Abbott Fund to Build First Pediatric HIV/AIDS Clinic in Tanzania

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Aug 31,2008

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Joint Effort with Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative Will Improve Access to Health Care for Children with HIV/AIDS

The Abbott Fund joined representatives from the U.S. government, Baylor College of Medicine, the government of Tanzania and other partners today at a U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) news conference to announce a joint effort to improve care and treatment for children with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. The Abbott Fund announced it is supporting the construction of the first pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic in the country, in the Mbeya region of Tanzania.

“Building this clinic represents an important expansion in Abbott’s commitment to improving access to care for children in the developing world during the last decade,” said Catherine V. Babington, president, the Abbott Fund. “It fulfills a critical need in Tanzania, where we have been improving health systems not only for people with HIV, but also for those with other chronic health issues as well.” The new clinic will bring the first pediatricians trained in the special needs of children with HIV to Mbeya.

It is estimated that there are currently more than 150,000 (UNAIDS 2008) children in Tanzania living with HIV/AIDS and in need of treatment and care. Mbeya has the second highest rate of HIV in the country, with a prevalence rate of more than 13 percent among a population of more than two million. According to the National AIDS Control Project (NACP), last year only 2,280 children were registered to receive care with half receiving antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. In contrast, almost 16,000 adults in Mbeya are on ARV therapy.

“While we are making progress in enrolling adults into HIV care and treatment, our services for children have severely lagged behind due to lack of trained physicians and other necessary resources,” said Eleuter Samky, M.D., medical superintendent, Mbeya Referral Hospital. “We expect the new center of excellence to accelerate our ability to make progress against our national treatment goals for children with HIV.” The NACP goal is to have children comprise 20 percent of all people on treatment in Tanzania, 88,000 children, by 2010.

The Mbeya center of excellence represents a unique partnership between the government of Tanzania, Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) and the U.S. government, supported by the Abbott Fund. The Abbott Fund is committing more than $2 million to the project, which will be run by BIPAI. The clinic will be staffed by physicians from BIPAI and the Pediatric AIDS Corps, while physicians and other health workers from the region will be trained in the special needs of caring for children with HIV. The U.S. government will provide funds for the ongoing operations of the clinic through the PEPFAR program.

“The Mbeya center of excellence will provide the foundation for pediatric HIV treatment for the foreseeable future, helping not only to save children’s lives but increase health care worker capacity in the country,” said Mark W. Kline, M.D., president, Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. “We are confident that we will see the profound improvements in children’s health in Mbeya that we have seen across Africa when integrating pediatric HIV clinics into national AIDS programs.” Today, the BIPAI network clinics treat more than 26,000 children, representing the largest population of treated children with HIV in the developing world.

The Tanzania center is modeled after the pioneering work conducted by BIPAI and supported by the Abbott Fund at the Romanian-American Children’s Center, which opened in April of 2001 in Constanta, Romania. In this approach, children are not only provided antiretroviral medicine and other medical treatment, but are supported by a comprehensive program to address both the children’s and their family’s other daily needs. This program has reduced pediatric AIDS mortality by more than 90 percent in Constanta — the epicenter of pediatric HIV in Europe.

In 2007, BIPAI opened the first pediatric HIV care clinic in Malawi, also supported by the Abbott Fund. This original clinic has now expanded to include satellite clinics in rural areas, treating nearly 2,300 children with HIV.

To date, the Abbott Fund has provided a total of more than $28 million in grants and donated products to support the treatment of children with HIV in the developing world.

Source: Abbott



Advocates disappointed that Obama failed to address the issue

Speaking at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, Former President Bill Clinton called for a reinvigorated response to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. In praising Presidential nominee Barack Obama, Clinton said, “He will continue and enhance our nation’s commendable global leadership in an area in which I am deeply involved: the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, including — and this is very important — a renewal of the battle against HIV and AIDS here at home.”

Clinton’s comments came three weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new estimates indicating that the HIV infection rate in the United States is 40% higher than previously thought. Every year, over 56,000 Americans become infected with HIV, a rate that has not fallen in eight years and is higher than it was for most of the 1990s, according to CDC.

Several other speakers at related Convention events called for the development of a National AIDS Strategy for the United States, including Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Maxine Waters, Michelle Obama, and actor and activist Danny Glover. The Democratic Party Platform includes a call for a National AIDS Strategy and Senator Obama during the primary season pledged to develop a National AIDS Strategy if elected.

However, AIDS advocates were disappointed that although Senator Obama demonstrated leadership during the primary season he did not address the issue in his speech. Nor was there visibility of those living with HIV; for the first time since 1992 there was not an HIV+ speaker at the Democratic Convention.

“It was disappointing that on the occasion of this historic nomination, that one of the greatest health threats facing America today was not more front and center during this year’s Convention,” said Phill Wilson, Founder and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute. “This is my fourth Democratic Convention and it has never been so difficult to put HIV/AIDS on the agenda. At a time when the AIDS epidemic is worse in our nation’s capital than in many parts of Sub Saharan Africa, how can AIDS not be a featured as a priority by our Democratic Presidential nominee?”

David Munar, a HIV+ delegate from Illinois and the President of the National Association of People Living with HIV (NAPWA), was encouraged by the focus on the important themes of health care reform, reducing unwanted pregnancies, and tackling the devastation of disease across the globe but was “disappointed that there was not a specific call to action by the Presidential or Vice-Presidential nominees to end the AIDS epidemic in America.” “Obama has been a leader on HIV/AIDS here in Illinois, and I hope that he will continue to personally address the issue during this presidential campaign. His direct involvement and leadership remains critical.”

Other surrogates did address HIV/AIDS during related Convention events. Speaking on Monday at a luncheon to recognize the leadership of 26 Members of Congress on HIV/AIDS, Danny Glover said a National AIDS Strategy is needed in the US. “First we thought AIDS was someone else’s problem,” Glover said. “Lately we’ve recognized it is a problem in other countries. But while we’ve been tackling AIDS overseas, we’ve forgotten about the home front.

“It’s time we demand better results from our domestic response to AIDS,” Glover continued. “That is why Senator Obama has called for a National AIDS Strategy. We have to have a plan of action to tackle AIDS in America.

“A National AIDS Strategy has to focus us on achieving concrete outcomes, including bringing the HIV infection rate down and increasing access to care,” Glover said. “A Strategy has to better coordinate the work of federal agencies and use resources most effectively. And it has got to move us away from basing health policy on conservative social agendas, and instead design programs based on what works - like comprehensive sex education, condom promotion, and needle exchange.”

Rep. Barbara Lee and Rep. Maxine Waters also called for a National AIDS Strategy at the Monday event. Michelle Obama noted the need for a National AIDS Strategy in her remarks at the luncheon for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Convention delegates on Tuesday.

More than 1000 individuals and over 300 organizations, including public health departments, faith based communities, civil rights groups, health care centers and AIDS organizations throughout the country have endorsed a Call to Action for a National AIDS Strategy at www.nationalaidsstrategy.org.

More information about the National AIDS Strategy is available at www.nationalaidsstrategy.org.

Source: AIDS Action



Atlanta-based WellCentive (www.wellcentive.com) today announced that it has been selected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as an approved vendor for payment for the 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).

PQRI is a voluntary CMS program that provides a financial incentive to physicians and other eligible health care professionals who successfully report quality outcomes data for their Medicare patients.

Earlier this year, WellCentive was also chosen as one of a select group of registries from across the United States to help CMS test direct reporting of data for the PQRI program. WellCentive was the first registry organization to interface with the CMS system and submit data to CMS for this program.

“We are excited to be chosen as one of the registries approved for payment for the 2008 PQRI program,” said Paul Taylor, M.D., CEO and medical director of WellCentive. “Our selection as both a testing partner for this new registry-based PQRI reporting program, and also as an approved vendor for the 2008 program is a testament to the quality and effectiveness of the WellCentive registry system.”

Participation in the PQRI program enables health care professionals to improve the care of their Medicare patients through evidence-based outcome measures that have been selected for inclusion in the 2008 PQRI program. While the PQRI program is currently a pay-for-reporting program, it is widely believed to be a precursor to a Medicare pay-for-performance program. Pay-for-performance programs sponsored by private health care insurance companies have existed for many years and are growing in popularity and financial importance every year.

As a CMS-approved registry, WellCentive can help health care providers successfully report on a designated set of quality measures to earn a bonus payment of 1.5 percent of Medicare Fee For Service receipts for the selected reporting period. This reimbursement will increase to 2.0 percent for the 2009 PQRI program.

WellCentive’s Web-based registry is more efficient than the only other available reporting option for PQRI payment for 2008, which is a claims-based system. Direct reporting from electronic medical records is not an option for payment in the 2008 PQRI program.

In addition to direct reporting to CMS for the PQRI program, the WellCentive registry system has the capability to directly report data to other payers’ databases for their pay-for-performance programs.

“A physician’s ability to maintain a single patient registry system that is interfaced with multiple external payer databases truly sets the WellCentive system apart in the market,” said Taylor. “This can quickly be translated into a significant return on a relatively small, but important, investment as well as improved patient care.”

Source: WellCentive



Scientists Discover New Virus Invading US Honeybees

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Aug 29,2008

Scientists at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), located in Edgewood, MD, working with scientists at the University of Montana and industry partners Bee Alert Technology, Inc. and BVS, Inc. have discovered in U.S. honeybees a virus only before identified in European honeybees.

The invading bee virus newly discovered in the U.S. is called Varroa Destructor Virus -1 (VDV-1). First definitively identified in Europe in 2006, VDV-1 is carried by both honeybees and the tiny varroa mites that affect them. VDV-1 is related to a family of paralytic viruses that causes a breakdown of some membranes. In silkworms the virus causes flaccid disease, which causes the worms to digest themselves internally.

The virus was discovered using a technology developed for battlefield detection of viruses. This technology, called Integrated Virus Detection System / Proteomic Mass Spectrometry, reveals virus by size and peptide information contained in a sample and compares that information against known genetic sequences. This approach may provide important clues to scientists around the world working to find the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder — a mysterious malady that has caused rapid depopulation of beehives around the globe.

This is the first detection of this virus in North America and will allow beekeepers in the U.S. the possibility of early control and quarantine of affected colonies.

For more information, please contact Joan Michel (410.436.3610; 410.652.3912 — mobile).

ECBC is the Army’s principal research and development center for chemical and biological defense technology, engineering and services. ECBC has achieved major technological advances for national defense, civilian needs and industrial competitiveness, with a long and distinguished history of providing the Armed Forces with quality systems and outstanding customer service. ECBC is located at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. For more information about the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, please visit our Web site at http://www.ecbc.army.mil/ or call (410) 436-3610.

Source: Edgewood Chemical Biological Center



Pfizer Limited has launched Toviaz(R)(Black Triangle Drug) (fesoterodine fumarate), a new once daily treatment for the symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB). OAB is a condition which affects an estimated 4.9 million people in the UK(1) (more than twice the number of people with diabetes(2)) and has been shown to have a serious and detrimental effect on people’s emotional, psychological and sexual wellbeing(3).

Fesoterodine is an antimuscarinic drug which works by relaxing the muscles found in the wall of the bladder, decreasing sudden uncontrollable bladder contractions and increasing bladder capacity.(4) In two 12 week long, international clinical trials, fesoterodine significantly improved the symptoms of OAB compared to placebo(5),(6) (at least three quarters of patients said their condition improved or greatly improved on the medicine compared with 53% on placebo)(5) and patients taking fesoterodine also showed significant and consistent improvement in health related quality of life (HRQL) compared to placebo(7). This is important as OAB has a significant impact on quality of life, often causing sufferers to stop many of the social and physical activities they previously enjoyed and preventing them from leading a ‘normal’ life(3).

Fesoterodine is available as a 4 mg and 8 mg prolonged-release tablet(8). In trials, initial treatment effect was seen as early as two weeks after the start of therapy with fesoterodine. In addition, the medicine was generally well tolerated(9). Dry mouth was the most commonly reported adverse event(5),(6).

Overactive bladder occurs when the detrusor muscle that controls emptying of the bladder contracts involuntarily, creating a strong, sometimes uncontrollable urge to urinate. Key symptoms include frequency (needing to pass water more than eight times per day); urgency (the sudden desire to pass urine), and sometimes urge incontinence (leaking or wetting oneself due to complete or partial loss of bladder control)(10). People with an overactive bladder may pass urine as often as 12 times a day or more(5).

OAB can cause significant emotional, psychological and physical problems(3). Yet 40% of people with OAB never seek medical help, usually because they believe that it is an inevitable part of ageing and that no effective treatment is available(10). Lesley Woolnough, Executive Director of Incontact, the UK advocacy charity for people living with bladder and bowel control problems, said “We welcome any new treatment that comes to the market that may potentially improve the quality of life for people living with overactive bladder.”

Karen Logan, Nurse Consultant and head of Continence Services for Gwent NHS Healthcare Trust said “Incontinence still has a huge stigma attached to it and many patients feel isolated and suffer in silence with it for many years. As healthcare professionals we need to challenge the stigma and consider new ways of raising awareness and encouraging patients to seek help and take control of their condition.”

  • During phase III studies with Toviaz(R), the King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ) and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF) were used to determine health related quality of life. The KHQ comprises nine domains and assesses the impact of incontinence on physical and emotional wellbeing. Scores range from 0 (best) to 100 (worst). The ICIQ-SF assesses urinary frequency and urinary leakage and the effects on daily life and scores range from 0 (low bother) to 21 (maximum bother).
  • Incontact is the leading UK advocacy charity which campaigns for people living with bladder & bowel control problems. Dedicated to raising awareness and improving the understanding of continence issues, they provide user-friendly booklets and fact sheets, offer an on-line support forum, a specialist nurse and counsellor helpline and a magazine three times a year. Call confidentially on +44(0)1536-533255, email info@incontact.org or visit http://www.incontact.org. Registered charity number 1085095.

References

1. Milsom I, Irwin DE, Kelleher C, Reilly K, Bridge SM. Prevalence of urinary incontinence and overactive bladder: UK results from the EPIC study. (Abstract 337). Int Urogynecol J 2006; 17 (Suppl. 2): S57-S100

2. Diabetes: State of the Nations 2006. Progress made in delivering the national diabetes frameworks. A report from Diabetes UK.

3. Nitti V W. Clinical impact of overactive bladder. Rev Urol. 2002;4(suppl 4):S2-S6

4. BNF 55. March 2008

5. Chapple C, Van Kerrebroeck P, Tubaro A et al. Clinical efficacy, safety and tolerability of once-daily fesoterodine in subjects with overactive bladder. European Urol 2007;52:1204-1212

6. Nitti V, Dmochowski R, Sand PK et al. Efficacy, safety and tolerability of fesoterodine for overactive bladder syndrome. J Urol 2007;178:2488-2494

7. Tubaro A, Wang J, Kopp Z, Bavendam T. Improvements in health-related quality of life with fesoterodine in subjects with overactive bladder: pooled data from two randomised controlled studies. ICS 2007. Abstract 462.

8. Summary of Product Characteristics: Toviaz 4 mg & 8 mg prolonged-release tablets

9. Khullar V, Rovner ES, Dmochowski R et al. Fesoterodine dose response in subjects with overactive bladder syndrome. Urol 2008;71:839-843

10. Milsom I, Abrams P, Cardozo L, et al. How widespread are the symptoms of an overactive bladder and how are they managed? A population-based prevalence study. BJU Int. 2001;87(9):760-766.

Source: Pfizer Ltd



Public Health Advocates Deliver Demand during the Democratic National Convention Calling on Senators Barack Obama and John McCain to Support a Comprehensive National AIDS Strategy

In a historically unprecedented move, over 30 national HIV/AIDS organizations and leaders representing African-American, Latino, Native American/Alaska Native, and Asian & Pacific Islander communities have joined forces in an urgent call for the development and implementation of a comprehensive national AIDS strategy. The demands to the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees come in response to long-standing concerns about unmet needs for targeted HIV research, treatment access, medical care and prevention in communities of color. A recently-released report from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on estimates of new HIV infections in the United States amplifies the crises faced in communities of color.

According to the CDC’s alarming new estimates, communities of color account for a combined total of 65% of the approximately 56,300 new HIV infections occurring in the United States. By the CDC’s own admission, this new estimate is 40% higher than the CDC’s earlier estimate of 40,000 infections per year. The startling new HIV rates are of special concern for people of color who are more likely to die from the disease than HIV-infected whites. AIDS advocates representing communities of color have long expressed dissatisfaction with the current lethargic, fragmented and unaccountable U.S. response to the epidemic, which they point out, is a direct result of the non- existent national plan.

Leading national HIV organizations and leaders representing communities of color convened at the Ford Foundation in New York City in August 2008 to formulate a national HIV response to the new administration that will take office in January 2009. Pledging to work together to strengthen the HIV/AIDS response nationally, and in their own communities, these organizations agreed on an urgent seven-point action plan.

The action points stipulate first and foremost the urgent need for the next administration to rapidly initiate a National AIDS Strategy that engages the entire federal government in the fight against HIV and holds each department accountable for improved results in communities of color. Ironically, the U.S. government requires foreign countries receiving American HIV/AIDS assistance to have a national strategy for addressing the epidemic, where there is none in place in our own country. The action plan also demands that the federal government improve its inadequate data gathering methods, currently accounting for only 33 out of the 50 states and 5 dependent territories, excluding other states and territories severely impacted by the epidemic. This flawed process results in the underestimation of HIV rates and impedes efforts to allocate adequate resources to address HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care for all at-risk Americans.

Public health advocates also stress that the socio-economic drivers of the epidemic disproportionately impact communities of color. Such factors include poverty, limited educational opportunities, gender inequities, homophobia, HIV stigma and inadequate health access. The needs of communities of color are further compromised by the current administration’s response to the epidemic including a derisory allocation of only 4% of HIV-related domestic spending towards HIV prevention efforts and the flat-funding of the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative for the past six years despite increasing rates of transmission in people of color communities during that time.

The partnering organizations and leaders stand together to demand concrete action from the new President and his administration. The organizations and leaders represent various individuals, including health service providers, policy makers, physicians, medical schools and people living with HIV/AIDS. The representatives come together from across the country including Hawaii. Together, they bring a voice to the needs of people in urban, rural and native reservation communities.

The time has come for all American leaders, regardless of political affiliation, to support the development and implementation of a comprehensive national plan focused on prevention, treatment, and care for communities of color.

Partnering organizations include: Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center, BIENESTAR, Black AIDS Institute, Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc., National Minority AIDS Council, National Native American AIDS Prevention Center, The Balm In Gilead and National Association of People with AIDS.

Source: A&PI Wellness Center



The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (www.asnc.org) will be pleased to host its Annual Scientific Session from September 10 - 14, 2008 in Boston, MA. Imaging specialists from around the globe will gather at ASNC2008 to discuss the meeting’s theme — “Imaging for Primary and Secondary Prevention: Improving the Detection Gap.”

With medical imaging gaining increasing validity and scrutiny as a diagnostic tool, the ASNC Annual Scientific Session is critical to advancing best practices and new research in the nuclear cardiology field. More than 1,500 physicians, scientists, technologists, and nurses will attend this year’s meeting, which will feature lectures from world-renowned faculty such as Dr. Jeffrey Leppo of the Berkshire Medical Center and Dr. Jagat Narula of the University of California — Irvine.

“It is an exciting time for cardiovascular imaging,” said ASNC Executive Director Steve Carter. “ASNC2008 showcases how far we’ve come as a profession and the new research and technology that are helping advance our field even further.”

For a full program agenda, scientific abstracts, and registration materials, please visit www.asnc.org/ASNC2008.

The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) is the leader in education, advocacy, and quality for the field of nuclear cardiology. Serving more than 5,000 individuals in over 50 countries, ASNC is the only professional association dedicated to the dynamic subspecialty of nuclear cardiology.

Source: American Society of Nuclear Cardiology



The following is a statement of William V. Corr Executive Director, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

A new scientific study being published this week finds that California’s state tobacco control program saved $86 billion (in 2004 dollars) in personal health care costs in its first 15 years and provides important new evidence for states to increase spending on tobacco prevention and cessation programs. This study demonstrates powerfully that state tobacco prevention and cessation programs are smart, cost-effective investments that not only improve health and save lives, but also save money by dramatically reducing health care costs for government, businesses and families. It should spur states to significantly increase funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs with the $25 billion in revenue they collect each year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes.

The new study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and published in the August 25, 2008, online issue of the peer-reviewed medical journal PLoS Medicine (published by the Public Library of Science, or PLoS). Between 1989, when the state-funded California Tobacco Control Program began, and 2004, when the study ended, the program saved $86 billion in personal health care costs, while the state spent $1.8 billion on the program, for a 50-to-1 return on investment, according to the study. The program prevented 3.6 billion packs of cigarettes from being smoked during this period, the researchers found.

These dramatic cost savings came even as funding for California’s tobacco control program was reduced substantially in the mid-1990s. If funding had remained consistent with the program’s early years, California’s total health care cost savings could have reached $156 billion, according to the researchers. The researchers attribute the savings to declines in tobacco-related diseases in California, especially heart disease, cancer and lung diseases, that have far exceeded national declines.

The California study adds to the already overwhelming evidence from scientific studies and states’ results that tobacco prevention and cessation programs work to reduce smoking among both youth and adults, save lives and save money. Just last week, the National Cancer Institute issued a comprehensive, 684-page report, titled The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, that concluded that mass media campaigns are effective at reducing tobacco use, especially when combined with school and community programs. The NCI report found that such programs can change youth attitudes about tobacco use, prevent youth from starting to smoke and encourage adult cessation.

This overwhelming evidence that state tobacco prevention and cessation programs work and deliver so many health and financial benefits leaves elected leaders with no excuse for failing to fund such programs in every state at levels recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite the success of these cost-effective programs, too often they have been among the first targets for budget cuts whenever states have faced budget deficits, as they do now. This new study shows why states should increase funding for tobacco prevention programs and why cutting funding for them is penny-wise and pound-foolish. The decision to properly fund these programs should be an easy one:

  • The problem is huge and warrants urgent action. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, resulting in 400,000 premature deaths and costing the nation nearly $100 billion in health care bills each year. These expenditures include $65 billion under state and federal health care programs such as Medicaid, amounting to hidden tax of $575 on every American household.
  • We know the solution works. Comprehensive, well-funded state tobacco prevention and cessation programs are highly effective, especially when combined with higher tobacco taxes and smoke-free workplace laws.
  • States have the revenue. The states will collect about $25 billion this year in revenue from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. It would take just 15 percent of this revenue for each state to fund a tobacco prevention and cessation program at the CDC’s recommended levels. Right now, the states are spending less than 3 percent.
  • The public supports it. Poll after poll shows that Americans strongly believe tobacco settlement and tax dollars should be spent on tobacco prevention.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that state tobacco prevention and cessation programs are highly effective when they are funded appropriately, only three states currently fund these programs at even the minimum level recommended by the CDC (www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements/ ). This is part of the reason that declines in both youth and adult smoking in the United States have stalled in recent years. With the tobacco companies spending more $13.4 billion per year marketing their deadly products, it is imperative that state leaders act now to fund programs that we know work to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.

Source: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids



Latest U.S. Census Estimates Show 45.7 Million Americans Are Uninsured

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Aug 27,2008

Consumers Union’s Cover America Tour Puts a Face on Uninsured and Others Struggling to Afford the Health Care They Need

The U.S. Census Bureau released a report today that estimates that 45.7 million Americans were uninsured in 2007 compared to 47 million in 2006. While the report shows a slight drop in the number of uninsured, it underscores the urgent need to expand access to health coverage, according to Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

“It’s important to remember that there are real people and families behind these statistics,” said DeAnn Friedholm, Health Reform Director for Consumers Union. “The new census figures are a reminder of how important it is to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health coverage.”

Consumers Union’s Cover America Tour has been traveling across the country this summer chronicling the challenges that Americans face getting affordable, high quality health coverage. The group has collected nearly 4,000 stories from Americans across the country about their health care experiences. The Cover America Tour is posting videos of people talking about the difficulties they are experiencing, including those who are uninsured at: www.CoverAmericaTour.org.

The drop in the number of uninsured is due, in part, by the fact that more people were covered by government health insurance programs during this time. The U.S. Census report found that more people were covered by government health insurance programs — increasing from 27 percent in 2006 to 27.8 percent in 2007. During this period, the number of people covered by government health insurance increased to 83 million up from 80.3 million in 2006. At the same time, the percentage of people covered by employer-sponsored health insurance coverage decreased to 59.3 percent in 2007 from 59.7 percent in 2006. These numbers do not reflect the downturn of the economy in 2008.

“Nearly 46 million Americans have no health coverage and remain vulnerable to financial disaster if a serious illness or accident strikes,” said Adrienne Hahn, Senior Attorney/Program Manager for Consumers Union. “This report shows how critical Medicaid, Medicare, and SCHIP are in providing a safety net to Americans who can’t afford health coverage, especially during tough economic times.”

Source: Consumers Union



How Alcohol Affects The Brain

I once had the unusual, though unhappy, opportunity of observing the same phenomenon in the brain structure of a man, who, in a paroxysm of alcoholic excitement, decapitated himself under the wheel of a railway carriage, and whose brain was instantaneously evolved from the skull by the crash. The brain itself, entire, was before me within three minutes after the death. It exhaled the odor of spirit most distinctly, and its membranes and minute structures were vascular in the extreme. It looked as if it had been recently injected with vermilion. The white matter of the cerebrum, studded with red points, could scarcely be distinguished, when it was incised, by its natural whiteness; and the pia-mater, or internal vascular membrane covering the brain, resembled a delicate web of coagulated red blood, so tensely were its fine vessels engorged.

I should add that this condition extended through both the larger and the smaller brain, the cerebrum and cerebellum, but was not so marked in the medulla or commencing portion of the spinal cord.

no-alcohol

The spinal cord and nerves
The action of alcohol continued beyond the first stage, the function of the spinal cord is influenced. Through this part of the nervous system we are accustomed, in health, to perform automatic acts of a mechanical kind, which proceed systematically even when we are thinking or speaking on other subjects. Thus a skilled workman will continue his mechanical work perfectly, while his mind is bent on some other subject; and thus we all perform various acts in a purely automatic way, without calling in the aid of the higher centres, except something more than ordinary occurs to demand their service, upon which we think before we perform. Under alcohol, as the spinal centres become influenced, these pure automatic acts cease to be correctly carried on. That the hand may reach any object, or the foot be correctly planted, the higher intellectual centre must be invoked to make the proceeding secure. There follows quickly upon this a deficient power of co-ordination of muscular movement. The nervous control of certain of the muscles is lost, and the nervous stimulus is more or less enfeebled. The muscles of the lower lip in the human subject usually fail first of all, then the muscles of the lower limbs, and it is worthy of remark that the extensor muscles give way earlier than the flexors. The muscles themselves, by this time, are also failing in power; they respond more feebly than is natural to the nervous stimulus; they, too, are coming under the depressing influence of the paralyzing agent, their structure is temporarily deranged, and their contractile power reduced.

This modification of the animal functions under alcohol, marks the second degree of its action. In young subjects, there is now, usually, vomiting with faintness, followed by gradual relief from the burden of the poison.

Effect on the brain centres
The alcoholic spirit carried yet a further degree, the cerebral or brain centres become influenced; they are reduced in power, and the controlling influences of will and of judgment are lost. As these centres are unbalanced and thrown into chaos, the rational part of the nature of the man gives way before the emotional, passional or organic part. The reason is now off duty, or is fooling with duty, and all the mere animal instincts and sentiments are laid atrociously bare. The coward shows up more craven, the braggart more boastful, the cruel more merciless, the untruthful more false, the carnal more degraded. ‘ In vino veritas ‘ expresses, even, indeed, to physiological accuracy, the true condition. The reason, the emotions, the instincts, are all in a state of carnival, and in chaotic feebleness.

Finally, the action of the alcohol still extending, the superior brain centres are overpowered; the senses are beclouded, the voluntary muscular prostration is perfected, sensibility is lost, and the body lies a mere log, dead by all but one-fourth, on which alone its life hangs. The heart still remains true to its duty, and while it just lives it feeds the breathing power. And so the circulation and the respiration, in the otherwise inert mass, keeps the mass within the bare domain of life until the poison begins to pass away and the nervous centres to revive again. It is happy for the inebriate that, as a rule, the brain fails so long before the heart that he has neither the power nor the sense to continue his process of destruction up to the act of death of his circulation. Therefore he lives to die another day.



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