Public Health
Tawain spurns China pact with WHO on assistance
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Taiwan’s health minister on Monday rejected a pact between China and the World Health Organisation to help the island in any health emergency, because Taipei had not been consulted.
The accord, a memorandum of understanding, was announced at the WHO’s annual assembly by China’s Health Minister Gao Qiang during a brief debate on Taiwan’s bid - again unsuccessful - for observer status.
UK ruling on terminally ill patients goes to court
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Britain’s General Medical Council (GMC) went to court on Monday to clarify how much treatment should be given to terminally ill patients.
Last year 45-year-old Leslie Burke, who has a degenerative brain condition, won a court ruling to stop doctors letting him starve to death should he become too ill to feed himself or communicate.
Optimistic Gates doubles funds for disease research
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Microsoft founder Bill Gates more than doubled his financing for key health research to $450 million on Monday after telling assembled health ministers the world had a “historic chance” to tame killer diseases.
In a speech to the opening session of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual assembly, the world’s richest man said a combination of “astonishing” scientific advances and rising global awareness of the suffering caused by disease gave real hope for progress.
U.S. lawmakers battle over “specialty” hospitals
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Battle lines were officially drawn Thursday on Capitol Hill over whether lawmakers should ban the further spread of physician-owned “specialty” hospitals that only treat patients with select conditions.
On Wednesday, Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Senator Max Baucus of Montana introduced legislation that would continue a moratorium on construction of new specialty facilities beyond its June 8 expiration.
U.S. Medicaid commission draws unusual interest
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When it comes to the Medicaid health program for the poor, the question in Washington has moved from whether to cut the program to how.
The budget blueprint approved by the U.S. Congress late last month calls for legislation to trim Medicaid spending by $10 billion over five years. But, in a compromise with moderate Republicans in the Senate, the deadline for that legislation to be written was pushed back to September, and the Bush administration agreed to appoint a bipartisan commission to make recommendations for how the program should be restructured.
Judge threatens California prison health takeover
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Outraged at what he called the poor quality of medical services for California’s prisoners, a federal judge threatened on Tuesday to take over the prison health care system of the most populous U.S. state.
“The prison medical delivery system is in such a blatant state of crisis that in recent days defendants have publicly conceded their inability to find and implement on their own solutions that will meet constitutional standards,” U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson wrote.
Intelligence doesn’t explain health disparities
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Although intelligence seems to play some role in a person’s well-being, new research casts doubt on the theory that intelligence explains the health disparities seen between low- and high-income people.
In a study of nearly 6,000 British adults in various civil service jobs, researchers found that a person’s intelligence—as measured by a standard test—was related to certain measures of health. It did not, however, explain the relationship between lower socioeconomic status and poorer health.
EU sets strict limits for banned dyes in spicy food
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EU authorities have set strict limits for a group of illegal dyes in food that may cause an increased risk of cancer, officials said on Wednesday.
Any products containing higher amounts of the industrial colourings - the Sudan and Para Red dyes - must be withdrawn from the market. Detection limits are set at between 0.5 and 1.0 milligrams per kilogram, but the aim is to lower this level.
Sudan dyes are a group of four red dyes used for colouring solvents, oils, waxes, petrol, and shoe and floor polishes. They have a carcinogenic effect and a potential risk of genotoxicity.
Yemen polio outbreak may cripple 100 children - WHO
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A polio outbreak in Yemen could cripple more than 100 children before it is brought under control, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.
A Yemeni Health Ministry official said in the capital Sanaa on Monday the number of children diagnosed with the paralysing disease had risen to 40, nearly double the initial 22 cases the WHO confirmed in late April.
But the WHO said more suspected cases were under investigation.
Tsunami children suffering mental problems - WHO
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Up to a quarter of the children caught up in the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia’s Aceh have mental health problems that need professional treatment, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
Most of the tsunami-affected adult population is also suffering from trauma-related distress, a WHO-funded study by the University of Indonesia found.
The mental health problems are far beyond the capabilities of Aceh’s lone mental hospital and so the government has decided Aceh will be the first Indonesian province to have community mental health services, said Dr. Stephanus Indrajaya, technical officer for WHO Indonesia.
U.S. judge upholds Calif. smog agency on fleet fuel
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A U.S. federal judge has upheld a California air quality agency’s rule that fleet owners must use vehicles that run on the cleanest-burning fuels.
U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, in a decision on Friday, said the South Coast Air Quality Management District can enforce its order for state and local government to purchase fleet vehicles that run on fuels like methanol and compressed natural gas instead of diesel fuel.
The district - the smog control agency for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties - adopted the rules for both private and government fleets in 2000 and was challenged in federal court in Los Angeles by the Engine Manufacturers Association, a trade group.
Bangladesh child accidents shock
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About three children die every hour in Bangladesh from serious injuries and accidents such as drowning the UN children’s agency, Unicef, says.
Unicef’s report, published in Dhaka on Monday, said more than 30,000 children were killed this way each year.
Accidents accounted for 38% of child deaths, with drowning the leading cause. Most of the drowning victims were under three years of age.
The nation’s health minister said he was shocked and vowed to take action.
WHO lists approved websites for vaccine safety
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The World Health Organisation (WHO), warning of one-sided and alarming reporting of vaccine safety on websites, on Tuesday issued a list of 23 sites it deemed reliable.
The approved sites meet the WHO’s criteria including credibility, content and disclosure of the group’s funding, according to a statement.
“We want to help Web readers and governments have access to reliable information. These sites have passed the criteria for good practices and will be reviewed every 18 months,” told Philippe Duclos, WHO medical officer.
U.S. group launches online medical record program
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Patients will be able to see, change and share medical records on the Internet with a service launched on Monday by a company set up by a coalition of professional medical groups.
They say the service, called iHealthRecord, will let patients control their own records, while allowing doctors vital access when they need it, eventually reducing the risks of mistakes such as prescribing errors.
And, they hope, it could provide a way for doctors and patients to replace thick medical charts and swap information without the need for costly and time-consuming office visits.
French surgeons begin UK ‘exile’
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Hundreds of French surgeons have begun a symbolic “exile” in Britain to demand the right to charge higher fees.
The private sector doctors plan to spend four days at the southern English resort of Camber Sands.
The group Surgeons of France says fees have remained static for 15 years while insurance rates have soared tenfold because of an explosion in lawsuits.
The group says the French government promised extra funds last year, but the money has not materialised.
