The News Review:
- $2.1 million NIH grant advances U-Iowa child health research
- Health Tip: If Your Child is a Vegetarian
- STDs hit 25 percent of teenage females
- SIERRA LEONE: Maternity hospital is “last resort”
- All Pennsylvanians need health insurance
$2.1 million NIH grant advances U-Iowa child health research
Genetic Engineering News – Genetic Engineering News (press release) – Mar 12, 2008
1 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to continue a mentorship project that helps junior faculty members embark on research careers. The grant renews support that has been in place since 1990 and resulted in the training of 26 UI clinician-scientists in pediatrics. They learn research skills to study the underlying mechanisms of conditions such as prematurity, heritable disorders such as hemophilia and cystic fibrosis, and adult-onset diseases that are thought to have fetal origins. Known as “scholars,” the trainees also gain the skills needed to ultimately secure their own grant funding.
Health Tip: If Your Child is a Vegetarian
Forbes – Mar 12, 2008
Do not limit dietary fat for children younger than age 2. Young children should drink plenty of milk or a fortifiedsubstitute to make sure they get enough calcium, protein, vitamin Dand riboflavin. Give your child a vitamin B12 supplement if no animal productsare eaten. Make sure your child gets plenty of iron from foods such asspinach, raisins, iron-fortified cereals and whole grains, prunesand prune juice.
STDs hit 25 percent of teenage females
St. Petersburg Times – Mar 12, 2008
You don't want to gamble your child's health on when you think she might be sexually active. " Teens need to know specific information about preventing STDs, Lynch said. "It's obvious to say that abstinence is your best choice," she said. "You need to be clear on what you're abstaining from.
SIERRA LEONE: Maternity hospital is “last resort”
Reuters AlertNet – Mar 12, 2008
When the tissue dies a hole forms through which urine and faeces pass uncontrollably. “When the formal [health] system collapsed during the war, people turned to the informal system of using traditional birthing assistants and they have not yet come back to the formal system,” said Dr Jarrie Kabba, a programme officer at UNFPA in Freetown. Even when women do make it to the country’s rudimentary health facilities they must pay for and provide all their own drugs and even blood before they will be treated. Sister Rugiatu Kanu, a midwife in Freetown, said just giving birth costs 50,000 leones (US$17) in a country where the minimum wage is US$14 a month and many of the 8 million population live on considerably less. Sierra Leone now has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, perhaps losing more mothers in child birth than anywhere else in the world, according to the UN children’s fund (UNICEF). Big push Sierra Leone’s government says improving conditions for pregnant women and infants is a priority. On 29 February it launched a long-awaited maternal mortality “strategic plan” which focused mostly on eradicating overlaps and redundancies from the various government agencies involved in reproductive and child health, while promoting preventative activities like immunisation and women’s rights generally… Sierra Leone now has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, perhaps losing more mothers in child birth than anywhere else in the world, according to the UN children’s fund (UNICEF). Big push Sierra Leone’s government says improving conditions for pregnant women and infants is a priority. On 29 February it launched a long-awaited maternal mortality “strategic plan” which focused mostly on eradicating overlaps and redundancies from the various government agencies involved in reproductive and child health, while promoting preventative activities like immunisation and women’s rights generally. The strategy has the backing of the UK Department for International Development (DfID) which is the country’s main foreign donor. International aid agency UNICEF has also promised to help improve care for pregnant women and infants, although the organisation has identified cultural factors such as early marriage, female genital mutilation, poor nutrition and lack of breastfeeding as the main obstacles to reducing the number of deaths among mothers and children. Health official Dr Ibrahim Thorlie, Chief of Obstetrics at the Princess Christian Maternal Health hospital in Freetown, said he is sceptical about about the government’s new strategy as well as UNICEF’s emphasis on cultural factors. “We need a new health system not a new strategy,” Thorlie said.
All Pennsylvanians need health insurance
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Mar 12, 2008
Easing this burden must be a top priority for our legislators. The General Assembly has made significant progress in recent years. It enacted Cover All Kids, making quality, affordable health insurance and preventive care available to every child in Pennsylvania. It passed legislation to reduce the frequency of hospital-acquired infections and expand the scope of responsibilities for nurse practitioners. It reduced the frequency of medical malpractice claims and the cost of such litigation. And it is making substantial progress toward the passage of a statewide smoking ban. The next important step is to broaden participation by adults in our health insurance system.
