News Archive - October 2006

National News
State/Territory News
International News

  National News

Pregnant Aboriginies 'more likely to die' - October 18, 2006
Indigenous Australian women die during or soon after pregnancy at more than five times the rate of other Australians, a new government report shows... More

Australian obesity epidemic takes $21b toll - October 18, 2006
Obesity cost Australians $21 billion last year, double the cost of Medicare, new figures show... More

Bird flu not a worry yet, says Abbott - October 16, 2006
Australian stands ready to deal with an outbreak of bird flu - but it doesn't have too much to worry about at the moment... More

A private revolution - October 14, 2006
A unique health rehabilitation program that keeps the sick out of hospital is about to become the model for a revolution in private health insurance... More

Insurance reform package ignores the needs of the majority - October 14, 2006
The federal Governments private health insurance reform package is a mixed bag of policy tricks... More

Mental Health needs overhaul - 10 October, 2006
THE focus of the nation's mental health services should be shifted from hospital care to early intervention in a dramatic overhaul of the troubled system... More

Experts 'misrepresenting' stem cell hopes - 10 October, 2006
Scientists have not revealed problems with embryonic stem cells that would stop them being useful to treat diseases, says a US-based expert visiting Australia... More

Liver diseases set to wreak havoc - 3 October, 2006
The number of patients with advanced liver disease or cirrhosis - which if left untreated can progress to liver cancer and death - will jump 38 per cent by 2015 unless Australia dramatically boosts its response to the hepatitis C epidemic... More

New blow to $31bn e-health project - 3 October, 2006
US software group Computer Sciences Corporation has been left to pick up the pieces after Accenture walked away last week from the British Health Service's troubled £12.4 billion ($31 billion) information technology modernisation project... More

State/Territory News

 Man tested for human mad cow disease - October 12, 2006
NSW health authorities are conducting tests to confirm if a hospital patient died as a result of a brain disease that may have infected other patients... More

Clean bill of health for Aboriginal community - October 11, 2006
The residents of Utopia did not need a study to tell them life was promising in their corner of the world... More

International News

Americans upset with rising health costs - 25 October, 2006 (US)
A growing number of Americans are upset with rising health care costs covering medical bills is reducing their ability to save...More

Hospitals try free basic care for uninsured - 25 October, 2006 (US)
For many patients with chronic diseases, it would be cheaper to provide free preventive care than to absorb the high cost of repeated emergencies...More

Health Plans Raise Concern - 24 October 2006 (US)
A new kind of health plan offered by a growing number of employers appears to save on costs but may lead some patients to forgo needed care, a study by Rand Corp. economists has found...More

Wanless Health Care Spending Review - October 2006 (UK)
The Kings Fund are launching a review of health care spending, led by former NatWest Group Chief Executive Sir Derek Wanless... More

Jury still out on NHS independence - October 2006 (UK)
Kings' Fund deputy policy director Anna Dixon welcomes the debate around creating an independent NHS and reducing political interference in the day-to-day running of the health service, but says an effective case still has to be made for full arm's length governance... More

One billion people overweight, 300 million obese worldwide - October 19, 2006 (Paris)
For every four adults in the world who are malnourished five more are percent of them clinically obese, according to the World Health Organization... More

Hold the phone - and the fries - October 18, 2006 (US)
Dieting in the future will be "weight loss to go" as more people get customized advice on their cellphones, personal digitial assistants and computers and more companies deliver diet foods directly to homes... More

New name needed for schizophrenia - October 11, 2006
The term schizophrenia should be abolished as it has become incorrectly assigned to a range of disorders and has stigmatising connotations within society... More