Public/Global Health

Almost 900,000 cancer deaths were avoided in the U.S. between 1990 and 2007 thanks to steady progress in fighting the disease, the American Cancer Society says in a new report released Friday.

Still, the report found that not all segments of the populations benefited equally — the least educated are more than twice as likely to die as Americans with the most education — while the death rate has remained flat for American Indian and native Alaskan women. And the disease is still expected to kill almost 572,000 people in the U.S. this year, with 1.6 million new cases projected to occur.

"The nearly 900,000 cancer deaths avoided over a 17-year period stand in stark contrast to the repeated claim that cancer death rates have not budged," American Cancer Society CEO John Seffrin said in a statement. "Nonetheless, we refuse to be satisfied, and are committed to doing whatever it takes, not only to ensure cancer death rates continue to drop, but to accelerate the decline."

Separately, the American Society of Clinical Oncology recently created a new site to mark 40 years of progress since President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act in 1971. The site’s main feature is a set of interactive timelines on the 14 major cancer types (broken down by type of advance – radiation, surgery, prevention, etc.)  that detail the research advances that made Friday's positive report possible.

This post was updated at 4 p.m.

The Health and Human Services Department announced new funding opportunities Thursday for community-based healthcare programs, as well as a new framework for focusing on prevention.

HHS announced that $4 million is available to “community-based organizations.” Recipients will help support activities funded by a larger grant opportunity that is oriented toward smoking cessation, healthy diets and preventive healthcare services.

Earlier in the day, HHS released its National Prevention Strategy, a framework that culls various prevention efforts from across HHS agencies and other federal departments. No funding is attached to the strategy, though it could help influence how HHS uses the $15 billion prevention fund included in healthcare reform.

The strategy mostly comprises vague, general items such as improving public awareness of healthy choices.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate health committee and a longtime prevention advocate, said at an event Thursday that every dollar spent on prevention yields $6 in healthcare savings.

A new study finding the U.S. falling behind industrial countries could rekindle the debate over the new healthcare law.

President Obama's administration has made women and families a top priority "since day one," first lady Michelle Obama said.

Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) are asking their colleagues to spare the National Institutes of Health from major budget cuts.

The two senators were circulating a “dear colleague” letter Thursday that asks Senate appropriators to “maintain a strong commitment” to NIH as work begins on next year’s spending bills.

NIH escaped the last big round of cuts — a stopgap measure to keep the government open through the end of the year. But with Congress focused on cutting spending, supporters fear the agency could come under the knife soon.

“We all recognize the difficult choices that need to be made as we seek to reduce the deficit,” the letter states. “If we are to improve the health of Americans and the quality of their lives, we must continue to invest in areas like biomedical research that have the potential to save money in the future, improve the lives of Americans, and offer an economic return.”

A broad coalition of stakeholder groups, including academic research centers and the pharmaceutical industry, has also been pushing for NIH funding. The coalition, United for Medical Research, released reports last month that said NIH research supports more than 480,000 jobs.

The push to make buildings more energy efficient could have negative health effects, according to a report issued Tuesday. 

Europe's E. coli outbreak is now being linked to German bean sprouts, not Spanish produce as Germany first claimed, the Guardian reports.

Cash-strapped states are turning to philanthropies to help pay for the healthcare reform overhaul, reports Kaiser Health News.

New research promises to create personalized therapies for cancer patients, writes The Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times reports on the dismal conditions at New York's homes for the disabled.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls on donor nations to increase their commitments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS on the 30th anniversary of the epidemic.

Connecticut is poised to become the first state in the country to mandate paid sick leave for service workers, reports the Hartford Courant.

Yearly ovarian cancer screening fails to reduce death rate but increases false positive tests, says a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Reservists considered essential to wartime missions aren't properly informed about their ability to purchase healthcare coverage under the DOD's TRICARE program after their active-duty coverage expires, says a new GAO report.

U.S. farmers aren't required to test for the deadly new E. coli strain ravaging Europe, reports The Washington Post.

Officials in the U.S. are dismayed that Europe is fighting its outbreak with antibiotics, reports The New York Times.

States have a lot more flexibility than commonly thought when designing health insurance exchanges, says the National Academy of Social Insurance and Georgetown University.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) examines how communities across the country are preparing for an aging population.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has released its 2010 state-by-state snapshot of healthcare quality and disparities.

AHRQ also released its vision for future research aimed at helping to improve healthcare in the U.S.

Medicaid managed care is expanding in California, reports Kaiser Health News.

Researchers at Emory University on Wednesday launched an interactive map that for the first time allows viewers to seek AIDS data by poverty rate, race, ethnicity, age and gender at both the state and county levels.

The map, using the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "pinpoints areas of the country where HIV prevalence rates are the highest and where the needs for prevention, testing and treatment services are the most urgent," Emory said in a press release. The map comes 30 years after the first AIDS cases were reported to the CDC.

"AIDSVu is an important new public health tool that makes data on the geography of HIV in the United States available to anyone with an Internet connection," James Curran, dean of Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, said in a statement. "AIDSVu shows us that every area of the country is affected by HIV, and we hope that AIDSVu helps individuals better understand HIV in their communities and take charge of their health."