Health

CHICAGO (AP) — Emboldened anti-abortion activists are looking to the 2024 presidential election as an opportunity to solidify their influence over the Republican Party. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the most influential group in the anti-abortion movement, is telling each potential GOP... Read More

HONOLULU — Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is continuing to press law enforcement and other officials to stem the rising tide of gender-based violence and sex-trafficking involving Native Hawaiian women and girls. Recently she traveled back to the big island from... Read More

WASHINGTON — An experimental vaccine against Marburg virus, a member of the Ebola virus family that causes death in a large proportion of infected individuals, proved safe and induced an immune response in a small, first-in-human clinical trial. The findings... Read More

WASHINGTON — The federal government will begin auditing Medicare Advantage insurers under a new rule finalized Monday, the heightened scrutiny expected to return as much as $4.7 billion to Medicare’s trust fund over the next 10 years. Watchdog groups had... Read More

WASHINGTON — Women whose employers opted out of covering contraceptives under their health insurance plans on religious grounds could regain no-cost access to birth control under new rules proposed by the Biden administration. If implemented, the rules, which were announced... Read More

WASHINGTON — The White House said Monday that President Biden will end dual national emergencies declared to deal with the COVID-19 public health crisis in May, nearly three years after they were first declared. The announcement came 24 hours before... Read More

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Senate Democrats defeated several bills Thursday that would have restricted abortion access in the state, including a proposed 15-week ban with exceptions that was a priority for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The Senate Committee on... Read More

WASHINGTON — We all think of January as our “makeover” month. Diets start, exercise equipment gets an extra look and when the weather is good, walks get just a little bit longer. Still, for most of us, dropping unwanted pounds... Read More

WASHINGTON — A probiotic may be effective in cleansing the body of staph-related super infections, according to a new study from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Though they say more research is needed, a press release on... Read More

WASHINGTON — Scientists with the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research have come up with a new way to get life-saving drugs directly into cancer cells, an advance they say will enable more effective treatments for cancer with fewer... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials want to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the annual flu shot. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a simplified approach for future vaccination efforts, allowing most adults and children to get a... Read More

WASHINGTON — Twenty nationally recognized public health and nutrition experts have been tapped by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to help draft the nation’s revised dietary guidelines. The first meeting of the new Dietary Guidelines... Read More

WASHINGTON — Like many things in Washington, it all depends on how you look at it. When it comes to bed bugs, things have slightly improved in the District of Columbia since the height of the pandemic, when the pest... Read More

WASHINGTON — Web searches for melatonin are up about 36%, suggesting sleep may be harder to come by during the winter months, a new survey from the Sleep Foundation says. The D.C.-based foundation recently analyzed about 18 years of data... Read More

WASHINGTON — An investigational HIV vaccine regimen tested among men who have sex with men and transgender people was safe but did not provide protection against HIV acquisition, an independent monitoring board has determined.  The Phase 3 clinical trial for... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services announced new steps on Wednesday aimed at reducing the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications in nursing homes. “No nursing home resident should be improperly diagnosed with schizophrenia or given an inappropriate... Read More

ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is adding uterine cancer to the conditions covered under the World Trade Center Health Program. Notice of the addition is scheduled to be published in Wednesday’s edition of the Federal Register.... Read More

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams outlined his vision for a new “New York City Women’s Health Agenda” Tuesday aimed at ending what he called “decades of systemic inequity” that has negatively impacted women across the city’s... Read More

WASHINGTON — Perhaps the highest percentage to date — 76% — of undergraduate college students surveyed in a 2021 Gallup poll suggested that they have considered dropping out of college due to mental health concerns. This statistic was recently shared... Read More

WASHINGTON — House Republicans put more pressure on social media companies Thursday by introducing a bill that would block the Biden administration from trying to remove certain kinds of information from their websites. Republicans who introduced the bill said they... Read More

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul used her first State of the State address since being elected to a full four-year term in November 2022 to vow to dramatically change the state’s approach to dealing with mental health... Read More

WASHINGTON — Being hospitalized with an infection raised the risk of patients’ subsequent dementia diagnosis, according to a new report. For the purpose of the study, which was published in JAMA Network Open, researchers followed the stories of nearly 16,000... Read More

WASHINGTON — Every five years, the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services release their Dietary Guidelines for Americans with much fanfare, followed, no doubt, by parents across the United States urging their children to eat their peas... Read More

NEW YORK — More than 7,000 nurses at Mount Sinai Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center walked off the job this morning after talks to avert a strike fell apart overnight. The nurses are seeking better wages and working conditions.... Read More

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the state’s ban on abortion six weeks into a pregnancy, ruling the restriction violates the state constitution’s right to privacy. The 3-2 ruling comes nearly two years after... Read More

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania said Thursday that he will undergo surgery for prostate cancer but is expected to make a full recovery. Casey, 62, revealed his diagnosis via Twitter Thursday morning. “While this news came... Read More

WASHINGTON — An abortion pill previously available only from a certified doctor, clinic or two online pharmacies will soon be obtainable at local pharmacies with a prescription, the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday. Mifepristone is the first of two... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration’s contentious approval of a questionable Alzheimer’s drug took another hit Thursday as congressional investigators called the process “rife with irregularities.” The 18-month investigation by two House committees detailed “atypical collaboration” between FDA... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service is developing new tests and tools to identify and track the coronavirus and its variants in wild and domestic animals. The initiative, part of a $300 million provision in the... Read More

WASHINGTON — A bill introduced in the Senate last week would provide grants to organizations, including abortion funding, to offset the state-imposed costs on women who now need to travel to meet their reproductive health needs. The bill, introduced by... Read More