Prevention Matters

Changing policies on HIV/AIDS in South Africa and China have been named Partnership for Prevention’s “Best Prevention Idea of the Week,” while a protein-laced vodka that’s being marketed to “health conscious” people was named “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.”

Billed as "alcohol for the health-conscious" the new, patent-pending Devotion Vodka is being marketed to active, fitness-oriented individuals who also enjoy an active nightlife. But not everybody’s drinking to that. “The health argument this company and its president has latched onto and promoted – that alcohol is good for your health – has been debunked as myth,” says the California-based The Marin Institute: “Yet PR flacks and media outlets continue to push news stories like the introduction of Devotion as another example of the healthy benefits of alcoholic products.”

An Ohio insurance company’s program to make fresh produce available to its customers was named Partnership for Prevention's "Best Prevention Idea of the Week," while a Chinese governmental order that civil servants smoke 230,000 packs of cigarettes a year was named the "Worst Prevention Idea of the week."

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters, the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.

BEST

Ohio Insurance Company Provides Fresh Produce to Members

http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2009/05/medical_mutual_customers_can_g.html

Medical Mutual of Ohio has worked out an agreement that allows its 1.6 million Ohio customers to receive regular shipments from Chef's Garden, a 225-acre farm that otherwise grows food exclusively for some of the finest eateries in America, for $25 a box. All customers have to do is go to the insurance company's Web site, log onto "My Health Plan" and follow the Chef's Garden instructions.



WORST

Chinese county orders officials to smoke

http://www.oxha.org/alliance-alert/2009-q2-april-june/alert.2009-05-05.1352397291

The government in Gong’an county, China, has ordered local officials (civil servants and even teachers) to smoke 230,000 packs of cigarettes a year. This is an attempt to raise tax revenues, as the cigarettes have to be of the local, Hubei, brand. Those who do not smoke enough, or who smoke other brands, face a fine – or even the sack.