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VDF honors physicians, leaders in the field of vascular disease with President's Awards

The Vascular Disease Foundation (VDF) presented its annual awards at the organization's eighth annual meeting in Washington. The awards honor the work of citizens, health care providers, organizations, researchers and companies that have enhanced the understanding and/or treatment of peripheral vascular diseases.

26 Sep 2011

Seniors deeply concerned about Medicare, Medicaid future as 'super committee' decisions loom

Seniors, gathered in downtown Los Angeles this week for the annual conference of the AARP, expressed fear and anxiety about aging when Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are under attack both in Washington and on the campaign trail. More than 20,000 seniors are attending ... Seniors are increasingly relying on Social Security and Medicare to finance their retirement and healthcare, AARP chief executive officer A. Barry Rand told a packed house.

26 Sep 2011

White House fact sheet on Global Health Security

The White House Office of the Press Secretary on Thursday released a fact sheet, titled "Global Health Security," that describes how the U.S. "is taking a multi-faceted approach to the full spectrum of challenges posed by infectious diseases, whether naturally occurring, accidental, or the result of a deliberate attack."

23 Sep 2011

Vaccination must be part of response to cholera outbreak in Haiti

Though "[c]holera vaccines are not a magic bullet and are not available in adequate numbers" to vaccinate everyone in Haiti, where at least 10 people die each day in an outbreak that began in October 2010, "there are compelling reasons to add vaccinations to the arsenal of public health weapons that has been deployed against cholera in Haiti," a Washington Post editorial states.

23 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Concerns that AIDS fight is losing steam; Pharmacy choice bill is praised; Texas sex-ed policies questioned

The considerable progress in recent years - including the 22-fold increase in the number of people receiving anti-retroviral drugs between 2001-2010 - has been due to scientific breakthroughs and to civil society's efforts to keep AIDS on the political agenda. This is now changing.

23 Sep 2011

Roundup: Texas House Dems ask CMS to reject Medicaid waiver request; Jobs lost as Ariz. mental health Medicaid cuts kick in

The nine House Democrats from Texas want the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reject their state's request that Medicaid beneficiaries get their prescription drugs through managed care plans.

23 Sep 2011

New poll reveals continued public confusion about health law, little faith in 'Super Committee'

A second survey, this one from National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, found that public opinion opposes cutting Medicare and Social Security to reduce the deficit, and that this view cuts across partisan lines.

23 Sep 2011

More funding for leishmaniasis treatment could save more lives in East African outbreak

"East Africa's worst outbreak in a decade of visceral leishmaniasis, the deadliest parasitic disease after malaria, could ease if donors paid more attention to the illness," which infects approximately 500,000 people and kills up to 60,000 annually in 70 countries, the non-profit group "Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform, or LEAP, said in a statement from Nairobi" on Friday, Bloomberg reports.

23 Sep 2011

USAID, Aspen Institute, others announce commitment to address disabilities in Vietnam

USAID, the Aspen Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation, IBM, Hyatt Hotels and many other private sector donors on Thursday announced a commitment of more than $3.5 million "to provide assistance to address the challenges of the disabled in Vietnam, without regard to cause," according to an Aspen Institute press release.

23 Sep 2011

Fight against HIV losing momentum; Robust analysis needed to develop long-term strategy

"After a decade of unprecedented increases in donor funding and a corresponding 17 percent decline worldwide in the number of new infections, the fight against HIV is losing momentum," Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and an adjunct professor at Copenhagen Business School, and Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and former executive director of UNAIDS, write in this Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

23 Sep 2011

Is enough being done to fight child mortality?

Though the recent UNICEF report on child mortality shows progress is being made in every region to prevent childhood deaths, "it is clear that we still need to increase the coverage of high-impact, low-cost interventions like vaccines, including those for pneumonia and diarrhea that are rolling out," Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

23 Sep 2011

Gender discrimination a driving factor behind malnutrition in Nepal, experts say

"Gender discrimination lies behind much of the malnutrition found in under-five children in Nepal, say locals and experts," IRIN reports. "Women live hard lives from day one, born with no fanfare, contrasting starkly to the six-day celebration to mark the birth of a boy.

23 Sep 2011

Examining alternatives to assessing Global Fund effectiveness

In this post in the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, William Savedoff, a senior fellow at the center, responds to a high level panel's assessment (.pdf) of fiduciary controls at the Global Fund to Fight, AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, examining "what this report might mean for an organization that was expressly created to blaze an innovative approach to international aid and is being counseled to back away from that vision."

23 Sep 2011

Annual World Disasters Report focuses on hunger and malnutrition, highlights dichotomy between economic classes

This year's annual World Disasters Report, published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on Thursday, focuses on hunger and malnutrition, but highlights a growing gap between economic classes, the Australian reports, noting "15 percent of the world's population is going hungry while a record 20 percent now suffer the effects of 'excess nutrition'" (Hodge, 9/23).

23 Sep 2011

African Leaders Malaria Alliance launches malaria scorecard

"The African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) has launched a scorecard to improve the fight against malaria on the African continent," IRIN reports. "Updated quarterly, it provides information from each country on policies formulated, preventative measures initiated, money spent, lives saved and lost," and "also tracks tracer indicators for maternal, newborn and child health," the news service writes.

23 Sep 2011

2M Pakistanis affected by diseases related to widespread flooding in southern region

Two million Pakistanis have become ill from malaria, diarrhea, skin diseases or snake bites "since monsoon rains left the southern region under several feet of water, the country's disaster authority said Thursday," Agence France-Presse reports. "More than 350 people have been killed and over eight million people have been affected this year by floods that officials say are worse in parts of Sindh province than last year," the news agency reports.

23 Sep 2011

Health law legal action moves to D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals

Politico Pro reports that, although this case is unlikely to be the "one" that goes to the Supreme Court, both sides have a lot at stake in the outcome: "the potential to chalk up another appeals court victory and maybe 'flip' a prominent appeals judge."

23 Sep 2011

Funds awarded to improve maternal and child health with home visits

In another round of grants funded by the 2010 health law, the Department of Health and Human Services provided resources to support efforts by nurses, social workers, or other health care professionals to make home visits to low-income families that agree to meet with them in their homes. Also, Kansas Health Institute News reports on the funds awarded to Kansas.

23 Sep 2011

Drug shortages fuel increases in cost of care, poor outcomes

A severe shortage of drugs for chemotherapy, infections and other serious ailments is endangering patients and forcing hospitals to buy life-saving medications from secondary suppliers at huge markups because they can't get them any other way.

23 Sep 2011

Capital BlueCross goes live with TriZetto's care management application

The TriZetto Group, Inc. today announced that Capital BlueCross, the leading health insurer in central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley, recently went live with TriZetto's Clinical CareAdvance® 4.61 care management application.

23 Sep 2011

Healthcare News

VDF honors physicians, leaders in the field of vascular disease with President's Awards

Seniors deeply concerned about Medicare, Medicaid future as 'super committee' decisions loom

White House fact sheet on Global Health Security

Vaccination must be part of response to cholera outbreak in Haiti

Viewpoints: Concerns that AIDS fight is losing steam; Pharmacy choice bill is praised; Texas sex-ed policies questioned

Roundup: Texas House Dems ask CMS to reject Medicaid waiver request; Jobs lost as Ariz. mental health Medicaid cuts kick in

New poll reveals continued public confusion about health law, little faith in 'Super Committee'

More funding for leishmaniasis treatment could save more lives in East African outbreak

USAID, Aspen Institute, others announce commitment to address disabilities in Vietnam

Fight against HIV losing momentum; Robust analysis needed to develop long-term strategy

Is enough being done to fight child mortality?

Gender discrimination a driving factor behind malnutrition in Nepal, experts say

Examining alternatives to assessing Global Fund effectiveness

Annual World Disasters Report focuses on hunger and malnutrition, highlights dichotomy between economic classes

African Leaders Malaria Alliance launches malaria scorecard

2M Pakistanis affected by diseases related to widespread flooding in southern region

Health law legal action moves to D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals

Funds awarded to improve maternal and child health with home visits

Drug shortages fuel increases in cost of care, poor outcomes

Capital BlueCross goes live with TriZetto's care management application

Advancing Motor Neuron Disease Diagnosis with Non-Invasive Ultrasound and AI

How agentic AI is reshaping laboratory workflows

Fourier 80: bringing benchtop NMR systems to the laboratory

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