Health News from Medical News Today
Latest Health News and Medical News posted throughout the day, every day.
3 Sep 2010 at 8:00pm
The US worker is paying an average of $482 extra this year for family health coverage, 14% more than last year, even though total premiums - including what employers contribute - only rose 3% to an average of $13,770 in 2010, according to a survey released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. The 2010 Employer Health Benefits Survey revealed that workers are paying almost $4,000 this year for family health coverage. The total amount of employers' contributions for family coverage remains unchanged, the report reveals...
3 Sep 2010 at 1:00pm
There are still about 4.7 million uninsured American children who are eligible for CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) or Medicaid and are not enrolled, says a new report published in the journal Health Affairs. The report estimated about 7.3 million American children were uninsured on an average day in 2008 - of those, 65% of them (4.7 million) were eligible for Medical or CHIP but not enrolled. According to the report, ten states had participation rates either close to or above 90%. 39% of eligible uninsured children live in California, Florida or Texas, while 61% (2...
3 Sep 2010 at 1:00pm
Many youths appear resistant to treatment from the onset of a severe asthmatic condition. Why? Simply put, many have been wrongly diagnosed or caretakers have not followed asthma treatment guidelines properly. There is no one cure-all for this condition that is a chronic, or long-term lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways...
3 Sep 2010 at 11:00am
The number of people in the USA who took one prescription medication in a one month period rose 10% during the decade up to the end of 2008. Americans spent US234.1 billion on prescription medications in 2008, more than double the figure in 1999, according to a report published by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). A prescription drug or medication is one that requires a doctor's prescription, as opposed to an OTC (over-the-counter) drug, which can be purchased straight from the pharmacy without having to see the doctor first...
3 Sep 2010 at 10:00am
Researchers have made a major breakthrough in finding out how aggressive cancers originate, raising hope of novel targeted therapies for future breast cancer patients, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Stem Cell. The scientists say this is the first study to show that the most aggressive cancers probably arise from intermediary, or progenitor, cells, which may significantly influence future research into fighting breast cancer...
3 Sep 2010 at 10:00am
Quite an unusual case of Legionnaire's disease arose in 2010 and is now being thoroughly investigated. Why so strange? A healthy 67 year old man contracted Legionnaire's through a cut on his hand while handling compost in his garden. This week's edition of The Lancet reports the full details based on a Case Report by Dr. Simon M Patten, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley and his colleagues. In March 2010, this fit senior in the United Kingdom arrived at the Royal Alexandra Hospital possessing eight days delirium, fever with shakes, lethargy, and shortness of breath...
3 Sep 2010 at 9:00am
Mary Harney, Minister for Health & Children, yesterday (Thursday 2nd September, 2010) welcomed the publication of the findings of the All-Ireland Traveller Health Study, which she launched in July 2007...
3 Sep 2010 at 9:00am
There's still time to register and gain firsthand knowledge of the latest products, technologies and techniques in dentistry at the American Dental Association's (ADA) 151st Annual Session and World Marketplace Exhibition. It takes place Oct. 9 - Oct. 12 at the Orlando (Fla.) Orange County Convention Center. The ADA Annual Session offers attendees the choice of more than 245 relevant and topical continuing education courses, with more than 50% of lecture courses offered free with registration. Advance registration discounts, benefits only available through Sept...
3 Sep 2010 at 9:00am
Macmillan Cancer Support and Boots UK today officially launched a groundbreaking new three-year partnership, which aims to help provide the two million people living with cancer, and their family and friends, increased access to the information and support they need - when they need it, where they need it...
3 Sep 2010 at 8:00am
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe "said Thursday that global contributions to fighting [HIV/AIDS] are dropping off for the first time in 15 years amid tough economic times," Agence France-Presse reports. "The world economic recession is pushing countries ... to enforce austerity," Sidibe said during a press conference in Tokyo during which he called upon Japan to maintain its support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. "Governments and donors are second-guessing in terms of their budget and priorities," he added...
3 Sep 2010 at 8:00am
Regional Director of WHO for Africa Luis Sambo discussed during the 60th session of the Africa Committee of the WHO how the global economic situation could impact funding for health programs in Africa and the ability for countries to reach U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports. In a report to the meeting taking place in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, "Sambo indicated that between 2008 and 2009, Africa's real average GDP growth rate declined from about 5% in 2008 to 2...
3 Sep 2010 at 8:00am
A group of more than 350 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concluded a U.N. forum in Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday with a call for world leaders to step up their commitments to achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Australian Associated Press/Sydney Morning Herald reports (Rose, 9/1). "In a wide-ranging declaration adopted at the end of the three-day meeting ... participants stressed that achieving the MDGs, which world leaders have pledged to do by 2015, 'is a moral imperative,'" U.N. News Centre writes...
3 Sep 2010 at 8:00am
Inter Press Service examines how some African countries are benefiting from the global agriculture fund the G8 pledged $22 billion to in July 2009. According to the article, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which seeks to increase African spending on agriculture to foster more growth, "has received a major boost as several countries have begun drawing" on the G8 money. "The World Bank is administering the funds...
3 Sep 2010 at 8:00am
U.S., Other Countries Must Develop Strategy To Ensure Honest, Transparent Pakistani Rebuilding A Washington Post editorial encouraging the U.S. to generously support Pakistan as it recovers from major flooding, states: the "humanitarian interest is heightened by Pakistan's centrality to America's national security interests. The Obama administration must seize this chance to deepen and broaden what is already a large commitment, lest Pakistan become even more of a breeding ground for terrorism...
3 Sep 2010 at 8:00am
Congolese Community Leaders Warned U.N. About Security; 240 Rape Victims Now Identified "Congolese community leaders say they begged local U.N. officials and army commanders to protect villagers days before rebels gang-raped scores of people, from a month-old baby boy to a 110-year-old great-great-grandmother," the Associated Press reports. The Walikale Civil Association "first sounded the alarm on July 25," in a meeting with the Congolese army and local authorities and first warned the U.N. on July 29, according to the association's Charles Masudi Kisa...