Health

NOVANEWS Dear, Big news: UNICEF just announced that the number of children under the age of five dying each day has significantly dropped over the past year: from 24,000 to 22,000. We're asking you to take action today and help make that number ZERO. We know you believe that 22,000 children dying from preventable causes each day is 22,000 too many. They die from causes most of us will never have to worry about - such as starvation, unsanitary living conditions, no access to clean drinking water, or lack of a five-cent vaccine. We are making remarkable progress toward a world in which no child dies from preventable causes, and can see a light at the end of the tunnel. But without a strong commitment by the U.S. government, we will never reach zero. Please urge Congress to fully fund our com...

NOVANEWS Documentary Examines Mental Trauma Of Iraq Veterans, Suicides September 8, 2010  by Michael Leon   From the VA: The AP (9/8, Jennings) reports that the documentary “Ward 54,” named after the psychiatric wing of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, is being shown out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. It “explores the trauma of three US war veterans who served in Iraq and how the military handled their cases,” as well as “the rise in military suicides following Iraq duty.”      Reuters (9/8, Aloisi) reports that one of the veterans the film follows is Kristofer Goldsmith, who tried to kill himself upon being told he would return to Iraq. Now, he is fighting legally to receive an honorable discharge from the army despite his suicide attempt.

NOVANEWS The US State Secretary Hillary Clinton says US fuels drug violence in Mexico. The availability of narcotics and the abuse of prescription drugs have affected almost everyone in the United States, says a recently released report. "The trafficking and abuse of drugs affects everyone," said Michael T. Walther, director of the Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center, which produced the 2010 report released on Thursday, CNN reported. "The economic cost alone is estimated at nearly USD 215 billion annually." According to the report, the Mexican cartels establish "the single greatest drug trafficking threat to the United States." The Mexican organizations have managed so far to send illegal drugs to almost every region in the US and are expanding their reach even further t...

NOVANEWS News Release - For Immediate Release - Tuesday, February 9, 2010 ·        Gisha and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel appealed to the High Court of Justice on behalf of Issam Hamdan against a District Court ruling blocking his exit from Gaza for emergency medical treatment. ·        The State refuses to allow him out of Gaza based on its claim that he may settle in the West Bank after treatment. ·        Mr. Hamdan requires immediate surgical intervention; suffers from severe pain and paralysis of his left side. ·        Israel will bear no cost for the treatment, to be performed in a Palestinian hospital in east Jerusalem, and admits that it makes no security claim against Mr. Hamdan. ·        Mr. Hamdan's case is part of a new trend in which Israel blocks treatment for Gaza pat...