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Teenage birth rate in Alabama continues to decline

The number of births among teenage girls in Alabama declined in 2005 from the previous year, continuing a downward trend in the teen pregnancy rate over the last 10 years, according to a new report from the Alabama Department of Public Health's Center for Health Statistics, the Birmingham News reports.

5 Oct 2006

U.S. still leader in medical innovation

The "American health care system may be performing better than it seems at first glance" because the U.S. "is the world leader" in medical innovations, which "improve health and life expectancy in all wealthy countries," Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

5 Oct 2006

U.S. must do more to protect integrity of pharmaceuticals

The business of counterfeit prescription drugs "has grown to frightening proportions," and the U.S. must do more to "protect the integrity of pharmaceuticals dispensed" in the nation, Henry Miller, a physician and Hoover Institution fellow, writes in a Washington Times opinion piece.

5 Oct 2006

Misconceptions about HIV in Europe

Nearly 50% of people ages 15 years and older living in the European Union continue to have misconceptions about how HIV is transmitted, according to a survey released on Monday by the European Commission, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

5 Oct 2006

Bono's Product RED raises $10 million in UK

Product RED, a project created by Irish musician Bono and Bobby Shriver that that aims to raise money for the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by donating a portion of profits from a range of branded products, raised more than $10 million in the United Kingdom from February through September, according to Global Fund Director Richard Feachem, the New York Times reports

5 Oct 2006

African Broadcast Media partnership against HIV/AIDS plans 24-country campaign

The African Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS, which includes 37 major public and private broadcast companies, on Dec. 1 will launch the first multiyear, pan-African campaign across 24 countries to raise public awareness about HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports.

5 Oct 2006

Five-year program to fight HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service and the World Health Organization recently launched a five-year program to fight HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, VOA News reports

5 Oct 2006

NIH funds study that may prevent cognitive dysfunctions among HIV-positive people

NIH is funding a recent effort aimed at studying drugs that might prevent dementia and other cognitive dysfunctions among HIV-positive people, a condition also known as "neuroAIDS," the AP/ABC News reports.

5 Oct 2006

Illinois Bill introduced to repeal, replace parental notification law

Illinois state Rep. John Fritchey (D) on Tuesday introduced a bill (HB 5840) that would repeal and replace a parental notification law revived recently by the state Supreme Court, the AP/Belleville News Democrat reports.

5 Oct 2006

Rent increase for New York City HIV/AIDS welfare housing

New York City officials on Wednesday said that people living in government-subsidized housing for HIV-positive people will be charged more for rent after the state required that changes be made to the payment formula effective Nov. 1, the New York Times reports.

5 Oct 2006

Proposed changes to Ryan White CARE Act would harm treatment efforts among HIV-positive Latinos

Proposed changes to the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides funding for HIV/AIDS programs in the U.S., would result in inadequate funding for treatment efforts among HIV-positive Latinos, members of a panel held by the Latino Commission on AIDS and the Hispanic Federation said on Wednesday.

5 Oct 2006

California agency releases 10-year plan for spending $3B on embryonic stem cell research

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine -- which is in charge of implementing the 10-year, $2.95 billion state human embryonic stem cell research program approved under Proposition 71 -- on Wednesday released a draft spending plan that "sets a strikingly modest tone" for outcomes of the research.

5 Oct 2006

California women exposed to rocket fuel chemical perchlorate

Many California women who have been exposed to the chemical perchlorate -- a rocket fuel component that has contaminated 450 wells and other water sources in the state -- have suppressed thyroid function.

5 Oct 2006

Female circumcision banned in Indonesia at physician level

Doctors and nurses in Indonesia have been barred from performing female genital cutting -- a practice sometimes referred to as female circumcision or female genital mutilation.

5 Oct 2006

Zimbabwe launches HIV toolkit

Zimbabwe on Tuesday launched the world's first official HIV prevention, treatment and support toolkit, Xinhuanet reports.

5 Oct 2006

Window of opportunity to control the spread of HIV in Angola

Health officials are taking advantage of the "window of opportunity" to control the spread of HIV in Angola since the civil war ended in 2002, Reuters reports.

5 Oct 2006

Schwarzenegger's veto of prison condom distribution bill politically motivated

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) veto last week of a bill (AB 1677) that would have allowed not-for-profit organizations to distribute condoms in prisons is "another cynical political maneuver" and a "fundamentally irresponsible choice to make the world more dangerous for inmates and civilians alike," a Los Angeles Times editorial says (Los Angeles Times, 10/5).

5 Oct 2006

Nursing schools reject increased number of applicants over lack of faculty members

Nursing schools nationwide rejected more than 41,000 qualified applicants in 2005, compared with 33,000 in 2004 and 18,000 in 2003, and three out of four schools attributed the increased rejections in large part to an insufficient number of faculty members, according to an annual survey conducted by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, USA Today reports.

5 Oct 2006

Rhode Island plan to collect prescription drug copayments from some Medicaid beneficiaries requires change to State Law

Superior Court Judge Stephen Fortunato on Tuesday ruled that Rhode Island's plan to begin collecting prescription drug copayments from about 14,000 Medicaid beneficiaries requires a revision of state law, the Providence Journal reports (Freyer, Providence Journal, 10/4).

5 Oct 2006

FDA approves FluLaval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved FluLaval, an influenza vaccine to immunize people 18 years of age and older against the disease caused by strains of influenza virus judged likely to cause seasonal flu in the Northern Hemisphere in 2006-2007.

5 Oct 2006