Public/Global Health

President Obama announced $50 million in new federal funding for AIDS treatment while speaking Thursday at a World AIDS Day event at The George Washington University.

“Today, we come together, as a global community, across continents, faiths and cultures, to renew our commitment to ending the AIDS pandemic — once and for all,” Obama said.

The president announced $15 million in funding for the Ryan White Part C program, which funds HIV medical clinics nationwide, and $35 million in additional state grants for drug-assistance programs.

States have cut funding for tobacco prevention programs 12 percent this year, to the lowest level since 1999, The Associated Press reports.

A fight over reimbursement rates between a dominant health insurer and a large hospital could be headed to the Pennsylvania statehouse, reports WHYY.

For the Catholic Church, World AIDS Day on Thursday symbolized the tension between church dogma and pragmatism, reports the Chicago Tribune.

A Singapore doctor is facing an ethics probe after charging the Brunei royal family $19 million for one family member's care, Bloomberg reports.

The contracting company's controlling shareholder is Ronald Perelman, a billionaire who's a top donor to the Democratic Party.

Congress’s antibiotics champion blasted the legislature and federal regulators Thursday after the European Union announced a five-year plan for phasing out their preventive use in animal agriculture.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the only microbiologist in Congress, has long fought for stronger regulations that would ban the use of certain antibiotics on healthy animals. The food and drug industries say antibiotics keep animals — and consumers — healthy, but public health experts say their overuse contributes to the development of potentially deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The EU announced the plan on European Antibiotic Awareness Day, which coincides with Get Smart About Antibiotics Week in the United States. It comes after the Government Accountability Office in September released a report concluding that the federal agencies responsible for addressing the overuse of antibiotics in food-animal production “lack crucial details” in data to do their job.

“It’s a shame that after all these years the US is still caught flat-footed,” Slaughter said in a news release. “We’ve known that this is a problem for quite some time. And we’re totally unprepared to deal with the growing threat of antibiotic resistance, as was confirmed by the GAO, by not even collecting the necessary data. The American public should be outraged.”

President Obama released a Web video Thursday applauding the thousands of Americans who are pledging to quit smoking as part of the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout.

"The fact is, quitting smoking is hard," Obama, a longtime smoker, said. "Believe me, I know."

The message comes as the administration is battling Big Tobacco in court over new regulations requiring graphic warning labels on cigarette packs. A federal judge blocked the requirement earlier this month until the courts decide if the law violates the First Amendment.

The administration has made anti-smoking efforts a key plank of its healthcare platform, from the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act's restrictions on marketing aimed at children to the healthcare reform law's requirement that health plans cover preventive smoking cessation programs without copays. Still, 46 millions Americans continue to smoke, making the habit remains the leading cause of preventable early deaths.

"We've always known that the fight to stop smoking in this country won't be easy," Obama said. "But it's people like all of you who make me confident that together we can hep Americans everywhere live longer, happier and healthier lives."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Monday that it is launching an electronic tracking system for antibiotic use in hospitals.

The announcement coincides with the start of Get Smart About Antibiotics Week. The campaign aims to highlights the dangers of overusing antibiotics, which can create drug-resistant superbugs. 

The CDC is also partnering with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to test strategies to improve antibiotic use in eight pilot hospitals.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the past 10 months has sent warning letters to 1,200 retailers who sold tobacco to children, the Obama administration announced Thursday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius touted the figures in a new blog post highlighting the administration's efforts to curb childhood smoking in the wake of a legal defeat this week. The FDA gained the power to regulate tobacco through the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act and has since conducted more than 27,500 inspections nationwide.

"Most retail store owners follow the law and don't sell cigarettes to kids," she wrote, "but we're reminding those who don’t that they have a responsibility to follow the law and that there are serious consequences if they fail to do so."

The comedienne and talk show host is the new public face of America's fight against HIV and AIDS, Clinton said.

The Food and Drug Administration has significantly lowered its estimate of antibiotic use on farms after a report last month showed a 6.7 percent increase in 2010.

The FDA has since posted new numbers that show only a 1.3 percent increase, which is on par with the increase in meat and poultry production. The revised report concludes that the overall amount of antibiotics used in food production was 13.2 million kilograms (29 million pounds) in 2010. That's up from 13.1 million kilograms (28.8 million pounds) in 2009.

The FDA said its initial numbers were based on an "earlier draft" that was "posted erroneously."

"We were still adjusting classifications and numbers including a late submission from a drug sponsor," the agency said.

The consumer group Public Citizen on Tuesday slammed a proposal to test the anthrax vaccine on children, calling the idea unethical and illegal and accusing the pharmaceutical industry of fear-mongering.

"Millions of taxpayer dollars currently are being spent to maintain a national stockpile of anthrax vaccine," Public Citizen wrote in letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "Exaggerating the risk of an anthrax bioterrorism event for both adults and children may help justify such expenditures, but should not be used to justify unethical research in children."

The National Biodefense Science Board, a panel of experts that advises the federal government on biodefense countermeasure issues, voted Friday to recommend that HHS pursue voluntary testing on children. The group said children's reaction to the vaccine is unknown and vaccinating tens of millions of children after an attack could spell disaster. Read more...