Chalit Pongpitakwiset has always felt like a man. Several days after receiving his first testosterone injection, Chalit returned to get a blood test at Tangerine, the new clinic inside a Red Cross centre in downtown Bangkok. The centre is a pilot programme that organisers hope could be replicated across Asia.
More than 500 protesters led by civil rights activist Jesse Jackson marched to the Flint water plant on Friday to demand clean water and the replacement of corroding pipes in response to the city's lead contamination crisis. As a cost-cutting measure in 2014, Flint switched its water system from Detroit to a local river. The more corrosive water from the river leached lead from water system pipes, leading to high levels of lead in hundreds of homes.
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) called on Wednesday for $56 million to combat the Zika virus, a disease that has been linked to severe birth defects in Brazil and has spread to nearly 30 countries and territories. A public health expert, Lawrence Gostin, said the United Nations health agency had “grossly underestimated” the need as the virus, which has spread rapidly across the Americas, will likely spread to many other regions. The WHO declared the outbreak a global public health emergency on Feb. 1, noting the association of the virus with two neurological disorders: microcephaly in babies and Guillain-Barre syndrome that can cause paralysis.
(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc said its Wyeth unit has agreed to pay $784.6 million to settle cases related to the calculation of Medicaid rebates for a drug between 2001 and 2006. The claims alleged that Wyeth’s calculation of rebates for Protonix violated the Federal Civil False Claims Act and other laws. Pfizer also said it was reissuing its financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year to reflect this charge.
China plans to consolidate its huge and fragmented drug market and will support a greater role for traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), the central government said in a statement on Sunday following a meeting of the State Council. China will also strengthen safety controls and traceability of domestic drugs, the statement said, part of an ambitious program of healthcare reforms to improve home-made medicines and reduce reliance on generic and more innovative drugs from overseas. “Accelerating the development of our domestic drug industry will better serve our people's healthcare needs, help build a healthier China and unleash economic growth potential,” the statement posted on the central government website said.
By Silvio Cascione BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil's government launched a nationwide campaign on Saturday to fight the Zika virus, with President Dilma Rousseff and cabinet ministers personally visiting homes and handing out leaflets along with 220,000 troops. Under a scorching sun in the neighborhood of Zepellin in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, which will host the Olympic Games in August, Rousseff said everyone needed to take part in the battle against the mosquito carrying Zika, suspected of causing the birth defect microcephaly. “Brazil and the world have lost the battle against dengue, but we won the war against yellow fever, which is carried by the same mosquito.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela has announced the first Zika-related deaths in the South American country.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Millions of Indian children are getting deworming treatment in a massive national campaign to prevent parasitic worms from infecting them and impairing their mental and physical development.
By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) – Adolescents between 12 and 18 years old in the U.S. should be screened for depression, according to guidelines reaffirmed by a government-backed panel of prevention experts. “From a parent’s perspective, I think it’s important for them to know that depression can be relatively common in adolescence and we have ways to treat it,” said Dr. Alex Krist, a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
Travelers coming back from any outbreak zones of the Zika virus will need to wait at least 28 days before giving blood to avoid any risk of transmission, French Health Minister Marisol Touraine said on Sunday. Zika, which is rapidly spreading through the Americas and has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is primarily transmitted through mosquito bites. “Someone who comes from a zone where there is Zika can not give blood for 28 days,” Touraine said in an interview with Europe 1 radio, news channel iTele and Le Monday daily.