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Published: 14 May 2012

Nearly half the world’s babies are born at home. We sought to evaluate the training, knowledge, skills, and access to medical equipment and testing for home birth attendants across 7 international sites.

Face-to-face interviews were done by trained interviewers to assess level of training, knowledge and practices regarding care during the antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum periods. The survey was administered to a sample of birth attendants conducting home or outof- facility deliveries in 7 sites in 6 countries (India, Pakistan, Guatemala, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Zambia).

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“While the battle against HIV/AIDS attracts more donor funding globally than all other diseases combined, it has not diverted attention from fighting unrelated afflictions — such as malaria, measles and malnutrition — and may be improving health services overall in targeted countries, according to a study on Rwanda published” Wednesday in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, an American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) press release reports. “

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Bloomberg: More Than 40% Of U.S. May Be Obese By 2030, Study Says The obesity rate may rise to 42 percent from about a third of the U.S. population by 2030 if nothing changes, according to a report. Preventing that increase may save about $550 billion in medical costs over the next 20 years, Eric Finkelstein, the study author and an associate research professor at Duke University, said during a press briefing (Lopatto, 5/7).

The Fiscal Times: The Obesity Epidemic: Another $550B in Costs by 2030 Let’s start with the good news, because, frankly, there isn’t all that much of it: The rate of increasing obesity in America has apparently flattened out some in recent years.

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When did talking to kids become so hard?

It shouldn’t take a Ph.D. in Human Relations and ten years of college debate-team experience to communicate with your kids, but sometimes your kids may make it feel that way.  Blame social media, Multiple Electronic Screen Disorder, or the way we parent, but the point is that the social landscape of childhood has changed, leaving us to cross a communication territory that seems more complicated than the territory we crossed when we were children.  But in reality, the pathway from parent question to child answer has never been straight.

Does this conversation sound familiar?

Parent “How did you get that bruise on your leg?” Child “It was at school.  At recess.” Parent “What happened?” Child “We were at recess playing.”  Child raises the remote and pushes the volume button on the surround sound a single, calculated notch. Parent “Yes, but what

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Published: 29 February 2012

Maternal, neonatal and child health outcomes are worse in families from black and ethnic minority groups and disadvantaged backgrounds. There is little evidence on whether lay support improves maternal and infant outcomes among women with complex social needs within a disadvantaged multi-ethnic population in the United Kingdom (UK). Method/Design The aim of this study is to evaluate a lay Pregnancy Outreach Worker (POW) service for nulliparous women identified as having social risk within a maternity service that is systematically assessing social risks alongside the usual obstetric and medical risks.

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WASHINGTON The “golden years” may lose some luster for many baby boomers worried about the financial pressures that come with age.

Many of the nation’s 77 million boomers are worried about being able to pay their medical bills as they get older, a new poll finds. The concern is so deep that it outpaces worries about facing a major illness or disease, dying, or losing the ability to do favorite activities.

Another major concern among the boomers: losing their financial independence.

The struggling economy, a longer life expectancy, ever-increasing health care costs and challenges facing Social Security are putting added pressure on the boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964.

According to the Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll, 43 percent of boomers polled said they were “very” or “extremely” worried about being able to pay for their medical costs, including long-term care. Read more…

CHICAGO A new study suggests that Medicare’s 5-year-old prescription drug plan is keeping seniors out of hospitals and nursing homes, saving the federal program an estimated $12 billion a year in those costs.

The savings only offset a portion of the $55 billion a year the government spends on Medicare Part D, as the drug plan is known. But the study’s authors say it means seniors are staying healthier and enjoying a better quality of life.

“This is what people always hope for: If people get drug coverage, they won’t need hospitalization,” said Marsha Gold of the nonpartisan Mathematica Policy Research, who wasn’t involved in the new study. Read more…

In a world of tweets and sound bites, it can be difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. However, when it comes to skin cancer, it’s imperative to know the truth since it may help save your life.

Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers, accounting for nearly half of all cancers in the United States. More than 2 million cases of non-melanoma skin cancer are found in this country each year, according to the American Cancer Society.

Melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer, accounted for about 68,130 cases last year and claimed approximately 8,700 lives.

However, not all the data are so dismal. M Read more…

BERLIN Germany’s national disease control center says it is declaring the country’s deadly E. coli outbreak over.

The Robert Koch Institute said Tuesday no one has fallen ill for three weeks – a period that covers the disease’s incubation time.

There were 52 deaths in all – 50 in Germany and one each in Sweden and the U.S. That made it the world’s deadliest E. coli outbreak.

The bacterial strain involved caused an unusually high number of cases of a severe complication that can lead to kidney failure. A total of 4,321 people fell ill in Germany – 852 with that complication.

There were some 140 more cases in 15 other countries.

The outbreak was traced in early June to a vegetable sprout farm near Hamburg. Read more…

Three San Diego hospitals were rated among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual hospitals rankings, released Tuesday.

The University of California San Diego Medical Center, Rady Childrens Hospital and Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla together with Scripps Green Hospital had top national ranking in several specialty areas.

The latest rankings showcased 720 hospitals out of about 5,000 nationwide in 16 adult specialties and 10 pediatric specialties. Whether and how high a hospital was ranked depended largely on data from the federal government. Death rates were considered, as was the procedure volume and the balance of nurses and patients. A Read more…