Content about Public health

WASHINGTON — More than 1.3 million emergency room visits in 2010 were related to abuse of prescription drugs, and the problem has become widespread enough that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies it as an epidemic. In response, curbing abuse of prescription drugs has become a cornerstone of the Obama administration's drug policy.

DUBLIN, Ohio — Cardinal Health's philanthropic division is offering grants to organizations for programs to prevent abuse and misuse of prescription drugs.

The Cardinal Health Foundation said it was inviting non-profits in 18 locations around the country, as well as Puerto Rico, to apply for grant funding. The announcement marks the fourth year of the foundation's Prescription Drug Abuse and Misuse Prevention Grant Program.

NEW YORK — Automatic spending cuts stemming from the failure of Congress and the White House to reach a budget deal will likely harm the disease-preventing capabilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a new report.

GlobalData, a market research and analytics firm, said the slashing of the CDC's funding by $450 million, or 8%, due to the sequester would both hamper its ability to prevent infectious diseases through immunization, surveillance and response programs while also failing to accomplish the goal of decreasing federal spending.

WASHINGTON — A new health initiative will address cardiovascular disease among African-Americans living in three counties in Alabama where the problem is considered significant.

ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday announced the launch of its CDC Influenza application for clinicians and other healthcare professionals on the Apple platform. The app makes it easy to access CDC’s latest recommendations and influenza activity updates on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, the agency stated.

An Android support will be added in a future update, CDC noted. 

ATLANTA — The influenza season is officially underway as flu incidence is already above the national threshold, Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters during a teleconference Monday. "This is the earliest regular flu season we've had in nearly a decade, since the 2003-2004 flu season," he said. "That was an early and severe flu year, and while flu is always unpredictable, the early nature of the cases as well as the specific strains we're seeing suggest that this could be a bad flu year."

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Current cigarette smoking among 12- to 17-year-olds fell significantly from 2002 to 2010 in 41 states, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration issued last week. The report also found that during the same period, adolescent perception of risk from cigarette smoking has remained unchanged in most states.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services last week unveiled a new free Web-based application, MappyHealth, which utilizes Twitter to help track health concerns at the community level in real time.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens in May named Alan London chief medical officer of Take Care Health Systems Consumer Solutions Group. In the newly created position, London will have leadership responsibility in building and maintaining external physician and health system relationships for Take Care Clinics while also providing strategic direction and leadership for the group’s service expansion, quality, clinical education and training, and collaborative practice agreement functions.

NEW YORK — More patients are actively looking for and expecting to find mobile health solutions, according to the global Economist Intelligence Unit report, which was commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers and released Thursday.

Roughly one-half of patients surveyed for this report predict that mHealth will improve the convenience, cost and quality of their health care in the next three years. Meanwhile, 6-in-10 doctors and payers believe that its widespread adoption in their countries is inevitable in the near future.

FOSTER CITY, Calif. — An expert panel at the Food and Drug Administration has recommended that the agency approve a drug made by Gilead Sciences for lowering the risk of infection by the virus that causes AIDS.