Prevention Matters

The current approach to prevention and control of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C is not working, says an Institute of Medicine study. It finds that as many as 5.3 million people in the United States have hepatitis B or C but most are unaware until they develop liver cancer or liver disease, researchers say. The report concludes that hepatitis is not widely recognized as a serious public health problem. As a result, viral hepatitis prevention, control and surveillance programs have inadequate resources.

In the national effort to lower health care costs by preventing chronic disease and hospitalizations, dentists may be an important part of the solution. A nationwide survey published in the January 2010 issue of the JADA (The Journal of the American Dental Association) reports that dentists would be willing to screen their patients for medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases when they come to the office for dental care. More than three-quarters of the 1,945 dentists who responded thought it was important for them to screen for hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, with a majority indicating they would be willing to check patients also for hepatitis and HIV.

The pediatrician wife of New Hampshire’s governor is backing legislation that would require the state’s schools to record children’s body mass index. Dr. Susan Lynch is a strong advocate for preventing and addressing childhood obesity, and says schools are a good place to screen children because not all have doctors to take the measurement. She believes that the measurement is more helpful than simply looking at a child’s weight to determine health risks of being under- or overweight.

E-cigarette merchants are wasting no time in taking advantage of a recent federal court ruling that says e-cigarettes are exempt from regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.
"Smoke Wherever You Want, Whenever You Want!" proclaims a website named "getsmartsmoker.com" that is the object of new mass e-mail marketing campaign. "Smokers can finally regain the freedom to smoke anywhere: bars, restaurants, planes, anywhere smoking has been banned."  Funny that the merchant would publish a quote about the smoking hazards of a product that they claim has none.

The ad also includes a quote from action movie hero/Calif. Gov./Arnold Schwarzenegger in which  he says that, while children under 18 should not be allowed access to e-cigs, "If adults want to purchase and consume these products with an understanding of the associated health risks, they should be able to do." It also includes a form that allows you to order a free (plus $9.95 shipping and handling) trial e-cigarette.

Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin is calling for the establishment of a "new normal" in the war on obesity and overweight, in which the goals transcend the current fixation on numerical targets associated with weight or the body-mass index (BMI). Benjamin was joined by First Lady Michelle Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius in releasing her first official report, entitled The Surgeon General’s Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation 2010.

"The real reward has to be something that people can feel and enjoy and celebrate," Benjamin writes. "That reward is invigorating, energizing, joyous health. It is a level of health that allows people to embrace each day and live their lives to the fullest—without disease, disability, or lost productivity."


Benjamin's report seeks to update, strengthen and expand the 2001 Surgeon General’s Call to Action on obesity and overweight issued by then-Surgeon General David Satcher. She identifies opportunities for prevention to make a difference in numerous settings - the home, the community, child care settings, schools, work sites and the medical community.

The first lady recently announced that she will launch a major initiative on childhood obesity in the next few weeks and has asked HHS to play a key role.

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New York City public schools cut 4.6 billion calories and 422 million grams of fat a year from students’ diets by eliminating whole milk, a switch that districts are adopting in the U.S. fight against obesity. Whole milk was cut out in 2006, and fat-free chocolate milk replaced low-fat chocolate milk, according to a study that’s the first to measure how banning whole milk affects school nutrition. Students didn’t drink less of the healthier options, and average milk consumption increased 1.3 percent from 2004 to 2009, researchers said in the report published today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kudos to the San Francisco Chronicle's for noticing the prevention provisions in the health reform bills being worked out by Congress, and for realizing they are substantial.

"There's a sleeper in both the House and Senate bills that could do more to promote health in the long run than any of the insurance we may - or may not - get," Lucy Johns, a health care planning and policy consultant in San Francisco, writes in a Chronicle column.

"Both bills address long-term disease prevention and health promotion with innovative strategies and startling amounts of funding," she writes. "The House appropriates $15.4 billion over five years, the Senate over $7 billion. This level of federal investment nibbles at the historic imbalance between spending for medical services and spending that averts the need for services in the first place.