HIV infections hit record high - The Guardian 25th November 2008

Record numbers of people in the UK are living with HIV, with more than half of newly diagnosed infections found in heterosexuals, figures revealed today.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said that in 2007 an estimated 77,400 people had the virus, up from 73,000 in the previous year. More than a quarter of those infected remained unaware of their status.

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tags: HIV, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Statisitical Data, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian

Additional Stories

1. Background: The search for the elusive cure for Aids - The Guardian 26th November 2008
2. Sharp rise in heterosexual HIV cases - The Independent 26th November 2008
3. ‘Straight’ HIV transmission doubles in four years - The Times 25th November 2008
4. HIV cases double in just four years among British men and women having ’straight’ sex - Daily Mail 25th November 2008
5. Rise in UK HIV numbers continues - BBC Health News 25th November 2008

Pubs face happy-hour ban in plans to curb binge drinking - The Guardian 26th November 2008

Local authorities are to be given the power to ban happy hours, all you can drink offers and other price promotions in troublesome pubs and bars, as part of a drive to tackle Britain's binge drinking culture.

The package to be unveiled next week is also expected to include cigarette-style health warnings on television advertising for drinks, and labels on cans and bottles spelling out their alcohol-unit content.

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tags: Legislation, Alcohol, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian, Local Authorities

Additional Story

1. Pubs and clubs told to bring an end to happy hours - The Times 26th November 2008

Ray Jones on the required support for and confidence in all working in child protection following the Baby P case - The Guardian 26th November 2008

I fear that we are about to make the most vulnerable children less likely to be protected, as we destabilise and destroy one of the safest child protection systems in the world. Children are not protected by procedures and records. They are protected by skilled, confident and competent workers, such as social workers, health visitors, doctors and police officers, who are closest to the children and their families. These professionals need the stability, time and management support, and the public confidence, to be able to do their jobs well.

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tags: Local Authorities, Social Services, NHS, Child Protection, Quality, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian

Additional Story

1. Perter Beresford on the underlying failings of agencies and practitioners leading to the Baby P tragedy - The Guardian 26th November 2008
2. Baby P councillors cling on to their jobs as opposition leaders bid to oust them - Daily Mail 25th November 2008

David Brindle on the reforms needed in the care system of older and disabled people - The Guardian 26th November 2008

A landmark report calls for reform of a care system that older and disabled people find unfair, unaffordable and unable to meet their needs

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tags: Health, News, UHN, The Guardian, Social Services, Older People, Financial Management, Health Service Economics

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1. Green light for care law overhaul - The Guardian 26th November 2008

Zoe Williams: Pro-choice taboo - The Guardian 26th November 2008

It doesn't make you a eugenicist to speak up for the right to abort a foetus that may have Down's

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tags: The Guardian, Health, News, UHN, Abortion, Disabilities, Ethics

Mass testing plan to tackle Aids - The Guardian 26th November 2008

A radical new strategy to stop the Aids epidemic in its tracks was proposed yesterday by World Health Organisation scientists but ran into immediate controversy over its implications for human rights.

The plan involves testing everybody for HIV every year in hard-hit areas like sub-Saharan Africa and immediately putting those who are positive on Aids drugs. It could slash dramatically the number of new infections, because Aids drugs lower the levels of virus in the body, making HIV transmission through unprotected sex much less likely.

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tags: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, HIV, Diagnosis, IHN, Health, News, The Guardian

Scientists attack plan to upgrade cannabis - The Guardian 25th November 2008

Government plans to overrule its own drug advisers and reclassify cannabis as a more dangerous substance are attacked by leading scientists and MPs in a letter to the Guardian today.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, intends to move cannabis from class C to class B, where it will sit alongside amphetamines, such as speed, and barbiturates. The move comes despite repeated recommendations from the government’s drug advisers that its classification should not be upgraded.

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tags: Drugs of Abuse, Legislation, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian

Additional Stories

1. Letter: Lords must stop plan to reclassify cannabis- The Guardian 25th November 2008
2. Government advisors could call for Ecstasy to be downgraded - The Telegraph 25th November 2008
3. Government experts could soon back plans to downgrade Ecstasy to a Class B drug - Daily Mail 25th November 2008

The Welllcome Collection: where science and art are encouraged to meet Stuart Jeffries profiles the work of the Wellcome Collection - The Guardian 25t

On the wall of the Wellcome Collection in London is a colour pencil drawing of a man’s crotch that makes me wince. It is a self-portrait, featuring a dangling penis, curly thigh hairs and a post-operative scar indicating that the subject has had a testicle removed. It is by Michael Landy, the British artist perhaps best known for his 2001 artwork Breakdown, a performance piece in which he destroyed everything he owned at the old C&A store on Oxford Street.

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tags: Art, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian

The reluctant dieter: Kira Cochrane remembers how difficult it is to diet in the dog days of winter- The Guardian 25th November 2008

The days have grown colder, the nights have grown longer, and I’ve remembered just how difficult it is to diet come the dog days of winter. Of course, it’s tough to lose weight in any season, but at least salads seem vaguely relevant in summer, and the fear of baring your flesh is a spur to that dread concept: moderation. Once early winter arrives, only carbohydrates seem attractive, consumed while swaddled in duvet.

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tags: Diet, Nutrition, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian

Shock tactics: Kate Hilpern reports on the anti-abortion presentations in schools- The Guardian 25th November 2008

Anti-abortion campaigners are being allowed into schools to present their arguments to teenagers, and are making converts. But what about the facts? Kate Hilpern reports

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tags: Sex Education, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian, Abortion, Ethics

College Voices: November 25, the carer- The Guardian 25th November 2008

I became a carer when I was eight. My mum had a bowel disorder and various health conditions. Sometimes she’d be bedridden for weeks at a time.

At first my nan used to help out a lot. Then she developed lung cancer, so I was helping out with both of them. My nan died when I was 11, so I was on my own after that. My dad wasn’t around and there wasn’t any other family I was aware of.

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tags: Carers, Health, News, UHN, Schools, Education, Young People, The Guardian

Fines for loss of confidential data could run into millions- The Guardian 25th November 2008

The information commissioner is to be given sweeping new powers to fine those in Whitehall and private companies who deliberately or recklessly lose confidential personal information, Jack Straw, the justice secretary, disclosed yesterday.

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tags: Data Protection, Legislation, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian

Early warning: Tom Nolan describes the cancer symptoms to look out for - The Guardian 25th November 2008

Britain has one of the worst cancer survival rates in Europe - and late diagnosis is the main reason. Tom Nolan describes the symptoms to look out for

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tags: The Guardian, Cancer, Health, News, Diagnosis, UHN

Breast cancer can regress without treatment, says study- The Guardian 25th November 2008

Some breast cancers picked up by routine screening and treated with surgery and chemotherapy would have regressed naturally if they had been left, scientists said last night. Research published in a leading medical journal will reopen the debate over breast screening.

tags: IHN, Health, News, The Guardian, Breast Cancer

Additional Story

1. Breast cancer screening study suggests some tumours may cure themselves - The Telegraph 24th November 2008

Zimbabwe on brink of collapse as outbreak of cholera spreads- The Guardian 25th November 2008

The situation in Zimbabwe may soon “implode” as a cholera outbreak spreads and basic services collapse, South African leaders and a group of international statesmen warned yesterday.

On the eve of talks in South Africa between Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party and opposition rivals, South African leaders sharply upgraded their crisis assessment and warned of Zimbabwe’s imminent collapse if urgent action was not taken.

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tags: Cholera, IHN, The Guardian, Health, News, Developing Countries

Anger at tagging plan to fight HIV in Indonesia- The Guardian 25th November 2008

People with HIV in Papua, Indonesia, who are deemed to be “sexually aggressive” may be microchipped to enable the authorities to identify, track and punish those who deliberately infect others under a plan which has the backing of the provincial parliament.

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tags: The Guardian, IHN, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, HIV, Legislation

Only five out of 51 hospitals pass hygiene test, say inspectors - The Guardian 24th November 2008

Nearly all hospitals are failing to meet hygiene and cleanliness standards set by the government to prevent superbug outbreaks, inspectors say today. Most of the breaches are not serious, but the Healthcare Commission warns that only consistent and comprehensive controls in all NHS trusts will ensure that infection rates for MRSA, Clostridium difficile and other hospital-acquired infections continue to fall.

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tags: Health, News, UHN, The Guardian, Hygiene, Infection Control, Hospitals

Additional Stories

1. Hospitals fail to pass latest superbug hygiene test - The Times 24th November 2008
2. 90% of our hospitals are failing the superbug test despite the Government's hygiene code - Daily Mail 24th November 2008
3. Acute hospitals fail hygiene test - BBC Health News 24th November 2008

Hairspray exposure may increase birth defect risk- The Guardian 22nd November 2008

Scientists have found preliminary evidence that exposure to hairspray during the first three months of pregnancy increases the risk of a common genetic deformity in baby boys.

The team found that the risk of hypospadias - a defect in which the urinary opening forms on the underside of the penis - increased from 4 in 1,000 boys to 9.6 in 1,000 when the mother was exposed to hairspray during her work.

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tags: Health, News, Congenital Malformations, Occupational Health, UHN, The Guardian

Additional Stories

1. Pregnant women exposed to hairspray double chances of genital defect in boys - Daily Mail 21st November 2008
2. Hairspray linked to birth defect - BBC Health News 21st November 2008

A working life: Taher Ali Qassim, public health manager - The Guardian 22nd November 2008

From herding Yemeni goats to persuading Liverpudlians to drink responsibly, public health manager Taher Ali Qassim tells Chris Arnot about his unpredictable career

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tags: Public Health, Health, News, CMHN, UHN, The Guardian

Are modern buggies bad for babies? - The Guardian 22nd November 2008

Liz Attenborough has been campaigning against forward-facing buggies since 2003 and now she has the evidence to back up her opinion. But, asks Sally Williams, are they really such a bad thing?

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tags: Stress, Infants, Psychology, Health, News, UHN, The Guardian, Mental Health