Public Health
$200 million pledged to Clinton’s initiative
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Former U.S. President Bill Clinton received pledges of more than $200 million for economic development in Africa and to fight HIV/AIDS on Thursday at a private summit on some of the world’s most pressing woes.
Bringing together world leaders, business figures, academics and political activists, the Clinton Global Initiative aims to address four key worries—poverty, religious strife, climate change and corruption.
US to pay Katrina evacuees’ healthcare in Texas
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The U.S. government will pick up the full cost of providing healthcare to Hurricane Katrina evacuees who enroll in the Texas Medicaid program, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said on Thursday.
Texas has taken in as many as 400,000 people who fled the three states stricken by the storm.
Computer health records seen saving US $81 billion
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Computerized medical records could save the United States more than $81 billion annually through greater efficiencies and reduced errors, according to a study published on Wednesday.
The RAND study appearing in Health Affairs journal follows a report in the same publication in January that predicted $78 billion in savings by speeding the computer exchange of patient information between health care providers.
US death rates decline in four of six causes
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Better treatments for chronic illnesses like Heart Disease and cancer have led to a drop in the U.S. death rate since 1970, but Americans face increasing threats from Obesity and smoking, a study said on Tuesday.
An American Cancer Society analysis of annual U.S. mortality rates found deaths from all causes declined from 1,242 deaths per 100,000 in 1970 to 845 per 100,000 people in 2002 - a 32 percent decrease.
U.N. says Angola polio controlled, vaccinates more
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Vaccination campaigns and public health education have bought a polio outbreak under control in Angola, the United Nations World Health Organisation says, warning awareness is still vital to prevent further cases.
Health officials had feared failure to stop transmission of the disease, which paralyses, deforms and kills children, could have led to it spreading not only within Angola but also to neighbouring countries such as the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and Zambia.
Animal-human transplants soon to be reality
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Transplants of animal organs into people could take place within a few years because of the acute shortages of donated human organs, a leading scientist said on Friday.
“It is only in recent years that many of the potential immunological problems, such as transplant rejection, have been solved, meaning the process of transplanting organs from one species into another could soon be a reality,” said Dr. Anthony Warrens, of Imperial College London.
Many U.S. doctors ill-trained on cultural gaps - study
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Many U.S. physicians are not being trained adequately about how to deal with cultural differences among immigrants and others that may affect the way medicine is practiced, a study said on Tuesday.
“These findings have implications for how residency training programs prepare physicians to provide high-quality care to an increasingly diverse nation,” said the report from Massachusetts General Hospital published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
Study finds drug stents often not cost-effective
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Popular new drug-coated devices to keep arteries open are not cost-effective for many heart patients and their use could be restricted to high-risk groups, researchers said on Tuesday.
The worldwide market for drug-eluting stents—tiny wire-mesh tubes that hold open cleared arteries while dispersing a medicine to prevent re-clogging—is $5.5 billion and growing fast.
They are increasingly being used instead of older bare metal stents.
Future smart cars could help to cut road accidents
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Whether it is wafting lavender or citrus scents to calm drivers and keep them awake, or vibrating seat belts to get them to slow down, smart cars in the future could help reduce road accidents.
Dr. Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist at England’s University of Oxford, said on Monday that scientists were studying utilising the senses such as smell and touch to develop features in cars to make driving safer.
Australia’s “Dr. Death” inquiry shut down
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An inquiry into an Australian hospital’s director of surgery, dubbed “Dr. Death” by staff after he was linked to 87 patient deaths, was shut down on Friday after a court ruled the inquiry chief was biased.
The A$6 million (US$4.5 million) inquiry, called to examine problems in the health system in Australia’s tropical Queensland state, had four witnesses and 10 days left to run.
Medical teams head to Gulf for Katrina aftermath
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Experts in sanitation, infectious disease and mosquito-borne illnesses are heading to the Gulf of Mexico region to help cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the CDC is combing its ranks for doctors who can pitch in.
But there is no rush to send hundreds of personnel yet, because it is not clear what is going on and resources must be saved for the long haul, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said on Thursday.
UK study shows poor people get worse services
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Poor people with the greatest need for good healthcare, education, jobs and transport live in areas with the worst access to these services, said a charity’s analysis of British census data on Thursday.
“The census data show quite clearly that although living standards have increased in 60 years, the rich and poor in Britain continue to live in different worlds,” said Ben Wheeler, co-author of the study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Manila starts polio fight after Indonesia outbreak
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The Philippines has started a polio vaccination drive in the south of the country, fearing a possible spread of the virus from Indonesia. Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a statement the campaign was targeting about 605,000 children in five provinces of the country’s autonomous Muslim region and Zamboanga City, both in southern Mindanao Island.
Polio attacks the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in hours. Children are most at risk.
UN official says Katrina among worst natural disasters
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Hurricane Katrina could easily dwarf the devastation of other recent natural disasters in terms of pure economic costs, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator who oversaw the Asian tsunami relief effort said on Wednesday.
United Nations Undersecretary-General Jan Egeland, who oversaw relief efforts after the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, offered Washington U.N. assistance in a formal letter to new U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton.
Robot dog—man’s best friend or exercise nag?
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It could be a dream or a nightmare—scientists have created a robotic dog that tells you when it’s time for your daily walk.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States plan to recruit Sony’s “canine entertainment robot” Aibo into the obesity police.
