Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles

Stuff Of Stink Bombs Investigated For Role In Pregnancy
Scientists at the University of Leicester are investigating how the stuff of stink bombs and flatulence could play a critical role in the human reproductive system.

The Improvement Foundation - Helping Tackle The Decline In Cervical Cancer Screening Uptake
Cervical Cancer Awareness Week 8-14 June 2009 is a key time to remind women that it is of huge importance that they attend their screening appointment when asked. The Improvement Foundation (IF) aim to help tackle the decline in screening uptake by addressing levels of complacency among clinicians and the public through their national Cervical Screening Improvement Programme.
News of the day
L.A. Times, NYT Opinion Pieces Discuss International Women's Health Issues
The Los Angeles Times and the New York Times recently published opinion pieces examining issues related to international women"s health. Summaries appear below.~ Michelle Goldberg, Los Angeles Times: The solution to addressing issues of over-population and under-population in various parts of the world is "giving women more control over their fertility and their lives," Goldberg, author of "The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World," writes in a Times opinion piece. Goldberg says that both problems are "symptoms of countries" failures to meet women"s needs." Citing United Nations data, Goldberg writes that the world"s population is growing at an "unsustainable" rate of 78 million people annually, and it will probably continue to increase by 70 million or 75 million annually through 2020. Almost all of that growth will occur in developing countries, she says. "The ethical and effective way to counter rapid population growth is to bolster women"s rights and improve their access to family planning," as well as access to education, Goldberg writes, adding that "study after study has found that girls who go to school marry later and have fewer, healthier children." Meanwhile, some developed countries -- including Japan, Russia, Italy and Spain -- are seeing a decline in birth rates, a fact that some social conservatives are using "to argue for restrictions on women"s rights." According to Goldberg, "Fertility is reaching dangerously low levels in countries where social attitudes and institutions haven"t caught up with women"s desire to combine work and family. When faced with men who are unwilling to share domestic burdens, inflexible workplaces and day-care shortages, many women respond by having fewer children." However, "when societies make it possible for women to combine having children with pursuing their other ambitions, fertility rates are fine," Goldberg says. She adds, "Give women freedom and support, and they will find reproductive equilibrium, so that when societies do shrink or grow, they do so in a manageable way" (Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, 5/17).~ Nicholas Kristof, New York Times: About 500,000 women "die annually from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth without attracting much interest because the victims are typically among the most voiceless people in the world: impoverished, rural, uneducated and female," Kristof writes in a Times opinion piece. He adds, "It"s no mystery how to save the lives of pregnant women; what"s lacking is the will and res." Kristof writes that Sierra Leone, which has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, "is now making progress with the help of the United Nations Population Fund." Former President George W. Bush cut off U.S. funding for UNFPA, but President Obama has restored the funding. Kristof adds that a bill (H.R. 1410) that would "establish American leadership in this area ... has attracted pathetically little attention." He continues that if the lives of women in West Africa "were a priority, there would be many simple ways to keep them alive," such as providing them with bed nets to help protect against malaria or iron tablets to fight anemia at a cost of "just a few dollars" (Kristof, New York Times, 5/17).
Oncology

Consensus Forming Among Most Democrats

Democratic leaders have begun moving the rank and file closer to acceptance of basic tenets of health reform proposals, but concerns remain among the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats on how it will be paid for, Politico reports. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are double-teaming powerful chairmen and rank-and-file members to save health care reform from a repeat of the Democratic Party infighting that helped kill it in 1994. In a closed-door session Tuesday, Pelosi assured rank-and-file Democrats that she won"t move forward on a bill without their consent. "We have to hear from you," one participant quoted Pelosi as saying." In other meetings, Pelosi and Hoyer asked Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to engage moderate Democrats. "Moderate Democrats have been warning their leaders for weeks against pushing proposals that undermine the private market, particularly a so-called public option that could dissuade consumers or businesses from purchasing private insurance. In a letter to their leaders last week, fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats said a public option should be created only if insurance market reforms and increased competition don"t lower costs on their own" (O"Connor and Frates, 6/10). "Mr. Rangel said "there won"t be any consideration" of that approach in the House. "We have to have a public plan" from the start," Mr. Rangel said. "We are not going to wait two, three or five years to see what happens and then trigger it,"" The New York Times reports. The plan goes against some moderate Democrats" wishes that a public plan be triggered only if the private insurance market doesn"t "rein in costs and offer affordable coverage to everyone" (Pear, 6/9). Roll Call: "Waxman said a trigger did not have broad support in the Democratic Caucus, although he noted that the chairmen"s draft incorporated other Blue Dog principles, including that any public option compete on a level playing field with private plans. "The consumer should be able to make a choice, and that"s what we"re going to be pushing for," Waxman said. "I don"t see why it should be objectionable to anybody for the consumer to have a choice." Waxman said each side is going to have to compromise" (Dennis and Newmyer, 6/10). But Kaiser Health News says the Blue Dogs could still have a role in shaping the bill: "That"s because the administration would need two-thirds of the coalition members to pass a bill in the House without any Republican support, a growing possibility in light of Republican opposition to creation of a government insurance entity and imposition of employer mandates to provide insurance" (Pianin, 6/9). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009