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U.N. should make reduction in salt intake a global health priority, researchers say

Researchers from the Universities of Warwick and Liverpool in a report published on Thursday in the British Medical Journal called for the U.N. to "make reducing salt intake a global health priority," stating that "a 15 percent cut in consumption could save 8.5 million lives around the world over the next decade," BBC News reports.

16 Aug 2011

PlusNews examines challenges to Burundi's PMTCT program

"A shortage of health facilities and health workers, frequent drug shortages and a weak government policy mean HIV-positive pregnant women in Burundi often give birth without taking any precautions to prevent transmission of the virus to their children," PlusNews reports.

16 Aug 2011

East African profiles new GAVI Alliance CEO Seth Berkley

The East African profiles Seth Berkley, the new CEO of the GAVI Alliance and founder and former CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

16 Aug 2011

A call for safer birth practices in Timor-Leste

Cassandra Clifford, founder and executive director of Bridge to Freedom Foundation, calls for safer birth practices in Timor-Leste in this Aid Netherlands blog post.

16 Aug 2011

Bachmann victory, Pawlenty dropout could alter GOP health care tone

Pawlenty "launched his campaign with high hopes, some of the top campaign talent in the Republican Party and perhaps the best organization in Iowa, which will start the nominating process early next year at its caucuses.

16 Aug 2011

Patient information-sharing network under development by VA, Defense

The Washington Post reports on how this emerging electronic health record system is impacting the marketplace. In other Health IT news, the Twin Cities' market appears to be full of "early adopters" of online care services, according to the Pioneer Press.

16 Aug 2011

As international affairs budget faces cuts, development community must fight for aid

In the wake of the agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling, and "with 20 percent cuts already on the table, the international affairs budget is in for a tough fight throughout the fall," Richard Parker, director of communications for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, writes in a post on Devex's "Obama's Foreign Aid Reform" blog.

16 Aug 2011

Latest health law decision adds momentum as challenges move toward Supreme Court

In one of the main legal challenges against the health care reform passed last year, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta declared the law's "individual mandate" unconstitutional, calling it an "unprecedented exercise of congressional power."

16 Aug 2011

AHRQ's new Spanish-language guide on heart medications

A free, illustrated easy-to-read pamphlet that compares drugs for preventing heart attacks, heart failure or strokes in people with stable coronary heart disease is one of six new Spanish-language publications from HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that help patients compare treatments for common illnesses.

16 Aug 2011

Analysis: Medicare, liberals and the lesser of two evils

Writing for Kaiser Health News, Jonathan Cohn asks and answer the following question: Why does the debt ceiling deal give liberals so much heartburn? Many reasons, obviously. But a big one is the possibility that it will trigger automatic cuts to Medicare, the jewel of the Great Society and the program on which virtually every senior citizen depends for health insurance.

16 Aug 2011

Capsules: New money and new rules for the exchanges

Now on Capsules, KHN's news blog, Phil Galewitz reports that the "Obama administration on Friday allotted $185 million to 13 states and the District of Columbia to help build new insurance exchanges and issued rules on how the new marketplaces will enroll individuals, provide subsidies to low- and middle-class Americans and interact with state Medicaid programs."

16 Aug 2011

Pain care management needs to be improved: CMAJ

Pain care management needs to be improved, with health care professionals committing to improve care as well as a retooling of the health care system to help people who are suffering, states an editorial in CMAJ.

16 Aug 2011

Anti-health law measure secures place on Ohio ballot; mental health improvements hit snags in Milwaukee

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would block implementation of President Barack Obama's signature health care overhaul law can appear on the ballot this fall. The ruling came on the same day that a federal appeals court in Atlanta struck down the requirement in the law that Americans either carry health insurance or face penalties.

16 Aug 2011

ROTEM receives FDA clearance for new hemostasis analyzer

Surgical teams now can get faster and more complete information on the status of their patients' coagulation state from the ROTEM hemostasis analyzer, recently cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.

16 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: Health reform 'tax' vs. 'penalty'; super committee forecast; boomer tsunami

In a foolhardy indulgence of partisan ideology, Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas is returning a $31.5 million federal grant that would have made his state a leader in technology development for the new federal health care law. … He joins other Republican governors willing to sell their constituents short in grandstanding against the health care law from statehouse pulpits.

16 Aug 2011

Feds offer more exchange details, money to encourage states in developing these insurance marketplaces

The Department of Health and Human Services awarded $185 million in grants to 13 states. The government also clarified how states will be expected to determine who is eligible to participate in exchanges under the health law.

16 Aug 2011

Accenture gets Australia’s e-health contract

An Accenture-led consortium has won the pivotal contract to deliver a national IT infrastructure for the Gillard government's $500 million personally controlled e-health records system. The team including Oracle and Orion Health also won $146m contract to deliver Singapore's e-health records program last year.

16 Aug 2011

Britain’s hospital waits increase

According to the latest figures, the number of patients waiting more than four hours for treatment in accident and emergency departments has almost doubled in the space of a year. Figures show 161,422 patients were left waiting over four hours for major A&E treatment between April and June 2011 – 91% more than during the same period in 2010. A broader measure including minor injuries units and walk-in centres was also up 90%, to 165,279.

15 Aug 2011

Increase in public awareness leads to lower obesity in children

Increasing public awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic may be contributing to evidence of overall reductions in body mass index (BMI), a measure of obesity in children, according to the results of a nationwide study presented in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

12 Aug 2011

Mixed reports from aid organizations in Somalia after al-Shabab pulls out of Mogadishu

The news from the Horn of Africa is "mixed," NPR's "All Things Considered" reports, adding, "More food is getting through and security has improved for now, but tens of thousands of children have already died and many more are at risk." According to NPR, "Aid groups were pleased last week when al-Shabab, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, pulled out of the capital, Mogadishu. That made a dangerous country a little bit less so for aid workers".

12 Aug 2011