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Opinions: Africa Food Aid; International Violence Against Women Act; brain drain

While the drought and starvation in the Horn of Africa are "ghastly to be sure," when "you see children on TV with distended bellies keening over their dying parents ... do them a favour. Sit on your hands," Sam Kiley, a former Africa bureau chief with the London Times, writes in a newspaper opinion piece.

27 Oct 2009

Romer sees health care reform as critical to ease deficit

Top White House advisor Christina Romer said that health reform would help to ease the deficit at a speech today. Reuters reports: "While some critics say Democrats' efforts to regulate the insurance sector should wait until the deficit is under control, they should instead see it 'as the most significant act we could take to tackle the deficit,' Romer said in speech to the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think-tank" (Heavey, 10/26).

27 Oct 2009

AdherenceRx announces the development and integration of Patient Adherence Index

AdherenceRx (www.adherencerx.com) is pleased to announce the development & integration of the Patient Adherence Index™ (PAI™). This new index brings together evidence-based patient behavior mapping scores associated with Positive Psychology & Behavior Change… and the Patient Activation Measure™ (PAM™) developed by Judith Hibbard, Ph.D., and her colleagues at the University of Oregon.

27 Oct 2009

Innovative approach to build a new drug to treat a number of CNS diseases

Working like an architect, Prof. Hagit Eldar-Finkelman of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine is "building" a new drug, L803-MTS, to treat a number of central nervous system (CNS) diseases like Alzheimer's. In pre-clinical studies, it also shows promise against Parkinson's, Huntington's and diabetes.

27 Oct 2009

President Obama declares H1N1 national emergency

President Barack Obama declared the H1N1 (swine) flu outbreak a national emergency, the Wall Street Journal reports. "The declaration, which Mr. Obama signed Friday, authorizes the administration to waive or modify certain federal requirements involving Medicare, Medicaid and health-privacy rules to speed treatment," the newspaper writes (McKay/Simpson/Whalen, 10/26).

26 Oct 2009

Post-storm conditions in Philippines continue to threaten health

Filipinos are "struggling to live in flooded suburbs or crowded shelters one month after devastating rains began pounding the Philippines, and officials warn no quick fix is in sight," Agence France-Presse reports. According to the WHO, 1.43 million people, "mostly in and around Manila, continue to endure a dangerous existence living in flooded districts" (Morella, 10/26).

26 Oct 2009

Medicare fraud: One of the most profitable crimes in U.S.

Medicare "provides a rich and steady income stream for criminals who are constantly finding new ways to steal a sizable chunk of the half trillion dollars that are paid out each year in Medicare benefits," 60 Minutes reports. "In fact, Medicare fraud - estimated now to total about $60 billion a year - has become one of, if not the most profitable, crimes in America." Medicare fraud leaves little evidence: an FBI agent in South Florida said "the only visible evidence of the crimes are the thousands of tiny clinics and pharmacies that dot the low-rent strip malls.

26 Oct 2009

Cantor Fitzgerald teams up with Healthcare Interactive to introduce new healthcare software management tool

Cantor Insurance Group, a unit of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, has joined with Healthcare Interactive to introduce Cantor Health Interactive, a new healthcare software management tool to help businesses monitor and reduce their healthcare costs.

26 Oct 2009

Congressional hearing addresses International Violence Against Women Act

VOA News reports on the recent appeals by human rights advocates for the U.S. Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act, a bill that would fund "a five-year program to reduce violence in countries where the problem is most serious." Then Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.) first introduced the legislation in 2007.

26 Oct 2009

Observer examines calls for reworking health spending focus in Africa

The Observer examines the recent appeal by some health experts for an "overhaul of health spending in Africa," which, they say, focuses on HIV/AIDS and overlooks other deadly diseases, such as diarrhea.

26 Oct 2009

National Cancer Institute awards Johns Hopkins $14.8 million for cancer research

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology have been awarded $14.8 million from the National Cancer Institute to launch a research center aimed at unraveling the physical underpinnings of the growth and spread of cancer.

26 Oct 2009

Report finds hundreds of billions of dollars of waste in U.S. healthcare system

The U.S. health care system wastes between $505 billion and $850 billion every year, according to a new report from Thomson Reuters, the parent company of the Reuters news service.

26 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: Ghana, Nigeria Global Fund grants; CDC Director on global health role; African Peacekeepers and HIV/AIDS

Stabroek News reports on the recent news that Guyana received a $10 million grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The "six-year programme aims at strengthening critical areas in the system such as Mental Health; the Nursing Programme; Management and Development Programme; Surveillance and Monitoring Programme and Management and Information systems," the newspaper writes (10/23).

26 Oct 2009

Hospital gives Medicare patients cash back for surgery

In a story done by Kaiser Health News in collaboration with USA Today, KHN staff writer Phil Galewitz reports on a hospital in Tulsa, Okla. "An hour into knee replacement surgery — with U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For playing in the background — Dr. Yogesh Mittal smiles as he raises the left leg of his patient, 76-year-old Frank Morrow.

26 Oct 2009

Analysis from Phase 3 trials of HZT-501 presented at 74th ACG meeting

Horizon Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today presented an analysis from two pivotal Phase 3 trials (REDUCE-1 and REDUCE-2) evaluating its lead investigational compound HZT-501, a combination of ibuprofen with high-dose famotidine.

26 Oct 2009

Health care legislation benefits insurers, but annual profits are not so hot

The health insurance industry is likely to benefit from a health care overhaul, but industry profits are not as high as many seem to believe.

26 Oct 2009

AP looks at USAID administrator vacancy

Although there's "increasing pressure" on President Obama "to fill his administration's vacant top foreign-assistance post ... no candidate is in sight nine months into his term," the Associated Press writes in an article exploring the absence of a leader for USAID. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have expressed a desire for "the agency to play a bigger role in U.S. foreign policy ... [with] more equal roles for diplomacy and development alongside defense," according to the AP.

26 Oct 2009

Athletes may face future health problems despite their rigorous exercise routines, says study

For today's athletes, size and strength can mean the difference between championships, scholarships and million-dollar paydays. But new research comparing the signs of metabolic syndrome in professional baseball and football players, presented at the American College of Gastroenterology's 74th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego, reveals that the larger professional athletes - specifically football linemen - may encounter future health problems despite their rigorous exercise routines.

26 Oct 2009

House Democratic leaders huddle on public insurance option

House Democratic leaders faced an impasse late last week as it became clear that a liberal version of the public option did not have enough support in the caucus.

26 Oct 2009