Dr. Atul Gawande compared Obama's "Frustrating" Records and Health Reform in Progress Leadership LBJ on Medicare

Dr. Atul Gawande compared Obama's "Frustrating" Records and Health Reform in Progress Leadership LBJ on Medicare


In his State of the Union address, President Obama will protect overhaul health care and the Republicans were to help proceed with necessary corrections to the law. We hear from Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Woman's Hospital in Boston, staff writer at the New York magazine and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. "There is a need for leadership to bring meaning to the public policy and explain what is the value," says Gawande. "Obama has allowed] the opponents to brand each of these policies as failures, although they accepted."

Millions die because of high malaria drug prices

Millions die because of high malaria drug prices


A child sleeps in the room of children in government-run Institute Ifakara Health in Bagamoyo, Tanzania on October 31, 2009. Nearly one million people die of malaria each year because they can not afford the most effective treatment and often buy drugs instead of old age at which the malaria parasite has become resistant, the researchers said.
Photo by: Tony Karumba, AFP / Getty Images


Nearly one million people die of malaria each year because they can not afford the most effective treatment and often buy drugs instead of old age at which the malaria parasite has become resistant, researchers said on Monday .

combination therapy with artemisinin or ACT, drugs made by companies such as Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis can cost up to 65 times the daily minimum wage in some African countries, according to a study from 6 nations at high risk by Population Services International against malaria.

ACTs may cost up to $ 11 for patients to purchase OTC, while older drugs less effective medicines cost only $ 0.30 cents.

"With most people access to antimalarial drugs in the private sector, price is a very significant barrier," said Desmond Chavasse, director of the PSI.

"A full course of ACT treatment for adults can be up to 65 times the daily minimum wage. It is an overwhelming incentive (for patients) to make the wrong choice anti-malarial drugs."

Malaria is a potentially fatal disease transmitted by mosquito bites. Children account for about 90 percent of deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia - the worst affected areas.

Chavasse was speaking to reporters in Nairobi, where he was at an international conference on malaria presented a study entitled ACTwatch - a research project by the ISP and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on malaria on the market drugs across 6 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Cambodia.

The study - designed to provide data to enable experts to judge a drug benefit under grant offered in 11 countries - has examined the availability, price and volume of 23,000 treatments against malaria from 20,000 points of sale .

In most countries, the incidents represent only 5 to 15 percent of total anti-malarial drugs on the market, it has found.

According to the ISP, the majority of malaria endemic countries have changed their treatment policies three years ago to promote the administration of ACT drugs with resistance to malaria drugs as monotherapy more widespread.

But Chavez said, despite this, the ACT may still be available as low as 20 percent in the health sector consultations.

malaria experts hope $ 225 million Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria grant scheme (AMFm) launched in April by the Global Fund against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will be substantially reduced price of ACTs in countries poor.

The plan is available in Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Niger, to try to reduce the price of ACTs to about $ 0.20 to $ 0.50 cents.

Sorafenib, Treat Liver Cancer Advanced Stage

Sorafenib, Treat Liver Cancer Advanced Stage


The advanced stage liver cancer patients who had inoperable, now had new hope, that with targeted therapy using Sorafenib. Sorafenib works by blocking an enzyme that triggers the growth of malignant tumor cells. These drugs target tumor cells and tumor blood vessels.

"Based on research, the results are very significant for treating patients with liver cancer and advanced stage kidney cancer. Now Sorafenib has been used in over 90 countries," said veri Rodriquez, Head of Business Unit Specialty Medicine, Bayer HealthCare, told reporters, in the event the Media Education "Improving Life Expectancy Liver Cancer Patients with Therapeutic Targets", Tuesday (1 / 2), in Jakarta.

Veri explains, Sorafenib is beneficial for patients with liver cancer that covers the entire spectrum of disease. Based on data from the Sorafenib HCC Assessment trial randomized Protocol (SHARP), showed that Sorafenib extended the overall survival rate of 44 percent compared with placebo.

Based on experimental data in the Asia Pacific, said veri, treatment with Sorafenib increases overall survival by 47 percent and extend the time of the occurrence of disease exacerbations in patients in Asia.

In addition, further veri, Sorafenib is also being tested for efficacy to be used as combination therapy or additional
to treat early stage liver cancer.

Liver cancer, according to Prof. dr. Ali Suleiman, PhD, SpPD-KGEH, liver cancer expert staff Hepatology Section Division of Medicine Faculty of medicine, is a malignant tumor on the liver / liver. "Namely liver cells to grow and divide endlessly," he explained.

Cell or tumor, says Prof. Ali, himself is a benign (slow growing / not dangerous), some are malignant (spread to surrounding areas, even jumped away to other organs, such as bone and lung).

Travel spreading malignant cells are relatively long. "Between 15 to 25 years to experience the process of cirrhosis / cancer cell growth. No symptoms (symptom) specific, so called the silent killer," added Prof. Ali.

Prof. Ali gave the message that those who had suffered from hepatitis B and hepatitis C to be careful and keep their health and conduct health checks on a regular basis. Because, according to him, the disease can lead to liver cancer.

He added that, in patients with advanced liver cancer, surgery is most effective as a method of cancer treatment, can no longer be done. At this stage, the target therapy plays an important role to improve life expectancy and maintain the quality of life of patients with liver cancer as long as possible.

Meanwhile, Dr. Melissa S. Luwia, II Chairman of Social Services, Indonesia Cancer Foundation (YKI) said, Bayer HealthCare together YKI create special programs to assist patients in order to continue treatment and improve their medication adherence through patient assistance programs called NexPAP.

According to him, this NexPAP program will reduce the burden of liver cancer and kidney cancer, in addition to providing a positive expectation for patients to live longer and quality time with his family.

Based on data from World Health Organization (WHO), from 632 000 cases of liver cancer are diagnosed each year, approximately 450,000 (70 percent) cases were reported from Asia Pacific.

In Indonesia, according to data GLOBOCAN 2008, there were 13,238 cases of liver cancer, with death rates reaching 12 825

WHO targets for TB and the new 5-year plan

WHO targets for TB and the new 5-year plan


The World Health Organization established a new plan Wednesday to combat tuberculosis and nearly 2 million deaths caused each year through a combination of better testing, diagnosis and drugs.

"The Global Plan to Stop TB 2011-2015" will cost about $ 47 billion, with money going to fund more testing labs and research projects to develop and distribute drugs to treat the disease, said in his plan .

"There is much at stake: not the rapid expansion of TB prevention and treatment, about 10 million people will die from a curable disease in 2015," said Marcos Espinal, executive secretary of the association.

Tuberculosis is an ancient disease, with most curable if detected early and treated with antimicrobial drugs, the WHO said.

All countries are affected, but most cases occur in Asia and Africa. India and China account for 35 percent of all cases. tuberculosis occupies the eighth leading cause of death in countries of low and middle income, he said.

WHO is looking for about half the money for the program to come from high-income countries and said if fully implemented, could save about 5 million lives.

It is the goal of a success rate of 90 percent of treatment in 2015, compared to 86 percent in 2008/09 and that all TB patients tested for HIV.

About a quarter are tested now and tuberculosis is a cause of death for people infected with HIV. Health experts fear the disease could deal a disastrous blow to the Sahel, most affected region in the global AIDS epidemic.

"People living with HIV are between 20 and 37 times more likely to develop the disease during their lifetime than people who are HIV-negative," he said.

The plan also calls for more tests and better treatment strategies for multi-resistant strains of TB drugs. WHO first launched his plan to stop TB in 2001 and adjusted its strategy in 2006.

Tropical diseases plague poor cheap but treatment: WHO

Tropical diseases plague poor cheap but treatment: WHO


The Director General of WHO Margaret Chan speaks at the United Nations offices in Geneva on May 17, 2010 in a file photo. "The neglected tropical diseases blight the lives of millions of people around the world and threaten the health of millions more, " Chan said in the report, "Working to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases. "


Tropical diseases that affect people, mostly poor cost billions of dollars in lost productivity a year and companies should be encouraged to take drugs to treat them, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

The United Nations agency, in its first report on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), urged governments and donors to invest more in the fight against 17 infections often rejected by various researchers, which can cause blindness, damage the heart and death.

He said the diseases that often costs just pennies to treat. They are Chagas disease, which affects about 10 million people in Latin America and dengue, another mosquito-borne virus infected, the WHO said that it was spreading rapidly around the world and now poses a risk for developed countries.

"The neglected tropical diseases blight the lives of millions of people around the world and threaten the health of millions more," the WHO director general Margaret Chan said in the report, "Working to overcome the global impact of disease NTDs. "

"The production of medicines used to treat neural tube defects should be more attractive to companies that manufacture generic drugs," he added.

Major drug manufacturers have already provided high-quality drugs free of charge to hundreds of millions of poor people who suffer from these diseases, especially in remote areas of Latin America, Asia and Africa, according to WHO.

Earlier Thursday, GlaxoSmithKline announced it will donate up to an extra 400 million doses of antiparasitic drug albendazole at a cost of about 12 million pounds (19 million) a year, WHO to treat children in Africa are the risk of intestinal worms.

The WHO said in a statement that the pharmaceutical company officials were due to announce new commitments in a one-day meeting held at WHO headquarters.

The cost of treating a patient with lymphatic filariasis with ivermectin and albendazole, donated by Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, respectively, ranging from five to 10 U.S. cents, according to the report.

The mosquito-borne disease causes intestinal worms and disfigured limbs and genitals, with an estimated cost of $ 1.3 billion annually in lost productivity in Africa and Southeast Asia, he said.

The so-called "preventive chemotherapy, often in the form of tablets taken once or twice a year, is the best public health strategy, WHO said. The excellent safety record of these drugs means that the diagnosis of individual patients is not necessary in areas where diseases are endemic.

Pesticides should be used judiciously to control vector-borne tropical diseases, he said.

Southern Sudan has reported repeated outbreaks of visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease also known as kala-azar, with some 6,363 cases and 303 deaths reported last year, WHO said last week.

That was more than six times the number of cases in recent years in the oil producing region, insecure and weak health services due to vote on January 9 on whether to secede.

WHO requested $ 700,000 to contain outbreaks not for health staff training and enhancing the detection of symptoms.

"Before the situation becomes uncontrollable, we must do something about it," said Aden Abdi, head of the WHO office for southern Sudan, noting that the disease has a 95 percent rate of mortality if treated early.