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Advocates Push To End Medicare's Two Year Wait For Disabled
There are 1.8 million disabled Americans who wait two-years to enroll in Medicare. Many say that waiting period can be devastating.

Smoking In Military Populations, VA Medical Centers: DOD, VA, Congress Should Take Stronger Steps Toward Eliminating Tobacco Use
Because tobacco use impairs military readiness, harms the health of soldiers and veterans, and imposes a substantial financial burden on the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, these agencies should implement a comprehensive strategy to achieve the Defense Department"s stated goal of a tobacco-free military, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. DOD should gradually phase in a ban on tobacco use in the military, starting at military academies and officer training programs and among new recruits, the report says. DOD should also stop selling tobacco products in Army and Air Force commissaries -- Navy and Marine Corps commissaries already do not sell them -- and should stop selling them at a discount in military exchanges and other stores. In addition, Congress should allow VA to establish tobacco-free medical centers.
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Sanofi Pasteur Ready To Support Public Health Efforts In Response To WHO Phase 6 Influenza Pandemic Alert
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), announces it is ready to support public health efforts to respond to the emergence of the new A(H1N1) influenza strain following the decision made by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise the pandemic alert level from Phase 5 to Phase 6, the highest level of alert in the WHO global influenza preparedness plan.
Health Insurance

Continued Vigilance Against Drug-resistant Malaria Is Needed

Current combination malaria therapies recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) provide adequate treatment for mild malaria, according to a Cochrane Systematic Review of the evidence. However, selected trials had high failure rates for some combinations and evidence for the effectiveness of anti-malarial therapies is lacking in some vulnerable groups. Malaria kills more than a million people each year and accounts for more than a third of public health expenditure in some badly affected countries. Uncomplicated malaria is a mild version of the disease, but it can become serious and life threatening if left untreated. Resistance to the older antimalarials has led the WHO to recommend treatments combining an artemisinin-based drug with another longer-lasting drug to combat resistance. The review included 50 trials of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). Overall, the four combinations studied were effective for treatment of the most common type of malarial parasite. The researchers conclude that the recently introduced dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine performed well compared to the ACTs in current use and offers another potential first-line therapy for the disease. There were examples of treatment failure rates above 10% for all evaluated combinations. This is above the maximum allowable failure rate for a first line antimalarial as recommended by the WHO. "Patterns of resistance change from place to place and over time, so these results have to be interpreted with some caution," says lead researcher David Sinclair of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool, UK. "Our findings emphasise the need for continued vigilance in the monitoring of malaria and the development of resistance to antimalarial drugs." In addition, there were few studies focusing on the most at-risk groups, which are pregnant women and young infants. "The lack of evidence supporting the use of these drugs in pregnant women and infants represents a critical gap in our knowledge that must be addressed," says Sinclair. Jennifer Beal Wiley-Blackwell


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