Discussions over the draft "Moscow Declaration" began in earnest today (April 28), as Ministers of Health -- including HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius -- gathered in Moscow to begin the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Non Communicable Disease Control, organized by the World Health Organization and the Russian Federation.

An…

The meeting today, April 27, of the Global Forum on "Addressing the Challenge of Non Communicable Diseases," organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), provided an opportunity for more than 250 representatives present to comment upon the epidemic and what should be done about it.

Attendees representing NGOs, academia, the corporate sector and governments heard from WHO Director…

As delegations gather this week in Moscow to assess the state of the world's non communicable disease (NCD) epidemic and governments' efforts to cope, advocates will also be pressing to make sure that non governmental organizations, corporations and academics all have a role in clarifying the problems and identifying solutions.

All indications are that the United Nations, and in particular, the World Health Organization, is doing its utmost to accommodate the hundreds of organizations…

This week, the World Health Organization (WHO) has organized two meetings in Moscow related to the rising tide of non communicable diseases (NCDs).  The first, on April 27, will be a "Global Forum on NCDs," at which approximately 180 individuals from civil society, including the private sector and academia, from around the world will gather.  Also at the meeting, the WHO will release its first-ever "Global…

Daisy Magaña of Belize visited Washington, DC on April 22 to deliver a key message to policy makers and advocates: please keep funding family planning and environment programs around the world.  "I can't believe anyone would seriously consider cutting these programs," she says, "they are what we really need." 

In a meeting at the State Department Magaña, who comes from the Corozal region, spoke passionately about the needs of young people in her country, including for accurate sexual…

At a meeting on April 20, 2011 of the Global Health Council Non Communicable Disease (NCD) Roundtable, US Government representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) listed four priority areas that the delegation intended to focus on at the upcoming first global ministerial meeting on healthy lifestyles and non communicable diseases. Holly J. Wong, Associate Director of the Office of Global…

The Obama Administration today announced the members of the U.S. Delegation to the World Health Organization's first global ministerial conference on "healthy lifestyles and noncommunicable disease control," which will take place in Moscow during April 28-29.  The United States will be sending a strong delegation, composed of officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control…

The economy is on everyone's mind. In the UK there is a lot of belt-tightening that has been a disaster for some.  While the royal nuptials headlines appear in your tabloids & magazines popular with the younger set, there is more talk about cuts in spending than what Mrs. Middleton will be wearing to the royal wedding.  Friends from California have a small gourmet pizza shop and they report that they were visited by a well-dressed man to discuss a tax on soda.   

It seems your…

The UK's Association of Public Health Observatories has developed a new tool, The Wellbeing and Resilience Measure (WARM),  to quantify assets and vulnerabilities at the  community well-being and resilience.  The process does not differ a great deal from a number of community profiling tools; however, it is designed to capture a range of social fabric elements that support good health.…

This year’s National Public Health Week focuses on injury prevention. Debates on how to best prevent injuries often circle back to alcohol use, which is now widely recognized as an important contributing factor. This is due, in large part, to researchers like Dr. Cheryl Cherpitel, who has been investigating the relationship between alcohol and injury around the world for decades.



Dr. Cherpitel, who is associate director of…

The American Public Health Association chose safety as its theme for this year’s National Public Health Week, during which the organization is stressing the preventable nature of most injuries. Is this year's theme relevant to developing countries facing menacing global health threats such as HIV/AIDS, chronic malnutrition or high maternal mortality? The answer is a resounding "yes" according to the World Health Organization…

Bedsider had these cool postcards and fun shaped cards at the Sex::Tech conference 2011. On the postcard, it reads: "Trouble Remembering to Take YOUR BIRTH CONTROL?". On the back it reads: "FORGET ABOUT IT! Bedsider can help you remember to take your pill, change your patch, put in a new ring -…

The accountable care organization regulations are out.  Our hospital retained the services of a legal firm to wade into the 450+ page document to prepare our own  list of worries for our legislative delegation on The Hill and various national organizations we pay a lot of money to make our case.  

The Accountable Care Forum is worth following over the next sixty days of the comment period, but there may be some bias built in given the sponsor.  However, they have been trolling the web…

My friends in Maine have been trying to help me understand how many Americans, who are against health reform, do not understand that they are against a law that they can benefit from in the short run.  This is the latest try at 'Educating Leona'.

I think this is from the Kaiser Health News Service…

Since we have been awaiting HHS's release of the ACO regulations for awhile, I was wondering if I was about to hear from the boy in Waiting for Godot, who tells Vladimir that Godot is not coming.  After all, we were getting close to April 1st.   HHS did not disappoint on 3/31/11 with an announcement by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and CMS Administrator Donald Berwick of proposed/draft regulations that embody Triple Aim objectives.  Kaiser Health News has a number of articles…

It's great to be back at SexTech!

The Keynote panel had three amazing young screenwriters pitching their films to a roundtable. The roundtable participants gave them feedback on how to use social media to reach a larger…