Worth Noting Public Funding for Family Planning Has Decreased or Stagnated in a Third of the States While public funding for family planning has recovered from the cuts made during the Reagan years, adjusting for inflation, data show that in one-third of the states, funding is down or the same as it was when the cuts were made in the 1980s. Public expenditures at the state and federal levels totaled $1.85 billion in FY 2006. Medicaid expenditures, at $1.3 billion, accounted for 71% of total family planning dollars but less than one-half of one percent of all Medicaid spending in FY 2006. According to the Guttmacher Institute, most of the growth was driven by increases in Medicaid spending, which has become the largest single payer of medical services in the country. Fourteen states also contributed to the growth through their family planning program expansions in 2006; six other states received federal approval for similar expansions and under new federal legislation it is now easier for other states to do likewise. This growth in spending not only reflects an increase in the number of people served and inflation in the cost of medical care. The report is available at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2008/01/28/or38.pdf. -------------------------------- A Quarter of Female Adolescents in U.S. Has A Sexually Transmitted InfectionTwenty-six percent of American female adolescents have at least one sexually transmitted infection (STI), according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The figures came from a national study reported at the 2008 National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago. The 838 females, ranging in age from 14-19, were chosen at random and 96 percent consented to vaginal swabs. If the study--the first of its kind -- is accurate, 3.2 million female American teenagers suffer from STI. Nearly half the African American young women in the study were affected, compared to 20 percent of their white counterparts. The two most common infections were human papillomavirus (HPV), 18 percent, and Chlamydia, 4 percent. Fifteen percent of the subjects had more than one disease. Experts quoted in the media said the report shows a need for more comprehensive sex education courses and that the abstinence-only programs fostered by the current administration do not work. The study team was led by Sara Forhan of CDC, but the original paper does not appear on the CDC website. The CDC office issued a press release announcing the results. See: Oral Abstract D4 -- Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections and Bacterial Vaginosis among Female Adolescents in the United States: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004. http://www.cdc.gov/stdconference/2008/media/summaries-11march2008.htm -------------------------------- The
following information appeared during the month of March 2008 in the
News Alerts section of the website of the Center for Health and Health
Care in Schools, at www.healthinschools.org. Cleaning House Makes Life Easier for Asthmatics Cleaning a house of allergens can alleviate the symptoms of asthmatics, according to a national survey from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the University of Iowa and two commercial firms. The researchers found a relationship between high allergen levels and the presence of asthma symptoms. Since most people spend most of their time indoors, indoor allergen exposures are of great importance, according to Dr. Darryl Zeldin of the institute and lead author of the study. Twenty-two million Americans suffer from asthma, and 52 percent of American homes have at least six detectable allergens, including those from dogs, cats, fungus, rodents, cockroaches, and dust mites. Forty-six percent of homes had at least three allergens at an increased level. Race, income, type of home and the source of the allergens (pets, for instance) contributed to increased concentration. Homes with children, however, tended to have fewer allergens because they were cleaned more often. "Although homes cannot be made allergen-free, asthmatics that have allergies may need to do a better job in reducing allergen levels in their homes to improve asthma control," said Dr. Päivi Salo of NIEHS. The study is published online in the March issue of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/releases/2008/levels.cfm March 13, 2008 Kaiser Permanente to Set Up Five Health Clinics in Oakland Schools Children without medical insurance or from poor homes often wind up in emergency rooms when they become ill or are injured--if they get care at all--an expensive and inefficient process. In an effort to get them medical care without resorting to hospitals, Kaiser Permanente is spending $3 million to set up five clinics in Oakland, Calif., schools. One will be located in a middle school and the other four on high school campuses, including Oakland High School. The location of the other four haven’t been determined. The clinics will provide general medical care as well as care for mental health problems, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and chronic disease management. The Oakland school district has almost 110,000 students, most of them from economically disadvantaged homes. |
