Facebook app fights Flu

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News, Health Technology
• Date: Jan 15,2010

H1N1 and seasonal influenza beware – new heroes have arrived, ready to defend the population and fight a viral battle, via Facebook, in the form of ‘Flu Fighters!’

Developed by researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a new Facebook application called “I’m a Flu Fighter!” gives people the opportunity to mobilize and take action against the threat of influenza – by telling their friends they got the H1N1/seasonal flu vaccine and encouraging them to do the same. Launching as part of National Influenza Vaccination Week, the app also provides information on influenza – including a flu vaccine locator – courtesy of HHS’s Flu.gov.

The application is part of the HealthySocial project (HealthySocial.org), founded two years ago by Ben Reis, PhD, of the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program. The project aims to empower individuals to promote positive health behaviors amongst their friends and family through the use of social networks. Reis and his team are working on a range of free social apps that allow users to collaborate with their friends to encourage better health.

“Social networks have tremendous potential to do good in the world,” says Reis. “By leveraging existing social connections, people can spread positive health behaviors and attitudes amongst their friends and loved ones.”

Source: Children’s Hospital Boston

Health Reform Tax Changes: Good progress for workers

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Jan 15,2010

Union to Keep Working for Better Bill

Leo W. Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers union, today said that the union is pleased with the progress that has been made to make health insurance reform legislation fairer for working families.

Gerard said: “Let’s be clear, no legislation is ever perfect. But for generations we’ve been fighting for health care for all in the United States, and we are too close to reaching a historical milestone on this long journey to turn back now.

Our union and others in the labor movement have worked hard to fight for reform that helps working families and that will lower the cost of health care for all Americans. It appears we’ve been able to improve reform for all working families – not just those in a union – with several significant changes to the proposed excise tax on expensive health care plans. We’re pleased with the progress but that doesn’t mean we’ll stop working to make this bill better.”

Some of the proposed changes include:
– Raising the level at which plans would be taxed to $24,000 for a family; $8,900 for singles and exempting dental and vision costs from these amounts. These thresholds would be raised for retirees 55 and older and for workers in high-risk professions.
– Raising the tax threshold for plans in certain high-cost states as well as plans with high numbers of women and older workers that require more expensive plans, allowing for more gender, age and geographic equity in health care.
– Exempting plans negotiated through collective bargaining for five years, providing critical time for employers and employees to transition.
– Allowing collectively bargained plans into the Exchange in 2017, giving workers more bargaining power.

The USW represents 850,000 workers in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean employed in the industries of metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service sector. For more information: www.usw.org/.

Source: United Steelworkers (USW)

AIDS campaign targets neglected segment of Black America

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Jan 14,2010

More than a third of new HIV infections in the U.S. occur in people over 40 years old. Yet there have been very few campaigns targeting this population. The Black AIDS Institute, the nation’s only think tank devoted exclusively to combating AIDS among African Americans, is about to change that.

The Institute has found an innovative way to help Black people ages 40 and up become more aware of the HIV/AIDS risk among people their age, while simultaneously raising money to fight the disease in Black communities. The campaign, supported by local organizations, is called Trump AIDS. It leverages the traditional Black pastime of bid whist, a popular card game among Black Americans, as a unique way to convene and educate this often overlooked HIV/AIDS demographic.

Trump AIDS will launch in Atlanta, Georgia, on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, January 15 – 17, 2010 at the Clarion Hotel. The Atlanta event is the first of 30 tournaments and health fairs being held across the nation between January and October, and will culminate with a national bid whist tournament and health fair in Las Vegas, Nevada. For a complete list of cities hosting events and to register, please visit www.TrumpAIDS.org.

“AIDS does not only affect a select demographic such as youth, women or gay men,” says Actor and AIDS Activist Danny Glover, who is a celebrity co-chair of Trump AIDS. “It affects all groups of people. That is why Trump AIDS is such an important campaign for Black people to support and participate in.” Jackee Harry, the other celebrity co-chair, adds, “We must unite as a community — for the sake of our community. To do nothing is to be part of the problem.”

The Atlanta kick-off event will include a Bid Whist Qualifying Tournament and Health Fair in partnership with local Atlanta organizations The 7NO! Players, Sister Love and AID Atlanta.

“The 7NO! Players are excited to host the kick-off event in Atlanta,” says Montez Collins, President, 7NO! Players. “We look forward to welcoming all of our regular bid whist players and any new comers who are interested in learning more about the game.”

“We are proud to partner with the Black AIDS Institutive on this new and innovative awareness campaign to reach Black Americans,” says Sister Love Founder and President Dazon Dixon-Diallo. “When two-thirds of the new HIV/AIDS cases among women in the US are Black, now more than ever it’s important to educate and reach every demographic of the Black community.”

The Health Fair features free onsite HIV testing for all Tournament attendees, players and guests. All are welcome to attend.

The winner of the Atlanta tournament automatically qualifies for a national tournament to be held in Las Vegas in November and a chance to win $45,000.00 in prizes. Other participants can qualify for the national tournament and have their travel expenses to Las Vegas paid by raising $3,000.00. The participants who raise the most money also get to play in a celebrity tournament.

“Rates of HIV in persons over 50 years of age are 12 times higher among African Americans than among whites,” according to Timothy G. Heckman, Ph.D. “Older people do not consider themselves at risk. Physicians rarely talk to older patients about sex or other risk behaviors.”

“Trump AIDS is an unprecedented event that will provide Black people who are not actively engaged in the HIV battle with access to important health information,” says Black AIDS Institute COO Aron Myers. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the Atlanta community and good citizenship for all.”

“There’s no way to end the AIDS epidemic in Black communities without targeting this population,” adds Black AIDS Institute founder and CEO Phill Wilson. “The Black AIDS Institute has spent the last decade meeting Black folks where they are. Trump AIDS is a perfect example of identifying an indigenous pastime in our community and using it to deliver culturally effective messaging. Everything about this effort, from the date and city where we launch the campaign to celebrity co-chairs — Danny Glover and Jackee Harry — celebrate the Black experience.”

Participants will be encouraged to become involved in the fight to end the AIDS epidemic in the Black community while having fun and potentially winning prizes.

Source: Black AIDS Institute

Diabetes and pre-diabetes accounted for $218 Billion in costs in 2007

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Jan 14,2010

Novo Nordisk-Funded Analysis Underscores Need to Address Spiraling Diabetes Cost

A new analysis found that the cost of diabetes and pre-diabetes reached $218 billion in 2007, with the exploding number of cases of type 2 diabetes responsible for the majority of the costs. The National Changing Diabetes® Program (NCDP), a program of Novo Nordisk, commissioned the analysis, published online as a Web First article today in Health Affairs and performed by researchers at The Lewin Group.

According to the study, diagnosed type 2 diabetes accounted for $174.4 billion of 2007 spending on diabetes and undiagnosed type 2 diabetes was responsible for $18 billion in costs. Spending on type 1 diabetes totaled $14.9 billion in 2007. Pre-diabetes, a state of elevated blood glucose that affects one in every four adults in the U.S. and is a precursor to diabetes, cost $25 billion. Gestational diabetes, which develops during pregnancy, was associated with $636 million in costs.

“Families dealing directly with the disease know how out-of-pocket medical expenses and reduced earnings can be fiscally disastrous, but diabetes hurts every American,” said Tim Dall, managing director of The Lewin Group, who led the research. “The burden of diabetes and pre-diabetes — $700 for every man, woman and child in the country in 2007 — represents a hidden ‘tax’ that we all pay through higher insurance premiums.”

The analysis examined both direct medical costs, which accounted for $153 billion in spending, and $65 billion in indirect costs associated with absenteeism and disease-related productivity losses.

Spending on each case of type 1 diabetes totaled about $15,000 in 2007. Type 2 diabetes cost nearly $10,000 per patient per year. In contrast, those with pre-diabetes required an average of only $443 in additional medical costs.

But a growing body of research has shown that low-cost pre-diabetes patients can cut their risk of developing diabetes with lifestyle modifications. The landmark Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) trial found that lifestyle modifications including increases in physical activity and moderate weight loss in patients at risk for diabetes could cut their rate of developing diabetes by as much as 58 percent compared with a control group. Additionally, a 10-year follow-up of DPP patients published last year found that the benefits originally seen persisted for at least a decade, with individuals in the lifestyle modification intervention experiencing a 34 percent lower risk of diabetes than those who received no intervention.

“Diabetes, in the late stages, is an expensive disease to treat. Our best chance of keeping the cost of diabetes manageable is to take the lessons of the DPP and work to prevent diabetes in those at highest risk,” said Michael Mawby, the chief government affairs officer at Novo Nordisk. “The only way to make this effort work on a large scale is through thoughtful, nationally funded programs.”

Without intervention, costs are expected to skyrocket. Research published last year in the American Diabetes Association journal Diabetes Care projected that the country’s diabetes population will double over the next 25 years and direct annual medical spending on the disease is projected to hit $336 billion by 2034.

Source: National Changing Diabetes Program