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South African Health Minister To Launch PMTCT Plan
South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi within the next two weeks is expected to launch a plan to address mother-to-child HIV transmission in an effort to reduce infant mortality in the country, The Times reports. The MTCT plan is part of a new health program adopted by President Jacob Zuma"s administration, according to The Times."This is one of the most urgent things I want to (deal with) as the new minister," Motsoaledi said. According to Motsoaledi, a child dies every eight minutes in South Africa, and about 40% of child deaths are related to HIV/AIDS. The plan was developed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa at a July meeting of government and health sector stakeholders. Participants at the meeting also examined maternal deaths and the decrease in life expectancy among young adults because of HIV/AIDS. According to Motsoaledi, these and other issues have been identified as priorities for the Zuma administration if South Africa is to meet targets in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. They also have been consolidated into a 10-point plan to help the Department of Health focus on urgent issues through 2015."Health and education are the biggest challenges for (the government) and we ought to be doing something drastic," Motsoaledi said, adding, "These are very serious issues in society." The health department"s plan also calls for the revival of the National AIDS Council and says that the government should improve regulation of the private health sector. It also calls for the establishment of a national tuberculosis reference laboratory, a focus on infection rates among women ages 17 to 21 and the improvement of HIV prevention among commercial sex workers (Molele, The Times, 5/25).

Are Breast Cancer Patients Being Kept In The Dark?
Despite the increase of breast reconstruction procedures performed in 2008, nearly 70 percent of women who are eligible for the procedure are not informed of the reconstructive options available to them, according to a recently published report. Newly released statistics by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) shows there were more than 79,000 breast reconstruction procedures performed in 2008 - a 39 percent increase over 2007. But in spite of this, current research suggests that many breast cancer patients are missing out on a key conversation that should take place at the time of diagnosis.
News of the day
Fox Chase Researchers First To Determine Structure In A Class Of Self-Regulating Proteins
Sections of proteins previously thought to be disordered may in fact have an unexpected biological role - providing certain proteins room to move - according to a study published by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in this month"s issue of the journal Structure (Cell Press).
Diagnostics

Obama Health Reform Proposals And Alliances Scrutinized

Various news outlets examined the state of the administration"s health reform push. Roll Call reports that the Administration"s alliances with major health organizations may not be as strong as previously thought. "An analysis of these groups" positions suggests few are completely on board and several may oppose the president in the end. Obama and his aides do not explicitly say health providers like hospitals and drugmakers back the president"s proposals. But it would take a careful reading of comments out of the White House to understand this." Members of the administration have said that doctors, nurses, hospitals, drug companies, AARP and other groups are supportive. "The White House has also carefully staged events with health care providers, reinforcing the impression that everyone is on the same team." But while groups including PhRMA have not opposed Obama-backed legislation, they have "declined to support it." Likewise, the American Hospital Association has not endorsed the Senate health committee plan or the House plan and has "made clear that it will only accept the right type of public insurance option" (Koffler, 7/27). Press secretary Robert Gibbs appeared on Fox News Sunday, where he said that the president will be monitoring congressional progress this week, and "if enough progress has been made by Friday "having lawmakers go home for their regularly scheduled August recess is probably a good thing,"" The Hill reports. He said that the president had set the deadline to "poke and prod Congress into moving." During his appearance, Gibbs "attempted to paint a positive picture of the congressional stalemate over healthcare reform. He said that there is already 80 percent agreement over how reform should proceed and the sticking point is the remaining 20 percent" (Tiron, 7/26). In his weekly Saturday address, President Obama said reform legislation would allow small businesses to "tap into more affordable insurance that is now only available to large companies," Politico reports. He "aimed to address a key constituency - millions of small business owners - at a time when their lobby in Washington is ratcheting up its criticism of the bill. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter Friday to Congress signed by more than 1,000 businesses, state and local chambers, and national organizations opposing the House bill." In response, "The White House offered the flip side of the debate in a 20-page report Saturday detailing the ways in which small businesses would benefit," including access to lower-cost plans, a small business tax credit and an exemption from the employer mandate (Brown, 7/25). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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