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HIV in China spreading beyond high-risk groups

HIV in China has spread beyond high-risk groups -- such as injection drug users, commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men -- a senior health official said recently, Reuters reports (Lyn, Reuters, 10/17).

19 Oct 2006

HIV prevalence in Botswana is 17.1%, President Mogae says

HIV prevalence in Botswana is 17.1%, lower than figures previously reported by UNAIDS, Botswana President Festus Mogae said Monday, Xinhua/People's Daily reports.

19 Oct 2006

Discrimination against HIV-positive teachers adversely affects education sector in Uganda

Discrimination against HIV-positive teachers is having an adverse effect on the education sector in Uganda, the East African reports.

19 Oct 2006

Competition in health care industry can help reduce costs

"Choice and competition work in health care," but "most of us aren't lucky enough to have access to a market shaped by them," Robert Moffit, director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, writes in a Washington Times opinion piece.

19 Oct 2006

Louisiana residents open to reforming or eliminating charity hospital system

Seventy-two percent of Louisiana residents believe the state's health care system needs to be changed or completely rebuilt in order to provide better care to the uninsured, according to a poll released Monday by the non-partisan Council for a Better Louisiana, the AP/New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

19 Oct 2006

Hospitals taking steps to limit ED patient 'boarding'

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday examined how a "growing number of hospitals are taking steps" to limit the practice of "boarding," in which hospitals admit emergency department patients when no rooms are available and leave them in hallways for extended periods of time.

19 Oct 2006

Despite aging U.S. population, few physicians specialize in treatment for the elderly

Even as the "population ages and more people ... need them ... geriatricians are in short supply," the New York Times reports.

19 Oct 2006

Wal-Mart expands prescription drug discount program

Wal-Mart Stores on Thursday likely will announce the expansion of a generic prescription drug discount program introduced last month in Florida to additional states, the Newark Star-Ledger reports (May, Newark Star-Ledger, 10/19).

19 Oct 2006

Blue Cross of California settles patient accusations that it systematically canceled policies

Blue Cross of California on Tuesday agreed to settle more than 70 lawsuits and claims filed by individual health plan members who alleged that Blue Cross illegally revoked their coverage, the Los Angeles Times reports.

19 Oct 2006

Austrian patent office rules in Pfizer's Favor for Lipitor patent

Pfizer has announced that the Austrian Patent Office has ruled that a claim in the company's basic patent covering the use of atorvastatin, the active ingredient in Lipitor, would be infringed by generic manufacturer Ranbaxy.

19 Oct 2006

Victhom files provisional sleep apnea patent application

Victhom Human Bionics announced that, after a series of pilot animal studies on potential medical indications of its Closed Loop System (the CLS Neuromodulator).

19 Oct 2006

NC State researchers receive $3.5 million to tackle HIV

Researchers at North Carolina State University have received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) to develop mathematical and statistical models that will aid in designing new treatment strategies for HIV patients.

19 Oct 2006