Fewer high school students were having sex and more were using condoms in 2005, according to the latest government report on the well-being of the nation’s children. The teenage birthrate hit a record low. More young people were finishing high school, and more tots were being read to. Read more>
Archive for the 'Health' Category
Positive trends recorded in U.S. data on teenagers
July 13, 2007Sun-scorched Phoenix takes more heart for its homeless
July 9, 2007The heat wave hitting the Sun Belt’s homeless population is being met with new rigor. “The community responded,” says Jacki Taylor of the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness. “And not just in Phoenix. There’s been a statewide effort to reach out and help care for our men, women, and children on the streets.” Read more>
England bans smoking in enclosed public areas
July 2, 2007On July 1, England joined the rest of the United Kingdom in making enclosed public areas smoke-free. Much of the rest of the world has already introduced similar legislation. Ireland became the first country to impose a comprehensive ban in 2004, followed by New Zealand, Italy, and Sweden. Now, most of Western Europe has antismoking legislation, but only Ireland and the other parts of the UK go as far as England in making no allowance for separate smoking areas. Read more>
New York City smokers’ ranks drop 19%, study says
June 22, 2007The city’s department of health, citing a combination of high taxes, workplace limits and $10 million in grim television advertising, said yesterday that the number of smokers in New York City had declined by 240,000 in the last five year. Read more>
South Africa shows signs of AIDS policy change
June 5, 2007AIDS researchers from around the world will gather in South Africa on Tuesday amid tentative signs the nation is finally embracing mainstream approaches to fighting the epidemic. Hopes of a shift in South Africa’s attitude to a disease affecting nearly 12 percent of its 47 million people have been building since the government in March unveiled a revamped AIDS strategy, including an expanded rollout of life-saving drugs. Read more>
Zimbabwe to put 40,000 more on AIDS drugs by year-end
June 1, 2007The southern African country is among the worst hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, killing more than 3,000 people every week and accounting for 70 percent of hospital admissions.But Zimbabwe, in the grips of a deep recession, has also become one of the few AIDS bright spots on the continent after its HIV prevalence rate declined to 18.1 percent last year from 25 percent six years ago. Read more>
Brazil government to subsidize contraception
May 30, 2007The world’s largest Roman Catholic country is helping to make birth-control pills more affordable, subsidizing a program that will allow people to buy a year’s supply for $2.40. Weeks after Pope Benedict XVI used a five-day visit to Brazil to denounce government- backed contraception efforts, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced a program to give masses of poor people access to birth-control pills that other citizens take for granted. Read more>
Mexico City abortion law goes into effect
May 30, 2007Women’s groups have praised city officials for moving quickly to put the law into effect after its April 24 approval by the Mexico City legislature. Abortion remains illegal in the rest of Mexico. This capital city, along with Puerto Rico, Cuba and Guyana, are the only places in Latin America where abortion is legal. Read more>
U.S. stops breeding chimps for research
May 25, 2007The U.S. National Institutes of Health, which supports a variety of biomedical studies using animals, will stop breeding government-owned chimpanzees for research — a step animal rights advocates lauded on Thursday. Read more>
More U.S. households forbid smoking
May 25, 2007Smoking is forbidden in nearly three out of four U.S. households, a dramatic increase from the 43 percent of homes that prohibited smoking a decade ago, the federal government reported Thursday. Read more>
