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Uganda's Health Ministry Orders Investigations Into Deaths Of Patients Living With HIV
Uganda"s Health Ministry announced Monday it has ordered investigations into whether the deaths of 17 patients living with HIV in Northern Uganda were caused by their inability to get antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, the AP/mlive.com reports. According to Zainab Akol, manager of the ministry"s HIV/AIDS control program, the ministry is exploring "whether apart from the lack of ARVs, another disease like malaria or any epidemic could have contributed to the deaths," according to the news service.
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Pledges To Reduce Health Care Costs, Spending Growth Could Violate Antitrust Laws, Lawyers Say
U.S. antitrust laws could affect health care industry groups" efforts to work together to rein in health care costs, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 5/27). In a letter sent to President Obama on May 10, a coalition of groups -- the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the Advanced Medical Technology Association, America"s Health Insurance Plans and the Service Employees International Union -- pledged to reduce the annual health care spending growth rate by 1.5%. The groups did not elaborate on what specific measures they would use to achieve such reductions, but the Obama administration has requested specific plans from the groups by June 1 (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/26). According to the Times, many of the plans being considered by the health care industry would require greater cooperation across health care providers. Robert Leibenluft, a former Federal Trade Commission official, said, "Any agreement among competitors with regard to prices or price increases -- even if they set a maximum -- would raise legal concerns." In addition, while Obama is asking for specific plans from the health care industry, the administration has not offered any relief from antitrust laws, the Times reports. Furthermore, during his campaign Obama pledged to increase enforcement of antitrust laws, according to the Times.Antitrust laws have had a negative effect on previous health reform efforts, the Times reports. In 1993, the drug industry established a voluntary cost control plan that limited each drug company"s annual increase in the average price of prescription drugs to the increase in the Consumer Price Index, but the Department of Justice ruled that the proposal would violate antitrust laws. DOJ officials said that the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear that setting price maximums was akin to setting price minimums, which is illegal. In a letter to the Senate Finance Committee, AHA wrote that uncertainty regarding the enforcement of antitrust laws "makes it difficult for a hospital and doctors to collaborate to improve care" and reduce costs. AMA has asked Congress to amend antitrust laws to allow physicians to collectively negotiate with insurers over fees and other concerns, but FTC repeatedly has designated the practice illegal price-fixing, according to the Times. FTC officials said that consumers could benefit from cooperation among health care industry groups but that cooperation also could lead to increased bargaining power for physicians and hospitals, making it easier for them to set prices and eliminate competition (New York Times, 5/27). Reform Developments
News of the day
Swine Flu Media Bulletin Issued At: 11am Wednesday 13 May 2009, Wales
-- 0 confirmed cases in Wales.
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New Figures Reveal Ethnic Minorities Are Not Aware Of Their Cancer Risk

Despite growing evidence that cancer is becoming more prevalent amongst ethnic minority groups, news figures out today at the start of Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Week show that cancer awareness levels are critically low amongst this cohort. At least 46% of ethnic minorities are unfamiliar or not sure about the signs and symptoms of the various forms of cancer or how to reduce their cancer risk even though 61% have had a family member suffer from cancer1. These figures are alarming because studies examining specific cancers and ethnic groups have shown that African Caribbean men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men2 and that mouth cancer is more common amongst South Asian and Chinese communities3. Quite a high number of ethnic minority women (78%) are aware of the NHS breast cancer screening programme1, however research has shown that 45% of black ethnic minority women of screening age (50-70) have never attended a screening of which 76% said it was because they had never been invited4. Only 22% of those questioned are aware of the NHS bowel cancer screening programme1 despite this form of cancer being the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK. If diagnosed at the earliest stage, bowel cancer is highly treatable with an estimated 83% survival rate5. Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Week (6th - 12th July 2009) was launched last year by Cancer Equality in partnership with an alliance of leading cancer charities who have united to deliver a week of events to raise cancer awareness and improve access to services amongst ethnic minorities. Jennifer Layburn, Chair of the alliance said: "Cancer awareness is important for everyone, however as these figures show, there is a need to reach ethnic minority communities with targeted awareness messages to increase the levels of awareness and early diagnosis to help reduce the inequalities that exist in survival and mortality figures." Other findings from the survey indicate that a lack of written information, language and a shortage of culturally appropriate and sensitive information may be contributing to this low level of awareness. Jennifer added: "We are in a slightly better position this year in that we have some data that was recently published by the National Cancer Intelligence Network, which gives us a bit more insight into ethnic minority cancer incidences. However, there is still clearly a lot more that can be done around the recording of cancer incidence, mortality and survival in British ethnic minority groups as this will lead to a better understanding of their needs and the development of appropriate services to meet these needs."֬ Note -- 2,000 ethnic minorities across seven cities in the UK took part in this survey which was conducted by One Poll on behalf of Cancer Equality and the alliance of leading cancer charities - For more information about Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Week and a list of activities taking place visit http://www.emcaw.co.uk - Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Week is funded by the National Cancer Action Team - For more information on Cancer Equality visit http://www.cancerequality.org.uk References: 1. Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Week - Cancer Risk Survey 2009 2. Y. Ben-Shlomo et al., The Risk of Prostate Cancer amongst Black Men in the United Kingdom: The PROCESS Cohort Study. European Urology, Volume 53, Issue 1, Pages 99 - 105 3. Warnakulasuriya, K.A., et al., Cancer of mouth, pharynx and nasopharynx in Asian and Chinese immigrants resident in Thames regions. 4. Same Difference: Breast Cancer Care is for Everyone. Breast Cancer Care Policy Briefing 2005 5. http://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness


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