Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – Disability insurance is one of those under-the-radar benefits you may take for granted, especially if your employer picks up the tab for the coverage, as many firms do. Because of that, as annual benefit enrollment time approaches you probably aren’t worried about examining your disability coverage details and costs the way you will your health insurance plan options. But you should. The same pattern that has emerged in health insurance — employers’ shifting more costs onto workers’ shoulders and trimming or eliminating benefits — is occurring in disability coverage. This fall, as employers spell out insurance options for next year, evaluate what’s offered and what it will cost, and make sure you’re adequately covered. Of course, one of the main reasons people give disability insurance short shrift is that they don’t [...] Continue Reading…
TA REACH, Cambodia (IRIN) – Cambodian efforts to contain the spread of malaria have been strengthened by a pilot project using text messaging and web-based technology. “My work is definitely easier,” said Sophana Pich, 41, one of 184 village malaria workers (VMWs) now trained in three provinces (Kampot, Siem Reap and Kampong Cham) since the project launch earlier this year. She typically diagnoses five to six cases of the often deadly virus each month during the rainy season between May and October. “Before, it would take a month before this information was reported to the district health level. Now it’s instantaneous,” the mother-of-three said from her home in Ta Reach, a village of 200 households in Kampot Province, about 150km southwest of Phnom Penh. There are close to 3,000 VMSs in 1,500 villages across Cambodia, [...] Continue Reading…
Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – This week, we address readers’ questions about health insurance coverage and costs. My son was denied coverage on the basis that he had been drinking before going to the ER with a broken shoulder. Is drinking a legitimate reason for denial of coverage? John Johnson, Tucson, Ariz. More From This Series Insuring Your Health As of 2008, 36 states allowed insurers to exclude coverage for injuries related to alcohol and/or drug consumption, according to research from George Washington University’s Department of Health Policy at the School of Public Health and Health Services. The practice dates to’47 when, as a way to discourage drinking, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners adopted a model statute that excluded coverage of alcohol-related health claims. More than 40 states and the District subsequently passed [...] Continue Reading…
BLANTYRE, Malawi (IRIN) – HIV-positive civil servants in Malawi are unhappy with the government’s announcement that it would stop providing a cash grant to help improve their diet. In June, the government said the scheme would be stopped and replaced with food packages. According to Mary Shawa, principal secretary in the office of the President and Cabinet responsible for HIV/AIDS and nutrition programmes, the cash grant programme “was grossly abused, with hundreds of workers claiming to have HIV in order to cash in on the payment”. Shawa said most civil servants were not using the money for its intended purpose to buy extra food and improve nutrition: “Some people used the money to buy beers and go out with prostitutes, further spreading the virus.” The cash grant was part of the civil service workplace programme aimed [...] Continue Reading…
David Goodhue – AHN News Reporter
Melbourne, Australia (AHN) – Lack of physical exercise has long been associated with poor health, but new research suggests the act of sitting too much could be its own separate risk factor for disease. The researchers said that health care professionals are already beginning to take action against too much sitting through educational campaigns and messages about not being sedentary at home and at the workplace. The researchers suggested methods like height-adjustable desks at work, community entertainment venues and events considering non-sitting alternatives and community infrastructure changes to promote walking and biking instead of using motor transportation to reduce sitting time spent in cars. A report on the study is published in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
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Kinshasa, Dr Congo (IRIN) – Urban farming in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is providing a livelihood for thousands of city dwellers, with vegetables bringing in good money for small growers and helping to alleviate high levels of malnutrition nationally, agricultural officials say. The demand for vegetables and the high prices they command in DRC cities – up to US$4 per kilo – has pushed many jobless residents into becoming small-scale growers. Most of the green spaces along the roadsides of the capital, Kinshasa, have been transformed into small farms. City farmers now grow 122 percent more produce than they did five years ago, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO is supporting gardeners in five main DRC cities with a $10.4 million urban horticulture project to increase their productivity and improve [...] Continue Reading…
Linda Young – AHN News Writer
Moscow, Russian Federation (AHN) – Russian authorities say they will lift the ban on vegetable imports from the European Union that it instituted after an outbreak of E. coli. However, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said his country must see certificates proving the food is safe before it allows trade to resume. Under the deal, each nation exporting vegetables to Russia would have to supply a certificate stating where the food was from and also stating that the food was free of the deadly E. coli bacteria. Russia accounts for $866.1 million in trade annually for EU vegetable farmers, with most of that coming from farms in France, Germany, Poland and Spain. The recent E. coli outbreak killed 35 people and sickened another 3,000. The outbreak was initially blamed on cucumbers [...] Continue Reading…
Linda Young – AHN News Writer
Moscow, Russian Federation (AHN) – Russian authorities say they will lift the ban on vegetable imports from the European Union that it instituted after an outbreak of E. coli. However, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said his country must see certificates proving the food is safe before it allows trade to resume. Under the deal, each nation exporting vegetables to Russia would have to supply a certificate stating where the food was from and also stating that the food was free of the deadly E. coli bacteria. Russia accounts for $866.1 million in trade annually for EU vegetable farmers, with most of that coming from farms in France, Germany, Poland and Spain. The recent E. coli outbreak killed 35 people and sickened another 3,000. The outbreak was initially blamed on cucumbers [...] Continue Reading…
Scientists say abnormal brain structures in the frontal lobes of cocaine users are associated with their compulsive use of the drug.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced this week that bottles of sunscreen that have SPF values between 2 and 14 will be required to come with a warning stating that the product has not been shown to help prevent skin cancer or early skin aging.
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