rule that allows investigators to freeze financing for any health provider accused of overbilling -- has enraged doctors, dentists and other providers who treat Medicaid patients.

21 Jul 2012

DPC in charge of preparing Haiti for natural disasters becomes a success story

Not all stories associated with natural disasters in Haiti are filled with tales of gloom and doom. Barely two years following the catastrophic earthquake that leveled portions of Port-au-Prince, the Civil Protection Agency (DPC) in charge of preparing Haiti for natural disasters, has become a success story that is now being examined as a role model for other disaster prone nations.

21 Jul 2012

When checks and balances in the pharmaceutical marketplace fall short

The Washington Post explores how a trio of very expensive anemia drugs became "superstars" in the marketplace. Also, The Wall Street Journal tracks the process by which certain fake cancer drugs found their way into the United States.

21 Jul 2012

Menu labeling at chain restaurants has some benefits

The recent Supreme Court decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has cleared the way for national requirements about posting nutritional information at chain restaurants. Listing calories, fat content, and sodium levels of menu items at the point of purchase has been promoted as a way to address the obesity epidemic.

21 Jul 2012

Domestic PEPFAR program would increase coordination, improve AIDS response in U.S.

"Urban America continues to suffer high rates of HIV despite successes of antiretroviral treatment that can suppress the virus, decrease transmission, prevent progression to AIDS, and lower death rates," Gregory Pappas, senior deputy director of the Washington, D.C., Department of Health's HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration (HAHSTA), writes in a Washington Blade opinion piece.

21 Jul 2012

Training EMS to interpret ECGs can expedite treatment for severe heart attacks

A new program that trains emergency medical service technicians (EMS) to read electrocardiograms so that they can evaluate patients with chest pain, and expedite treatment for the severe heart condition known as ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a serious form of heart attack, has excellent results and should become the standard of care, according to two studies published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

21 Jul 2012

Research roundup: Gastric bypass costs, paying for psychotherapy

Health Expenditures Among High-Risk Patients After Gastric Bypass and Matched Controls -- A few studies have shown that bariatric surgery can help reduce health care spending by obese patients, particularly those with conditions such as diabetes. This latest study looked at 847 patients who received bariatric surgery through the Veterans Affairs medical system. Inpatient and outpatient spending both before and after surgery were compared to 847 obese patients who did not have the operation.

21 Jul 2012

HHS issues final rule on essential health benefits data collection

Meanwhile, new research from the Center for Studying Health System Change indicates that more small businesses may be self-insuring -- a step that will reduce their participation in the health law's insurance exchanges.

21 Jul 2012

Details emerge regarding personalities involved in FDA flap

An FDA scientist whose complaints about the agency's approval process for medical devices led to a controversial email monitoring program had filed lawsuits against two hospitals where he worked and also sued a dozen medical-device companies.

21 Jul 2012

In Florida, Obama attacks Romney on Medicare plan

Drawing on traditional Democratic campaign themes, President Barack Obama criticized GOP plans to transform Medicare into a "voucher program" and to repeal the 2010 health law.

21 Jul 2012

Neuroscience 2012 annual meeting to take place from Oct. 13-17

Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, is the world's largest source of emerging news on brain science and health. Learn how the brain works and new developments on a range of topics: aging, language, brain injury, parenting, and mental illness, among others. More than 16,000 new discoveries will be presented, with 30,000 attendees from around the world.

21 Jul 2012

AIDS 2012 could focus spotlight on efforts against HIV/AIDS in U.S., GlobalPost reports

Noting that Washington, D.C., has an adult HIV prevalence rate higher than some southern African countries that receive PEPFAR funding, GlobalPost writes that the International AIDS Conference, to be held in the U.S. for the first time in 22 years starting Sunday, has highlighted "that America is nowhere close to an AIDS-free generation at home."

21 Jul 2012

Redesign of 'outdated and unsafe' medical bags can cut MRSA risk

A new medical bag designed in the UK is set to transform treatment around the world after a study found a third of its outdated predecessors carry the MRSA bug.

21 Jul 2012

60 organizations, Archbishop Tutu call on Obama administration to create 5-year HIV strategy

Sixty organizations and Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Thursday released a "Call for a U.S. Government AIDS-Free Generation Strategic Plan" that "asks the Obama administration to put Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in charge of a task force to complete a [five-year] strategy in time to be announced by the next World AIDS Day -- Dec. 1, 2012," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

21 Jul 2012

Reid blocks latest GOP effort to repeal health law

Senate Republicans had advanced the repeal effort as an amendment to the Bring Jobs Home Act. Meanwhile, House conservatives, who have also pressed to undo the health law, say state lawmakers now may be on the frontlines of the fight.

21 Jul 2012

RTI receives RWJF contract to create Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange

RTI International has been awarded a contract from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to develop an online database and communication platform to help public health professionals share information about quality improvement initiatives.

21 Jul 2012