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White House Reassures Drug CEOs: Reimportation Could Be 'Unnecessary'
The Wall Street Journal reports: "Industry representatives met at the White House Tuesday with officials to consider specifics of a cost-saving agreement the industry reached last month with health-care negotiators and to discuss other concerns that the pharmaceutical industry has with the larger health-care overhaul being considered by Congress. As a presidential candidate, President Barack Obama endorsed re-importation, an idea the industry opposes. White House officials have told the industry if the larger health care bill passes, the cost savings will be so great that reimportation will be unnecessary, according to Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America." Some of the pharmaceutical companies represented at the Tuesday meeting included Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc., Amgen Inc., Abbott Laboratories and AstraZeneca.
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FDA Alerts Patients To Medtronic Pacemaker Recall
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is alerting patients to the Class I recall of certain Medtronic Kappa and Sigma pacemakers. These devices may fail due to a separation of wires that connect the electronic circuit to other pacemaker components, such as the battery.
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Obesity Is A Poor Gauge For Detecting High Cholesterol Levels In Children
With the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States, there is concern that overweight and obese children need to be screened for chronic medical conditions, including high cholesterol levels.
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U.N. Agencies Increase Request For Foreign Donations To Zimbabwe

In the midst of Zimbabwe"s growing humanitarian crisis, U.N. agencies on Monday released a revised statement of appeal for foreign donations totaling $718 million for "food, clean water, AIDS medicines and other aid - up from an estimate of $550 million in November," the AP/Washington Post reports (Shaw, AP/Washington Post, 6/1). "Clearly, significant changes in the country"s political and socio-economic landscape have occurred since January 2009," Agostinho Zacarias, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Zimbabwe, said Monday during the launch of the revised Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) 2009 in the capital city of Harare, Zimbabwe. The CAP is a tool used for raising money for humanitarian efforts (IRIN, 6/1). Growing needs in the sectors of agriculture, health, education, food aid and safe water led to the boosted funding request (Banya, Reuters, 6/1). Basic social services in the country have suffered, worsened still by "a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 4,200 people since August and increased hunger," the AP/Washington Post writes (AP/Washington Post, 6/1). "It is uncertain whether the revised CAP will translate into more funding; at $246 million the initial appeal was still only 45 percent funded by the end of May," half of which was carried over from 2008, IRIN writes, adding, "Actual funding to the CAP was therefore only 17 percent, compared to 25 percent at the same time a year ago" (IRIN, 6/1). An additional $8 billion appeal by Zimbabwe"s government to help with economic recovery in the country - "separate from humanitarian aid" - has so far pulled in $400 million "pledged in credit lines since April" (AP/Washington Post, 6/1). The U.N. estimates "six million Zimbabweans have limited or no access to clean water, more than half the population may require food aid this year," and "44,000 children under five years need treatment for acute malnutrition." "Consequences of a protracted economic meltdown and lack of agricultural inputs for the 2008/9 agriculture season, compounded by the collapse of critical social services, continue to place the country in a situation of structural emergency," the U.N. said (Reuters, 6/1). Recent Deaths of Prisoners Suspected To Be Caused By Cholera Outbreak In related news, the Zimbabwe Times examines the recent report that at least ten inmates at a prison in Zimbabwe have died and others were hospitalized over the weekend following a cholera outbreak at the institution. A police spokesperson confirmed the inmate deaths, but did not confirm the cause of death to be cholera (Chikari, Zimbabwe Times, 6/2). This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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