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Study Finds ICDs Extend The Lives Of Heart Attack Survivors By An Entire Year
A landmark follow-up study found that heart attack survivors who receive implanted cardioverter defribillators (ICDs) live longer the longer they have them, according to the results of late-breaking clinical trail presented at the annual Scientific Sessions of the Heart Rhythm Society.
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Disparity In Sex Ratio Increases In Vietnam
Sex-selective abortion among families in Vietnam with a cultural preference for boys has contributed to a sex ratio of 112 male infant births for every 100 female births in the country, according to a government official, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. According to the AP/Yahoo! News, many doctors in Vietnam do not comply with a 2003 law prohibiting the disclosure of a fetus" sex. Duong Quoc Trong, deputy director of the General Office for Population and Family Planning, said that the birth rate in 1999 was considered close to the natural rate, with about 107 boys born for every 100 girls. Since 2006, the ratio of boys to girls has steadily increased and approached a rate similar to China"s imbalance 20 years ago, he said.Trong added that the government intends to more strictly enforce the country"s ban on sex-selective abortion. The Ministry of Health recently confiscated more than 2,600 books that claim to describe ways to conceive a male child, such as special diets, MOH Deputy Chief Inspector Nguyen Dingh Bach said. He added that the ministry also ordered seven Web sites to remove articles describing such methods (AP/Yahoo! News, 7/2).
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Reform Debate Circles Back To Costs, And How To Pay For Them
In the White House"s pitches for health care reform, controlling costs has replaced universal coverage as the leading imperative to overhaul the system. A top White House economist, Christina Romer, said in a public appearance Monday, "Good health care reform is good economic policy," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "Fixing what"s wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve - it"s a necessity we cannot postpone any longer" (Abate, 6/9).
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Washington Independent Examines U.S. Food Aid

The Washington Independent examines a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, which found that a federal law requiring most international food aid to come from U.S. farmers could be "hobbling efforts to feed the world"s hungry." Currently, Food for Peace - the nation"s largest food aid program - "requires that the crops be purchased from U.S. growers, processed through U.S. companies, and shipped using U.S.-flagged vessels," according to the article. According to the GAO report, "International aid programs that purchased food close to those in need not only spent much less, in many cases, but also delivered the assistance much faster than comparable programs like that of the U.S., where the food was shipped from abroad." The report recommends that "the White House take a closer look at whether local-purchase programs can create efficiencies without harming local markets or sacrificing quality and nutrition," Washington Independent reports. The report adds evidence to the position of relief groups that believe Washington should reorganize its multi-billion dollar food aid program to "allow for greater in-cash contributions, which grant aid organizations more power to tackle emergencies than the mandatory in-kind program currently in place," according to the Washington Independent. Kimberly Elliot, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, said, "The way the U.S. does in-kind food aid is particularly costly and inefficient." A shift to cash aid in Washington could have dramatic effects on the WFP, spokeswoman Jennifer Parmalee said, as about 40 percent of WFP"s budget comes from the U.S. Increased use of local farming, "isn"t without its pitfalls," writes the Washington Independent. "Relief groups and federal officials alike are quick to warn that dumping cash aid on local markets can spike food prices, making those commodities suddenly inaccessible to other residents. Officials are also warning that they simply don"t have much data about what the longer-term effects of cash aid are." The article indicates that "relief groups aren"t holding their breath for any changes to the Food for Peace program," and are instead hoping that "President Obama will make good on vows, made earlier this year, to double funding for foreign agriculture assistance through other programs in an effort to alleviate rising global hunger." Previous proposals to buy food closer to those in need, including by former President George W. Bush, have gone "exactly nowhere in Congress." And according to the Washington Independent, a number of lawmakers "have suggested that moving Food for Peace toward a cash-aid system would erode congressional support for the program altogether, threatening its very existence" (Lillis, Washington Independent, 6/5). This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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