China and AIDS: China has issued its first official regulations on preventing and controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS, including free testing and medication for the nation's poor. The law, which took effect Mar. 1, protects people with HIV/AIDS from discrimination and criminalizes intentionally spreading the disease. UNAIDS estimates that up to 10 million people in China could be infected by 2010. In January, the Chinese government estimated that 650 000 people were living with HIV, including 75 000 with AIDS.
TB campaign: Two Nobel Peace Laureates and several global health care organizations are calling on governments to train more health care workers and finance and intensify efforts to fight tuberculosis (TB) in the 22 countries with the largest number of new TB cases. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Betty Williams, who co-founded the Community of Peace People in Northern Ireland, are working with Eli Lilly & Company and 6 global health and relief organizations to highlight the human resources crisis in TB treatment. A well-trained health care workforce is needed if countries afflicted with high rates of TB are to fully implement control strategies, the World Medical Association says in a news release announcing the campaign. According to the Stop TB Partnership, a strategy that commits US $250 million each year could save 14 million more lives over the next 10 years. TB causes 9 million new cases and 2 million deaths each year. “I urge the G8, governments of TB-burdened countries, and international donors to address this gap in funding for human resources urgently,” says Tutu, who had TB as a child.
No junk: Canadian schools are implementing health and nutrition policies to fight the rising incidence of obesity among children. Ontario and Alberta have made daily physical activity mandatory in the curriculum this year. New Brunswick and British Columbia have introduced guidelines to remove foods from schools that have minimum nutritional value and encourage healthier food choices. In Nova Scotia, a policy is under discussion that would remove all unhealthy choices from vending machines and cafeterias. And some schools in Quebec and Saskatchewan have banned soft drink machines. Statistics Canada reports 26% of Canadian children aged 2 to 17 are overweight or obese. — Andréa Ventimiglia, Ottawa
BC is best: A report from the Conference Board of Canada finds that British Columbia and Alberta have the top performing health systems in Canada overall, but all 10 provinces have room for improvement. Health Provinces, Health Canada: a Provincial Benchmarking Report compared performance among provincial health care systems based on 70 comparable health indicators in 2004. BC was the top performer in terms of overall population and health outcomes, but posted second-lowest in terms of patient satisfaction. The report also compared Canada's health performance to the 23 leading OECD countries, finding, once again, that Canada places in the middle range at number 11, tied with Iceland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The Conference Board of Canada is an independent, not-for-profit applied research organization.
Premium increase: Nova Scotia seniors will see their annual pharmacare premium rise to $400 a year as of Apr. 1, an increase of $10 a year. The province is also raising the annual cap on seniors' co-payments on each prescription by $10, to $360 per year. In total, the province anticipates it will spend $172 million in 2006–07 for the Seniors' Pharmacare program. It serves more than 95 000 people in the province. Thousands of low-income seniors, including those who receive the federal Guaranteed Income Supplement, are either exempt from paying the premiums, or else pay a reduced amount. “The Seniors' Pharmacare program is an important part of the health care system that must remain both affordable to seniors and sustainable over time,” Health Minister Chris d'Entremont said in a statement announcing the increases. “As prescription drug costs continue to rise, a model increase in the fees will allow the program to continue to provide benefits to the greatest number of seniors.” — Compiled by Barbara Sibbald and Laura Eggertson, CMAJ