Money crisis and mental health

Image by bitzcelt via FlickrI came across this article from MoneySavingExpert.com, and it seems a sensible article to be read, and apply or implement the suggested solutions/resolutions.

What think ye? Read on, and let us know.

There is actually a sort of caveat indicated at the end of the article from the source, so take note!
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Guy Anker
News Editor
24 February 2011

People suffering from mental health problems are almost five times as likely to have severe debts compared to everyone else.

That is the most shocking finding from a MoneySavingExpert.com poll to determine the scale of the problem of mental health and debt.

We are today launching a campaign to tackle the marriage made in hell of mental health and debt, including a major new free guide for sufferers and their carers (see the free Mental Health & Debt Help booklet).

Research for the guide showed that mental health problems cause debt, while debt worries also cause mental health issues.

In the poll of 6,700 people, 44% of those who've had mental health problems (or have partners who do) have had severe or crisis debts, nearly five times as many as everyone else (9%).

We asked the same questions of those with mental health problem and those without. Here are the results:

Those who've had or have mental health issues, including where partner had mental health problems.

• Never been in debt – 18%
• Only ever had limited debts – 22%
• Big debts but not a problem – 16%
• Severe or crisis debts – 44% 
  

No mental health issues

• Never been in debt – 34%
• Only ever had limited debts – 41%
• Big debts but not a problem – 16%
• Severe or crisis debts – 9%

In both cases, mortgage and student loan debts are excluded.

Separate figures also show one in four British adults experiences at least one mental health problem a year such as clinical depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder.

Meanwhile, 38% of those seeking debt help had considered or attempted suicide. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg this month pledged to give an extra £400 million to mental health services to put the sector on an equal footing with physical health.

Free guide

MoneySavingExpert.com today launches the first detailed guide of its type, to provide help and info for those with mental health and debt problems. It also provides help for family, friends, carers and counsellors.

The free PDF booklet was written with guidance from several leading charities including Mind, Rethink and Christians Against Poverty. It includes help on where to find free one-to-one debt counselling, working with banks, tips for bipolar and depression sufferers and how friends and carers can help.

The Mental health and debt booklet can be downloaded free.

Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert.com creator, says: "Those who have never experienced problem debt often consider it to be a purely financial issue – it's not. It can break up families, take the roof from your children's heads, kill confidence, pile on stress, cause depression and lead to suicide.

"As the UK's biggest money site, we can no longer divorce how people deal with debt emotionally and how they deal with it practically.

"I've often argued we need to focus on responsible borrowing, as you can't expect lenders to be responsible – their job is flogging debt. Yet with so many suffering from mental health problems, as a nation we need to think about how we help those who, often temporarily, cannot be responsible for themselves.

"We need to do some joined-up thinking to tackle this, such as banks allowing people to voluntarily register their mental health problems so they can track unusual spending patterns, then cut off accounts until a trusted friend says it's ok. We must help people take control.

"As debt problems tend to lag until after a recession, these days the suicidal emails we receive from people in debt are a regular, not surprise, occurrence. We've already heard from people that launching this guide has made them feel better, because they realise they're not the only ones suffering."

John Kirkby, founder of UK-wide debt-counselling charity Christians Against Poverty, says: "Life can be seriously miserable when you're dealing with problem debts. For the vast majority of our clients, these debts are not the only stressful thing going on in their lives.

"There's often relationship breakdown, illness or job loss all adding to the pressure. Feelings of hopelessness and isolation can quickly affect mental health. The good news is we see these same vulnerable people become debt free every day and this great guide from Martin Lewis and his team shows there is hope."

Paul Farmer, head of mental health charity Mind, comments: "Living with unmanageable debt is known to cause problems such as depression and anxiety, but the tactics of debt collectors can be one of the worst stresses of all.

"Mind has spoken to people who have been hounded day and night by debt agencies, had their houses invaded by bailiffs and have had to pay fees for the privilege many times greater than the original debt.

"When people's mental health deteriorates, it can be even harder for them to deal with debt, and the more their debts add up, the worse they feel, setting up a cycle of debt and despair that is very difficult to break.

"MoneySavingExpert's new guidance should be a first port of call for anyone worried about the impact of debt on their lives, so they can manage their money and seek advice before it gets out of hand."

Top ten tips for dealing with mental health and debt

1. There's no such thing as an unsolvable debt. Martin Lewis says: "For as long as I've been doing my job, I've never once seen a debt case that isn't solvable. It may not be easy, it may not be quick, but it's always doable." If you start to sort it out, it gets better.
2. Know the early warning signs. Even when people plunge into debt, depression doesn't bite overnight. Dr Rob Waller, consultant psychiatrist and director of Mindandsoul.info advises working out your warning signs such as tension headaches, arguments at work, back pain or bad skin. This is the time to take steps to keep on top of debt and depression.
3. If in crisis, get free debt help. If you've not got enough to pay the bills, visit a non-profit free debt counsellor, whose job is to help you, not to make money out of you. Try Christians Against Poverty, which specialises in helping those in debt who are emotionally struggling, or agencies such as the Consumer Credit Counselling Service and Citizens Advice.
4. Stop borrowing. It sounds obvious, but sorting out existing debts is harder if you keep adding to them. If you feel up to tackling your finances, the easy start point is to do a budget and work out where the money's going (see the free Budget Planner).
5. Consider informing your bank. Once a lender is aware a customer has a mental health condition, it has to make adjustments. The Lending Code says banks should consider keeping a debt in-house rather than passing it to debt collectors and make court action the last resort. Though telling your bank is a decision to discuss carefully with a case worker or debt counsellor.
6. Check if you qualify for disability living allowance (DLA). In some cases, mental health issues mean you qualify for DLA of between £19 and £121 per week (though this is currently under government review). Do Benefitsandwork.co.uk's quick DLA test see if you qualify.
7. Banking control if you have bipolar. A few banks have procedures that allow you to register your mental health issues and stop your overdraft going beyond a certain amount. Bipolar disorder sufferers, who may be prone to overspending during a problem episode, could consider discussing this with their bank (worth chatting through with a debt counsellor or case worker first).
8. Consider adding a note on your credit file. If you overspend when you are unwell, you can volunteer to add information on mental health problems to credit files in what is called a notice of correction, which alerts potential lenders so they don't lend further credit. This can be added or removed whenever you want. There is full help to evaluate this decision in the guide.
9. Cut interest rates. The lower your interest rate, the more of your repayment goes towards clearing the actual debt, rather than just servicing the interest. For example, if you have credit cards, see if it's possible to do a balance transfer that pays off the debts on old cards for you, so you owe the new card the money at a cheaper interest rate.
10. Repay highest rates first. Try listing your rates, then focusing all spare cash on clearing the highest interest debts first; just pay the minimum on everything else. Once the highest is clear, you can shift to the second costliest.

Taken from MoneySavingExpert.com; source article is below:
44% with mental health problems have crisis debts

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Plus-sized athletes to First Lady: Fat can be fit

A new era of athletes - fat and fit!
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Posted: 14 February 2011

WASHINGTON: A lifelong acolyte of exercise and fitness, Sandy Shaffer works out three times per week, eats a diet loaded with fruits and vegetables, and somehow finds time to teach a weekly aerobics class.

At five-foot, five inches (1.65 meters) and 320 pounds (145 kilograms), Shaffer also is considered obese.

But the plus-sized sports enthusiast insists that the label says little about the generally excellent state of her health.

And that is the single biggest problem she has with Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" health initiative.

"I'm glad they encourage people to move, but it's still a negative message," said Shaffer, an administrator at a New York City labor union.

"You can be healthy even if you're 300 pounds," Shaffer said.

First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" signature initiative, which marked its one year anniversary this week, aims to help kids slim down by eating better and getting more active.

The fitness community by-and-large has embraced the first lady's signature program, but a contingent of health experts and aficionados balk at equating improving one's health with lowering one's weight.

They say it is possible to be extremely fit and also "overweight" by societal norms.

"What if they end up with all the health benefits of movement, but they don't end up losing weight? Since this is an anti-obesity thing, are they not failures?" said Shaffer.

"Ballet dancers look good, but you wouldn't necessarily call them healthy if you look at what they have to do to keep at that weight," she said.

"If you take weight out of the picture and take diet out of the picture, you might get people to move longer and more often," she said.

GeMar Neloms, a physical trainer in Silver Spring, Maryland, like Shaffer has been active for decades in the realm of sports, including as a varsity lacrosse player at Oberlin College in Ohio.

She teaches a popular spinning class at Washington Sports Club in Silver Spring, Maryland where many of her students tell her that she is a role model as a "real sized" fitness instructor.

Neloms has attained an admirable level of fitness over the years in spite of a body mass index that suggests she should be considered overweight.

"I can cycle circles around a lot of thinner people. I can hold a plank position longer than a lot of thinner people," she said of a challenging yoga pose.

She confesses that she would like to be a bit thinner, but only if it happens organically as a result of her efforts to attain greater fitness -- not as a primary goal.

"Appearance plays a part, but it's not my priority, my priority has to be my overall health," said Neloms, an officer at a Washington-area non-profit.

She added that as an African-American woman she felt that metrics for what constitutes thinness may be inaccurate.

"We're built differently across cultures," she said. "We all have different body types."

Dr Kenneth Cooper, one of America's leading experts on health and obesity, told AFP that the awareness that a robust body need not mean poor health is something that he has stressed for years.

"We've incorporated both fitness and fatness into all of our studies," said Cooper, head of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, Texas and founder of the non-profit Cooper Institute which conducts health and fitness research.

"We look at fitness as measured by treadmill time as opposed to body mass index," he said.

With the current thinking, he said "I think you put too much emphasis on obesity," adding that one effective measurement of how fitness has actually improved is having a subject walk on a treadmill at 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) per hour.

"I would focus first on inactivity, then on obesity," Cooper said.

Another pet peeve he has with the "Let's Move" program, he said, is a lack of hard metrics to determine whether participants' fitness goals are actually attained.

"I think they're scratching the surface," he said.

"Unless you have some measurement you don't get anywhere. There's no means of quantifying it."

While Cooper would add hard numbers to the First Lady's program, Shaffer said she would change its public face.

One of its most visible spokespeople is diminutive former Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes. Shaffer said heavyset kids might draw more inspiration from a fleshier celebrity.

How about Mo'Nique?," she suggested, referring to the full-figured Oscar-winning actress and comedian.

"She works out a lot," Shaffer said, "and she also embraces her size."

-AFP/jl


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:Plus-sized athletes to First Lady: Fat can be fit

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Gates renews fight against polio

Isn't this encouraging, a man who made so much money is now sharing his fortunes?
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Bill Gates urges renewed polio effort
Posted: 01 February 2011

NEW YORK: Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates has called for a renewed global effort to wipe out polio, warning that a resurgence of the disease could cripple and kill thousands.

"Eradicating polio is not something we can hesitate over now and say we'll get it done later," Gates told a packed room at the New York house where Franklin Roosevelt recovered after being stricken with polio at age 39, before he ran for president.

"If we stop the intense pressure we have put on polio, the virus will spread again," Gates told the audience which included famed violinist Yitzhak Perlman, who contracted polio at age four, Roosevelt's grandson Jim and grandchildren of Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, who invented vaccines against the disease decades ago.

Gates pleaded for a "renaissance" of awareness and of funding to fight polio on the day the annual letter of the philanthropic foundation he set up with his wife, Melinda, was released.

This year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's letter focuses on what the software billionaire called a "terrible disease that kills many and paralyzes others."

Polio killed 350,000 children worldwide in 1988, the year a global effort was kicked off to try to make the disease only the second after smallpox to be eradicated.

"Since then, vaccination coverage has increased significantly and the number of cases has gone down by 99 percent," Gates said. "That's incredible progress, but the last one percent remains a true danger."

The Microsoft founder said the dangers of polio had slipped from the forefront of the minds of people in the developed world, where the illness was eradicated decades ago.

Young Americans are unaware that polio killed or paralyzed 24,000 people as recently as 1952 in the United States, and have never seen "grim hospital wards full of children in iron lungs that maintained their breathing," Gates said in his letter.

Not only is waning awareness in the developed world of the severity of polio threatening to derail efforts to end it, but the global economic crisis has seen donor nations cut aid budgets as they rein in spending.

Two billion dollars are needed over the next two years to eradicate polio, and "there's a $720 million shortfall," Gates said.

Gates said his foundation could fund 15 percent of the effort to wipe out polio, but called for donor nations to follow the lead of Britain and Abu Dhabi and not cut funds for polio eradication.

British Prime Minister David Cameron joined Gates last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos to pledge 130 million dollars to help eradicate the disease.

Days before that, crown prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan also announced a grant to fight polio, which remains endemic in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan and recently resurfaced in southwest Africa and Tajikistan, after a decade with no cases.

"The majority of cases in 2010 were in countries that had been polio-free until the virus travelled back across borders and caused outbreaks in areas where people had gotten lax about vaccination," Gates said in his letter.

"Polio is kind of like fire. You have to damp it down or it will flare up in places, like it has in Tajikistan or Congo. It's a terrible thing and that is why getting to zero is so important," Gates told the gathering in New York.

Wiping out polio would save the world up to $50 billion over the next 25 years, not to mention the countless children it would spare the pain of paralysis or even death, he said.

"If eradication fails because of a lack of generosity on the part of donor countries, it would be tragic," said the billionaire philanthropist, whose foundation gives about $200 million a year to fight the disease.

-AFP/sf


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:Bill Gates urges renewed polio effort

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Exec women getting serious ‘male’ health problems

I think this is where women are not equal with men...
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Executive women face serious ‘male’ health problems
PUBLISHED | JANUARY 31, 2011

While women are fighting for equality in the workplace and are taking on executive positions in the corporate world, there is a downside to their professional success and it comes in the form of serious health problems, once typically associated with men.

Macquarie University’s Faculty of Business and Economics and iConneXX Pty Ltd are bringing together a blend of business, law, risk management, psychology and health experts at the inaugural ‘The Body & Mind Corporate’, a strategic workshop to explore the serious psychological and physical health conditions that have started to surface in executive women.

Experts such as general practitioner Dr Carole Hungerford, author of Good Health in the 21st Century and Nicola Gates, a registered Clinical Neuropsychologist, who has trained in executive coaching and cognitive behaviour training for anxiety and depression, will discuss strategies to address women’s health issues at ‘The Body & Mind Corporate’.

Dr Annette Davison, Director of iConneXX and organiser of the event said, “There is so much pressure now for women to take on these high power roles and still have a strong presence in the family home that it is no wonder that our health is struggling.”

“We’re seeing more cardiac illness and psychological problems associated with busy lifestyles as well as fertility issues associated with stress and the fact that professional women are leaving children until later, but there is not enough knowledge out there about how work places can identify the risks and then do something about them!”

Addressing the health and wellbeing issues associated with executive roles and providing options for workplaces to make the necessary changes is an essential part of growing and maintaining a healthy community and creating successful businesses.


Taken from DynamicBusiness.Com.Au; source article is below:
Executive women face serious ‘male’ health problems

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Burned Biscuits

Image via WikipediaAuthor: Unknown

When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed!

Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a little burned biscuit never hurt anyone!"

Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults - and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker!

We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!

"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own."

So please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burned one will do just fine.

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

"Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point."

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” - Proverbs 4:7

“Die beginsel van die wysheid is: Verwerf wysheid en verwerf insig deur al wat jy besit.” - Proverbs 4:7

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Blood test for cancer gets US boost

Posted: 04 January 2011

WASHINGTON: Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson said Monday it is partnering with US doctors to improve a blood test that could replace biopsies and transform the field of cancer treatment.

The Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) technology, which inventors describe as a "liquid biopsy," has been touted as a revolutionary approach to diagnosing cancer since it was first developed several years ago by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital.

It works by detecting cancer cells that have detached from a tumor and are circulating at very low levels in the blood.

But until now, the technology has been unable to do much more than count cells, giving doctors an idea of what is happening with a patient's cancer but not delivering the precision that the latest version can.

"The new technology allows us to not just count them but to understand the molecular changes that lead to the disease progression that is occurring in the cells," said Nicholas Dracopoli, vice president of Ortho Biotech Oncology Research and Development (ORD), a unit of Johnson & Johnson.

With just a single blood draw, the new technology can find and trap a single cancer cell from among a billion blood cells without the patient having to undergo invasive and often painful surgical biopsy procedures.

"That will then allow us to do sophisticated molecular analysis of those isolated cells so that we can then look and see if there are therapies that are optimally suited to a patient with those particular abnormalities," Dracopoli told AFP.

The new technique "allows us... to monitor in real time what is happening in the tumor in a way you never could if you had to do a surgical procedure each time in order to get the samples, as we do today."

In other words, doctors could know a lot sooner whether a therapy for cancer is succeeding or failing, and they could possibly tailor a patient's treatment accordingly.

The partnership brings Veridex -- the company which brought the earlier version of the test to the US market -- together with ORD and clinical researchers to develop an improved version of the current technology.

"This collaboration is an opportunity to apply our past learning to the advancement of a platform that will ultimately benefit patients with cancer," said lead CTC chip researcher Mehmet Toner in a statement.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved the earlier generation technology for use in detecting cancer cells in the blood of patients with metastatic, or advanced stage, breast, prostate and colorectal cancer.

The planned "next-generation system" would be used by oncologists "as a diagnostic tool for personalizing patient care, as well as by researchers to accelerate and improve the process of drug discovery and development," Veridex said in a statement.

For instance, the test could allow for advances in treatment of lung cancer, where the tumors are not easy to feel and where research has shown certain genetic mutations respond best to specific treatments.

Dracopoli said it could be three to five years before FDA clinical trials produce results that show the technique works for detecting and treating a broader range of cancers.

"A big part of the collaboration over the next few years will be testing the technology in prospectively defined clinical trials and confirming that this information actually helps guide therapies and improves patient outcomes," he said.

"We hope this will be a means of significantly improving the way that patients are treated, in the sense that we can get information about how a patient is responding to therapy in a way that we cannot right now."

-AFP/ac


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below: Blood test for cancer gets US boost

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(Starting to) Play God?

I will let the news tell it all. What do you think?
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Science of man-made life can proceed: White House
Posted: 17 December 2010 0010 hrs

WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday said the controversial field of synthetic biology, or manipulating the DNA of organisms to forge new life forms, poses limited risks and should be allowed to proceed.

An expert panel convened by President Barack Obama advised vigilance and self-regulation as scientists seek ways to create new organisms that could spark useful innovations in clean energy, pollution control and medicine.

The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues "concluded that synthetic biology is capable of significant but limited achievements posing limited risks," it said in its first report.

"Future developments may raise further objections, but the Commission found no reason to endorse additional federal regulations or a moratorium on work in this field at this time."

The 13-member panel of scientists, ethicists and public policy experts was created by Obama last year.

Its first order of business was to consider the issue of synthetic biology after the J. Craig Venter Institute announced in May it had developed the first self-replicating bacteria cell controlled by a synthetic genome.

Critics said the discovery was tantamount to "playing God", creating organisms without adequate understanding the ramifications, and upsetting the natural order.

Announcing the creation of the "first synthetic cell", lead researcher Craig Venter said at the time it "certainly changed my views of the definitions of life and how life works."

But the commission said Venter's team had not actually created life, since the work mainly involved altering an already existing life form.

"Thoughtful deliberation about the meaning of this achievement was impossible in the hours that elapsed between the breaking news and the initial round of commentaries that ensued," it said in its report.

"Of note, many scientists observe that this achievement is not tantamount to 'creating life' in a scientific sense because the research required a functioning, naturally occurring host cell to accept the synthesized genome."

Commission chair Amy Gutmann said the panel considered a range of approaches to regulating the new scientific field, from allowing unbridled freedom to imposing strict government regulation on experiments.

"We chose a middle course to maximize public benefits while also safeguarding against risks," she said.

"Prudent vigilance suggests that federal oversight is needed and can be exercised in a way that is consistent with scientific progress."

As to the risk of releasing modified organisms into nature, a scenario some have warned could spark biological threats or damage to the ecosystem, "scientists and ethicists advised careful monitoring and review of the research," the panel said.

The panel also urged greater cooperation among federal agencies that oversee product licensing and funding of synthetic biology, and collaboration with world governments and global groups like the World Health Organization.

"Educational classes on the ethical dilemmas raised by synthetic biology should be a mandatory part of training for young researchers, engineers, and others who work in this emerging field," it added.

- AFP/al


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:Science of man-made life can proceed: White House

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Vodka's 'health benefits'

Image via WikipediaThis is needing no other comments than the news article itself...
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Firm chided for touting vodka's 'health benefits'

by The Daily Telegraph

A Russian company has been criticised after claiming that vodka helps cure everything from head colds to indigestion.

Russia's advertising watchdog, FAS, ruled that an online ad promoting leading vodka brands had overstepped the mark by suggesting that vodka was good for one's health and mood.

The advertiser, a company called Direct Line in Moscow, claimed the grain-based spirit was an instant cure for both fatigue and a bad mood, improved digestion and helped fight head colds, sore throats and headaches.

The FAS said it had banned the offending ad and opened an investigation that could result in a heavy fine for the company.


Taken from TODAYOnline.com; source article is below:
Firm chided for touting vodka's 'health benefits'

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A shorter and emptier life?

Is this just the present generation's status, or is this the beginning of the short lifespan generation? Again, a race issue?

Have we been doing many things, except live longer and fuller?
-----

US life expectancy falls

WASHINGTON: Life expectancy has dropped slightly for all Americans except for black men, who gained around two and a half months in longevity, a report released Thursday found.

Data gathered by the National Centre for Health Statistics showed that life expectancy for most American men was 75.3 years in 2008, down by one-tenth of a year from 2007.

Women also saw a drop in the number of years they can expect to live, from 80.4 years to 80.3 years, the data show.

Black men, on the other hand, bucked the trend and reached a record-high life expectancy of 70.2 years in 2008, up by 0.2 years compared to 2007.

They were still the shortest-lived Americans, though, with life spans around 10 years less than white women, who have the highest life expectancy, followed by black women and white men.

The pattern of white women enjoying the longest lives and black men the shortest has held true for nearly three decades, but life expectancy for all groups has generally increased over those 30 years.

Arialdi Minino, a statistician who worked on the report, told the Washington Post that officials have no idea what may have caused the fall in longevity in 2008.

"I would take this with a grain of salt," he told the Post.

"These are preliminary numbers. You can never tell whether this is a little blip or some trend that will stay there and linger there for some time. You can't tell until you have more data points."

The best state to live in, in terms of mortality, was Hawaii, which had an age-adjusted death rate of 589 deaths per 100,000 people in 2008.

The worst state for mortality was West Virginia, where the age-adjusted death rate was more than one-and-a-half times greater than in Hawaii -- 958 per 100,000 people.

Heart disease remained the leading cause of death in the United States, followed by cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke and accidental injury.

The sixth leading cause of death was Alzheimer's disease, one of six diseases or causes for which the age-adjusted death rate increased significantly, the study says.

A study released in October said the United States ranked 49th in the world for male and female life expectancy, a precipitous drop from the fifth place it held in 1950.

-AFP/wk


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:US life expectancy falls

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Complacency fuels new AIDS surge in West: UN

UNITED NATIONS: Complacency among young people is causing a new surge of the AIDS epidemic in the United States and European nations like Britain and Germany, a top UN expert said ahead of World AIDS Day on Wednesday.

The worrying sexual behaviour of young adults, particularly men, in rich nations and a surge of the spread of AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia linked to drug use, officials said, has tainted positive signs such as dramatic cut in the number of infections passed from mothers to their newborn babies.

Agencies including the UN's HIV/AIDS program UNAIDS have cautiously highlighted a fall in the number of global infections in figures released ahead of World AIDS Day on Wednesday.

But Paul De Lay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, said: "There seem to be secondary and tertiary waves of the epidemic, particularly the sexually transmitted side.

"You have a young people who don't know enough about AIDS, there is less of a fear factor about it."

He said it was a particular problem in Britain, Germany and the United States. Without giving specific figures, he said infection rates among young people are three times what they were in the early 2000s.

"We find that every five to seven years we need to go through a new re-energized education campaign. We are doing that in the UK and Germany. Here in the US we have had a huge resurgence of sexually transmitted AIDS."

According to the UNAIDS annual report released last week there were an estimated 54,000 new infections in the United States last year and 3,900 in Germany. There are an estimated 1.2 million AIDS sufferers in the United States, 85,000 in Britain and 67,000 in Germany.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia "there has been been an explosion of young people who are experimenting with injected drugs," according to the UN expert.

This is "ripe" for spreading HIV/AIDS and pregnant addicts pass on the infection to their children extending "an ongoing transmission cycle," said De Lay.

Russia and Ukraine together account for almost 90 per cent of new HIV/AIDS infections in recent years, said the UNAIDS report. Ukraine now has the highest adult AIDS rate in Europe and Central Asia.

UNAIDS said "there is strong evidence of resurgent HIV epidemics among men who have sex with men" in North America and Western Europe, where there are now an estimated total of 2.7 million sufferers, up 30 per cent since 2001.

The 3,160 new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men in Britain in 2007 were the most ever reported. In the United States, new HIV infections attributed to unprotected sex between men increased by more than 50 per cent from 1991-1993 to 2003-2006.

Around the world there were an estimated 2.6 million new infections last year, down from about 3.3 million at the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1999, according to De Lay.

"It is a slow, steady decrease," said De Lay, who predicted that at the current rate it would take about 50 years to conquer Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

The 370,00 babies a year born with AIDS is down from 500,000 a year at the start of the decade and a new UN report said it would be possible to eradicate mother-to-baby transmission of AIDS by 2015.

Virtually no babies are born with AIDS in Europe and North America now as wealthier countries launched aggressive screening and prevention programs in the the 1990s.

But in Africa, 1,000 babies a day are still infected with HIV/AIDS through mother-to-child transmission.

Anthony Lake, executive director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) called the figure "outrageous" and demanded greater efforts for "the hardest hit communities."

But, highlighting the greater use of anti-viral drugs and other treatments, World Health Organisation director general Margaret Chan said "we have strong evidence that elimination of mother-to-child transmission is achievable."

-AFP/ac


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:Complacency fuels new AIDS surge in West: UN

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Why not stop it from the roots?

I see news about second hand smoking, and even third hand smoking, and how it affects those who are not even smoking, even those who are too young to even know what would be killing them...

I am stumped by the very fact that while the authorities are putting up slogan and drafting campaigns and programs to quit smoking, it persists. And why not? cigars and cigarettes are available for the smokers, that is!

Here's my point. Why not stop smoking from the roots?

Stop producing, stop planting tobaccos. But this is something even harder to do than for a smoker to quit smoking, right?

Again, my 2-cents worth... think so?

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