Sunday, Dec 08th
Last update05:20:13 AM GMT
Health Glance
“It’s like giving firefighters a bucket of water to put out a fire, but only allowing them to use one cup of water a day,” emergency coordinator Natalie Roberts said. More than two dozen people have died during the current outbreak in Congo, where medical aid workers have faced suspicion and violent attacks.
A division of Swiss pharmaceutical maker Novartis is halting distribution of generic Zantac pills over concerns about an ingredient possibly linked to cancer.
Novartis-owned Sandoz has issued a "precautionary distribution stop" of all medicines containing ranitidine, an antacid and antihistamine used to block stomach acid.
The stop "in all our markets will remain in place" until "further clarification," Novartis said.
"Our internal investigation is ongoing to determine further details," the company said.
The move came after the Food and Drug Administration last week said it had detected low levels of a probable carcinogen in the heartburn drug Zantac and its generic versions.
Purdue Pharma, the company that made billions selling the prescription painkiller OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy in White Plains, New York, days after reaching a tentative settlement with many of the state and local governments suing it over the toll of opioids.
The filing was anticipated before and after the tentative deal, which could be worth up to $12 billion over time, was struck.
“This settlement framework avoids wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and years on protracted litigation,” Steve Miller, chairman of Purdue’s board of directors, said in a statement, “and instead will provide billions of dollars and critical resources to communities across the country trying to cope with the opioid crisis. We will continue to work with state attorneys general and other plaintiff representatives to finalize and implement this agreement as quickly as possible.”
Overall, the number of uninsured in the U.S. rose by 1.9 million people in 2018, the agency report this past week. It was the first jump in nearly a decade. An estimated 27.5 million people, or 8.5% of the population, lacked coverage the entire year. Such increases are considered unusual in a strong economy.
The report showed that a drop in low-income people enrolled in Medicaid was the most significant factor behind the higher number of uninsured people.
An internal memo prepared by a top Trump immigration official recommends that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services be stripped of its authority to delay deportations for undocumented immigrants receiving treatment for serious medical conditions.
The Trump administration in August quietly halted its processing of such requests, which are known as "deferred action." Democrats and activists argued that the move put vulnerable people at risk of deportation and possibly even death.
The memo, obtained by POLITICO, clarifies that the agency would prefer to see its authority removed altogether to grant relief from deportation in such cases.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it has finalized a repeal of the Obama-era clean water rule that spells out protections for large and small bodies of water. The EPA will create a new rule to replace the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulation, which was established in 2015. The Trump administration rule is expected to cover fewer waterways than the current one and weaken existing protections.
Soon after he was inaugurated, President Trump signed an executive order directing the EPA and the Army to "review and rescind or revise" the regulation. The order said that it's in the nation's interest to keep waterways free of pollution, while still promoting economic growth and cutting regulatory uncertainty.
In a closely watched annual release of survey data detailing healthcare and economic trends in 2018, the Census Bureau painted a mixed picture of how households fared during President Trump’s second year in office, a time of strong economic growth and low unemployment.
Earnings grew a solid 3.4%, the percentage of people in poverty fell to 11.8% last year from 12.3% in 2017, and women in particular saw strong employment gains.
But growth in household income, which includes earnings and all other sources of cash, largely stalled after three years of steady growth. Census officials said they could not readily identify the cause.
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