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Getting More "Health," Less "Sickness" Into Marriage Vows
It"s June, the month when many couples promise to stay together "in sickness and in health."

House, Senate Committees Approve Bills That Include Influenza Pandemic Funds
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to approve a $91.3 billion defense and foreign aid spending bill that includes President Obama"s request for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to fight a potential influenza pandemic, the AP/Winston-Salem Journal reports. The House version of the bill, approved Thursday in a 368-60 vote, adds $500 million to the pandemic preparedness funds (AP/Winston-Salem Journal, 5/15). Last month, the public health emergency involving the H1N1 influenza virus spurred congressional lawmakers to rethink the elimination of $870 million from the economic stimulus package that would have been used to combat an influenza pandemic. Democratic legislators eliminated the funds in order to garner support from congressional Republicans to pass the stimulus package (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/28).
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Pitt School Of Nursing Faculty Inducted Into American Academy Of Nursing
Three faculty members from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing will be inducted as fellows into the American Academy of Nursing.
Cardiovascular

Foreign Aid Donors Should Prioritize Maternal Mortality In Developing Countries, NYT Opinion Piece Says

One of the "most lethal forms of sex discrimination" is the "systematic inattention to reproductive health care, from family planning to childbirth" in developing countries, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes. According to Kristof, a woman dies every minute somewhere in the world from pregnancy or childbirth complications, and 20 times that number suffer childbirth injuries. Providers of foreign aid, including the U.S., "have never shown much interest in maternal mortality, and impoverished women are typically the most voiceless, neglected people in their own countries -- so they die at astonishing rates," Kristof writes.Kristof highlights the childbirth experience of a 19-year-old Pakistani woman named Shazia Allahdita whose infant died in childbirth after her relatives refused to take her to the hospital because they did not want to pay for the taxi fare. Kristof writes that "[i]f men had uteruses, "paternity wards" would get res, ambulances would transport pregnant men to hospitals free of charge, deliveries would be free, and the Group of Eight industrialized nations would make paternal mortality a top priority." Kristof notes that there is "the dawn of a global movement against maternal mortality," with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon working with the U.S. and other countries to plan a "landmark global health session" on Sept. 23. The session will focus, in part, on maternal health, which Kristof terms a "milestone." He concludes, "My dream is that Barack and Michelle Obama will leap forward and adopt this cause -- and transform the prospects for so many young women like Shazia" (Kristof, New York Times, 7/29). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women"s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women"s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company. © 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.


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