“Health donors, policymakers, and practitioners continuously make life-and-death decisions about which type of patients receive what interventions, when, and at what cost. These decisions—as consequential as they are— often result from ad hoc, nontransparent processes driven more by inertia

A federal health official’s ruling has cleared the way for 50 different types of cancer to be added to the list of sicknesses covered by a $4.3 billion fund set up to compensate and treat people exposed to the toxic smoke, dust and fumes in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.The

Doctors were told last month that we should stop doing so many screenings for prostate cancer with the prostate-specific antigen test. We learned that sigmoidoscopy is a cheaper, easier and effective alternative to colonoscopy for colon cancer screening. And a study I led turned up strong evidence t

CHICAGO — Taking periodic breaks from a commonly used treatment for prostate cancer could shorten men’s lives, researchers reported here on SaturdayIn a large study, intermittent hormonal therapy proved to be less effective than continuous therapy for certain men with metastatic prostate cancer.The

Doctors often order tests and recommend drugs or procedures when they shouldn’t — sometimes even when they know they shouldn’t. The problem has become so serious that such groups as the American College of Physicians, the ABIM Foundation, the National Physicians Alliance and a coalition of medical s

The debate over the price of the vaccine against HPV has become intense When it comes to making the shot against cervical cancer the national vaccine programme, which means girls between the ages of 12-18 will receive it free, price is the matter.The debate over the price of the vaccine against Huma

http://wapo.st/K7vTBPWhat’s in a name? That’s a question that experts are wrestling with as they prepare to revise the diagnostic manual that spells out the criteria for addiction and other substance-use problems.The catalyst for this discussion is a set of proposed changes to the Diagnostic and Sta

About one in six children and teenagers are also obese, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association report which showed that obesity remains a significant problem in US society despite efforts to combat it.“Obesity prevalence shows little change over the past 12 years, although the

Concern over drug-resistant strains of TB is growing, with similar ‘incurable’ TB emerging in Italy and Iran. Doctors in Mumbai said 12 patients had a “totally drug resistant” form of the infection, and three have died.The Indian Health Ministry is investigating the cases and has sent a team of doct

The WHO report says there were over 26,000 measles cases in 36 European countries from January to October 2011.Western European countries reported 83% of those cases, with 14,000 in France alone.In England and Wales, there were just under 1,000 confirmed measles cases in that period – compared with