Miscellaneous News

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AMA call for Australian government to stop playing politics with health

The first limited after hours GP clinic will open at Royal Perth Hospital this weekend spelling the end for suburban after hours clinics and increasing pressure on hospital emergency departments.

30 May 2004

New Australian after hours bulk billing medical centres

Two new after hours bulk billing medical centres have been opened as part of a joint Commonwealth-State initiative to improve access to doctors outside of working hours.

30 May 2004

Australian government programs help improve Indigenous eye health

The Australian Government today released the Review of the Implementation of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Eye Health Program as well as its response.

28 May 2004

Global warming will increase malnutrition and outbreaks of infectious diseases

Global warming is a real concern to health experts, according to a senior scientist in this week's BMJ. His comments come as global warming gets the Hollywood treatment in the disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow.

27 May 2004

Concealment by British American tobacco industries

Leading public-health scientists writing in this week's issue of THE LANCET are calling for changes in the management of British American Tobacco's (BATs) UK information depository. This follows a detailed investigation which has highlighted how public access to industry records has been hampered by tight surveillance and inadequate search facilities at the depository in Guildford, UK.

27 May 2004

Tobacco-related illnesses costs Ilinois $6.7 billion annually

Tobacco-related illnesses take the lives of more than 16,500 Illinois residents each year and cost the state $6.7 billion annually in medical care and lost productivity, according to Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director.

27 May 2004

A third of U.S. adults use some form of complementary and alternative medicine

According to a new nationwide government survey, 36 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 years and over use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

27 May 2004

FDA final ruling on Bioterrorism Act

The Food and Drug Administration today announced the final rule establishing procedures for administrative detention of food under the authority of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (Bioterrorism Act). This new authority applies to food for which the agency has credible evidence or information that it presents a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.

27 May 2004

Training in chronic care medicine is poor

In a national survey of practicing family physicians, pediatricians, internists and surgeons, the majority reported that their training in chronic care medicine was too thin overall to meet the demands of their practices.

27 May 2004

New interactive on-line medical liability crisis map of the United States

The AMA on May 27 released an interactive version of its medical liability crisis map of the United States. By clicking on any of the 19 red states in crisis, users get instant access to background information on how the crisis affects that state

27 May 2004

Obesity a priority says UK Health Secretary

Concerns over obesity will be addressed in the UK government's Public Health White Paper, Health Secretary John Reid said today following the publication of a Parliamentary report.

27 May 2004

Canada and U.S adopt the Global Solar Ultraviolet (UV) Index

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes the action by more and more Member States to adopt the Global Solar Ultraviolet (UV) Index. In recent days, Canada and the United States of America have begun using the Index (UVI), joining several other WHO Member States, to ensure that the UVI is used on a regular basis to educate people about the dangers of overexposure to UV radiation.

27 May 2004

Australian cricketers have had their muscles scanned by researchers to prevent muscle deterioration and injury

The 24-man-squad from Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, were examined by University of Queensland’s senior physiotherapy lecturer Dr Julie Hides.

27 May 2004

Texas Department of Health has completed testing for lead in Mexican candy

Texas Department of Health has completed testing of samples of candies from Mexico that contain powdered chili or tamarind as an ingredient or coating.

27 May 2004

Inadequate hospital staffing affecting death rates in the birthing unit

Inadequate staffing levels and ineffective deployment of midwives are key to many adverse events and near misses in birthing units, according to an international researcher in midwifery.

27 May 2004

Australian university offers free Chinese medicine treatment

With winter fast approaching, RMIT University is helping people to beat coughs, colds and other winter nasties with a free introductory offer for Chinese medicine treatment.

27 May 2004

Olympic organizers and world pharmaceutical representatives agree on working hours

Representatives of the pharmaceutical world (chemists, pharmaceutical wholesale stores and industries) and ATHENS 2004 agreed today on the working hours and pharmaceutical provisioning times at Games-time, confirming the partial agreements reached after the dialogue started in November 2003.

27 May 2004

Discovery may help to define the limits for life on Earth, as well as elsewhere in the universe

The discovery of millions of micro-microbes surviving in a 120,000-year-old ice sample taken from 3,000 meters below the surface of the Greenland glacier was announced by Penn State scientists today (May 26) at the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans, La. The discovery may help to define the limits for life on Earth, as well as elsewhere in the universe, such as on cold planets like Mars.

27 May 2004

17,000 immigrant children and parents in Washington state have lost public health coverage

Since the elimination of a public medical assistance program in 2002, more than 17,000 immigrant children and parents in Washington state have lost public health coverage as of April 2004.

27 May 2004

UK House of Commons Health Committee publishes its long-awaited Report on obesity

Obesity has grown by almost 400% in the last 25 years such that three-quarters of the adult population are now overweight or obese (around 22% are now obese). England has witnessed the fastest growth in obesity in Europe and childhood obesity has tripled in twenty years.

27 May 2004