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For Your Information
Publications - General Media
June 2008
A Big Problem Solved?: A new study on childhood obesity is no reason to trim
back efforts to slim down children.
Washington Post, May 30, 2008
REJOICE IN the new report from the National Center for Health Statistics
that suggests that childhood obesity rates may have plateaued. But rejoice
for only a moment. As David S. Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston wrote in
a commentary released with the report, "We're not out of the woods by any
stretch. Even if the rates don't go up any more, they are so high that the
full impact of the childhood obesity epidemic will continue for the next few
decades." It's an epidemic that has been more than two decades in the
making. Through a combination of factors, which resulted in reduced physical
activity and increased consumption of fat-laden snacks and meals, the
waistlines of American children have ballooned. And the health consequences
have been significant. Ailments that historically have plagued only adults
are showing up in children ranging in age from 6 to 17. Gallbladder disease,
Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease are just a few of the
health complications they face.
Eliminating Health Disparities, Achieving Equity
Progressive States Network, May 12, 2008
In 2000, the World Health Organization ranked the US health care system
37th in the world despite spending more than any other country. In 2007,
according to the US Census Bureau, the US ranked 42nd in life expectancy. If
you are a person of color, a low-wage worker, non-English speaking, or live
in a low-income community, the picture is much worse. For instance, the life
expectancy for African-Americans is 73.3 years, five years shorter than it
is for whites. For African-American men, it is 69.8 years, just above
averages in Iran and Syria, but below Nicaragua and Morocco.
Extent of the Problem and Causes of Health Disparities
Progressive States Network, May 12, 2008
White Americans have easier and more access to quality health care than
people of color. This problem, however, is much more than being insured or
uninsured, although non-Hispanic whites do have the lowest rate of
uninsured, at 13% of the white US population. The highest uninsured rate is
in the Hispanic community, at 36%. For even those with health insurance,
people of color are more likely to receive sub-par care, have worse outcomes
and are less likely to receive routine or necessary care than whites.
Genetic discrimination ban will improve health care
Democrat & Chronicle.com, May 21, 2008
The story of humanity is defined by extraordinary achievements that
impact human history. Five years ago, we saw the completion of one of these
achievements — the sequencing of the human genome. This triumph in genetics
joins the ranks of other momentous scientific discoveries, such as the
discovery of the polio vaccine, that completely changed the face of
medicine. However, to fully reap the benefits of this latest genetics
discovery, we must make sure that our social policy keeps pace with
scientific advancement. That is why 13 years ago, I authored and introduced
the first version of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. This
vital legislation has been passed by the House and Senate and at this
writing awaits the president's signature.
The Health Care Gender Gap
Progressive States Network, May 12, 2008
In a similar focus on gender disparities in health care, the National
Women's Law Center (NWLC) published two companion reports, Women and Health
Coverage: The Affordability Gap and A Framework for Moving Forward, which
document both the particular difficulties women face in accessing quality
and affordable health care and the existence of disparities among women
across racial, ethnic, and income lines, as well as evaluates health care
reform strategies as they impact women's health care needs.
Health Care Has Racial, State Disparities: Foundation to Give $300 Million
to Try To Aid Treatment
Wall Street Journal, June 5, 2008; Page D8
African-Americans covered by Medicare are less likely to get recommended
mammograms and other important medical tests than white patients, according
to new data set to be released Thursday by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation. The same analysis showed significant disparities among different
states. The new analysis showing geographic and racial variance in care was
performed by the Dartmouth Atlas Project, using data from the Medicare
program -- meaning that all of the patients had similar federal insurance
coverage to help pay for key screening and other medical needs.
Hint of Hope as Child Obesity Rate Hits Plateau
New York Times, May 28, 2008
Childhood obesity, rising for more than two decades, appears to have hit
a plateau, a potentially significant milestone in the battle against
excessive weight gain among children. But the finding, based on survey data
gathered from 1999 to 2006 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and published in Wednesday’s issue of The Journal of the American
Medical Association, was greeted with guarded optimism. It is not clear if
the lull in childhood weight gain is permanent or even if it is the result
of public anti-obesity efforts to limit junk food and increase physical
activity in schools. Doctors noted that even if the trend held up, 32
percent of American schoolchildren remained overweight or obese,
representing an entire generation that will be saddled with weight-related
health problems as it ages.
How
Safe Are Vaccines?
Time, May 29, 2008
Life, if you're a bacterium or virus, boils down to this: finding a
pristine human home to provide for your every need, from food and nutrients
to shelter against biological storms. As a microbial drifter, you can
literally travel the world, hopping from host to host when the opportunity
presents itself or when conditions at your temporary residence start heading
south. There's no worry about taking along life's necessities either—viruses
in particular are adept at traveling light; incapable of reproducing on
their own, they think nothing of co-opting the reproductive machinery of
their cellular sponsors to help them spawn generation after generation of
freeloading progeny. But ever since Edward Jenner, a country doctor in
England, inoculated his son and a handful of other children against smallpox
in 1796 by exposing them to cowpox pus, things have been tougher on humans'
most unwelcome intruders. In the past century, vaccines against diphtheria,
polio, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella, not to mention the more recent
additions of hepatitis B and chicken pox, have wired humans with powerful
immune sentries to ward off uninvited invasions.
Inertia at the Top: Belated, Patchy Response Further Hamstrung By Inadequate
Federal Attention, Experts Say (Part 1 of 5)
Washington Post, May 19, 2008
The problem at first was that the problem was ignored: For almost two
decades, young people in the United States got fatter and fatter -- ate
more, sat more -- and nobody seemed to notice. Not parents or schools, not
medical groups or the government. But since the alarm was finally sounded in
the late 1990s, the problem has been the country's reaction: a fragmented,
inchoate response that critics say has suffered particularly from inadequate
direction and dollars at the federal level. "The sense of this as a national
health priority just doesn't come through," said Jeffrey P. Koplan of Emory
University, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and chairman of the Institute of Medicine's 2004 study of
childhood obesity. The top recommendation of that seminal report was for the
government to convene a high-level, interdepartmental task force to guide a
coordinated response. No such body has been assembled.
Large restaurant chains in King County must document nutrition claims
Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
May 22, 2008
Large chain restaurants in King County will have to document how they've
calculated the calories and fat content in dishes under new nutritional
labeling rules that take full effect next year, officials say. The rules
require restaurants to use a "reasonable basis" to justify the nutrition
information that will be provided to consumers. The county has assembled a
list of software packages, nutrition companies and laboratories with the
ability to analyze the nutritional content of a burrito, pizza slice or
salad. "They need to provide evidence" that information they're providing to
the public is accurate, said James Apa, a spokesman for Public Health --
Seattle & King County.
Motel has
been ruled unsanitary and unsafe -- but it's their home: Renters say rights
violated after order to leave
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 19, 2008
One day after being ordered out because of unsanitary conditions,
several residents of the Green Lake Motel refused to abandon their homes
Monday. Granting a state Health Department request, an administrative court
judge Thursday ordered that the Aurora Avenue North motel be emptied by
midnight Sunday. But Monday, at least eight long-time residents of
apartment-style units there wouldn't leave, arguing that the eleventh-hour
order violates their rights as renters. "I don't know how they can call us
anything but tenants," said Stephanie Morris, who has lived at the motel for
two years. Morris said the motel owner, who is responsible for removing
residents, ought to go through a 30-day eviction process.
Motel
hell adds a layer to homeless problem
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 22, 2008
If you look at the bare facts, it's easy to understand the frustration
of those facing ouster from the Green Lake Motel. The owners of the rundown
motel and apartments in the 8900 block of Aurora Avenue North say the
remaining half-dozen tenants must go. State health officials recently
blasted the owners for failing to keep the property safe and clean, and
suspended the business's license. But really, who ends up paying the price?
The working-class tenants -- that's who.
NYC calorie-count rule effective immediately: court
Yahoo News, April 30, 2008
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal appeals court said on Tuesday that a new
rule requiring New York City fast food restaurants to post calorie
information on menu boards is effective immediately.
A spokeswoman for the city law department said the city expects restaurants
to begin complying with the rule by midnight on Tuesday. The health code
provision, which affects businesses that have at least 15 establishments
nationwide, requires that restaurants post caloric information on menus and
menu boards in the same font and format used to display the name or price of
the menu item.
Policy Options to Reduce Health Care Disparity
Progressive States Network, May 12, 2008
Despite these challenges, states are taking a leading role in working to
eliminate health disparities. A growing emphasis on cultural competency
training for providers and ensuring interpretive services is helping to
empower patients to take more control of their health needs. Recent state
initiatives to ensure coordination among state agencies and the development
of long-term plans to identify and eliminate disparities are improving the
health care infrastructure and shedding light on the needs of underserved
populations. While more needs to be done, the growing awareness of health
disparities will help result in greater adoption of many key policy options
described below.
Research Finds Wide Disparities in Health Care by Race and Region
The New York Times, June 5, 2008
Race and place of residence can have a staggering impact on the course
and quality of the medical treatment a patient receives, according to new
research showing that blacks with diabetes or vascular disease are nearly
five times more likely than whites to have a leg amputated and that women in
Mississippi are far less likely to have mammograms than those in Maine. The
study, by researchers at Dartmouth, examined Medicare claims for evidence of
racial and geographic disparities and found that on a variety of quality
indices, blacks typically were less likely to receive recommended care than
whites within a given region. But the most striking disparities were found
from place to place. For instance, the widest racial gaps in mammogram rates
within a state were in California and Illinois, with a difference of 12
percentage points between the white rate and the black rate. But the
country’s lowest rate for blacks — 48 percent in California — was 24
percentage points below the highest rate — 72 percent in Massachusetts. The
statistics were for women ages 65 to 69 who received screening in 2004 or
2005.
RWJF Awards $2.5 Million to Reduce Disparities in Care for Cardiovascular
Disease, Diabetes and Depression
RWJF, May 23, 2008
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has awarded more than $2.5
million to 10 organizations for initiatives designed to reduce racial and
ethnic health care disparities, Nursing Spectrum reports. Each grant
recipient will receive up to $275,000, awarded under the Foundation's
Finding Answers: Disparities Research for Change initiative, to evaluate
interventions addressing the quality of care provided to patients with
cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression. Grant recipients include
the Arizona Board of Regents, Duke University Medical Center in North
Carolina, East Carolina Health/Bertie All-County Health Services, Baylor
College of Medicine in Texas, Hudson Health Plan in New York, Indiana
University School of Medicine, Mobile County Health Department in Alabama,
The Regents of the University of California-Los Angeles, University of
Pennsylvania and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Commenting on the award, John R. Lumpkin, M.D., senior vice president and
director of the Health Care Group at RWJF, said "the work of these Finding
Answers grantees will help us to identify what works in terms of ensuring
that all Americans receive the care they deserve."
Strategies to Eliminate Disparities
Progressive States Network, May 12, 2008
As states continue to move comprehensive health care reform and move
towards quality health care for all, reform must include concrete steps to
eliminate health disparities; achieving universal coverage is only part of
the answer. In Identifying and Evaluating Equity Provisions in State Health
Care Reform, The Opportunity Agenda and Families USA examine health care
reform efforts in five influential states - California, Illinois,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington - and evaluate how well they are
addressing the unique needs of specific groups.
Your
genes, your privacy
USA Today, May 21, 2008
When National Institutes of Health researchers offer screening for genes
linked to breast or colon cancer, about a third of people eligible for the
testing typically say no. Most patients say they fear that if tests show
they have a genetic predisposition to cancer, they'll have trouble getting
or keeping health insurance. Soon, that shouldn't be a worry anymore.
President Bush is set to sign a bill today — the Genetic Information
Nondiscrimination Act — that will bar employers or health insurers from
penalizing anyone because of genetic testing or because they have a family
history of a particular disease. People will be free to be tested without
worrying that the results could cost them their job or health insurance.
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