THIS ISSUE AVAILABLE ONLINE WITH EXPANDED INFORMATION AND PHOTOS AT:
http://www.hhs.gov/news/newsletter/weekly
IN THIS ISSUE:
1) HHS Announces FDA Action Plan to Block Counterfeit Drugs
2) Statement by Tommy G. Thompson Secretary of Health and Human Services On National Donor Day, February 14, 2004
3) Medicare Minute
4) Stopping Germs at Home, Work and School
5) Secretary Thompson's Public Schedule:
HHS Announces FDA Action Plan to Block Counterfeit Drugs
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson released a final report Wednesday developed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that highlight specific steps to combat criminal efforts to introduce counterfeit drugs into the U.S. drug supply.
"Americans must have confidence in their medications even as we face more sophisticated and better organized counterfeit operations," HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said. "This task force's report provides a clear roadmap to prevent drug counterfeiting and to quickly catch and stop those who attempt it. We will take the necessary steps to protect all Americans from those who would exploit and harm them by selling counterfeit drugs."
The report outlines what the Department is doing to protect Americans from the growing number of sophisticated criminal efforts to profit from distribution of counterfeit drugs. The report highlights appropriate actions in six critical areas which include securing the actual drug product and its packaging, securing the movement of the product as it travels through the U.S. drug distribution chain, enhancing regulatory oversight and enforcement, heightening vigilance and awareness of counterfeit drugs, increasing penalties and international collaboration.
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Statement by Tommy G. Thompson
Secretary of Health and Human Services
On National Donor Day, February 14, 2004
Tomorrow is National Donor Day, an opportunity for all Americans to seriously consider the potential to help others by giving the gift of life. I've long been passionate about the need for more Americans to register as organ donors and to let their families know about their wishes.
Just months after I become Secretary here at the Department of Health and Human Services, we launched the Gift of Life Donation Initiative, a five-pronged national effort to increase awareness and promote donation of organs, tissue, bone marrow and blood. Now, we're starting to see some positive results in terms of increased donations.
While final statistics won't be ready for a little while, the early
signs suggest that 2003 will bring us the biggest rise in donation
since hospitals began reporting such statistics in 1998. From January
to November 2003, organ donation national has been up about 4.8 percent
from the same period in 2002.
Among Hispanic and African-American donors, the early signs are even
better -- with donations up 14 percent and 12 percent respectively
in the first 11 months of 2003. That's great news, because, on average,
minorities have waited nearly twice as long as Caucasians for organ
transplants. There simply have not been enough minorities donating
their organs. Finding a matching donor is much easier when people
share a similar heritage or ethnicity.
But we still have a long way to go and I'm asking for your help. More than 83,000 Americans are still waiting for an organ to give them another chance at life. We can all do our part by making the decision to register as organ donors and sharing our decision with our family members so they can respect our wishes when the time comes.
Please help us give our fellow Americans more hope. Become an organ and tissue donor, and you may one day give the gift of life to someone desperately in need.
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Medicare Minute
Q: I've heard that I might be able to get a $600 credit to help pay for my prescription drugs. How does that work?
A: If your income is no more than $12,123 as a single person, or no more than $16,362 for a married couple, you might qualify for a $600 credit to help pay for your prescription drugs. If you qualify, Medicare will put a $600 credit on your Medicare-approved drug discount card that you can use when you get your prescriptions. You won't have to pay the annual enrollment fee for the discount card if you qualify for the $600 credit.
To apply for this credit, you need to fill out an enrollment form for a prescription drug discount card and complete the part of the form for the $600 credit. Card sponsors are allowed to start enrolling people with Medicare as early as May 2004.
You can't qualify for the $600 credit if you already have outpatient drug coverage from Medicaid, TRICARE for Life or an employer group health plan.
Please look at our new tool to see if you can get a new Medicare-approved drug discount card.
For more information on the new Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 please visit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Web site at http://www.medicare.gov/MedicareReform/.
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Stopping Germs at Home, Work and School
How Germs Spread
The main way that illnesses like colds and flu are spread is from person to person in respiratory droplets of coughs and sneezes. This is called "droplet spread."
This can happen when droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person move through the air and are deposited on the mouth or nose of people nearby. Sometimes germs also can be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets from another person on a surface like a desk and then touches his or her own eyes, mouth or nose before washing their hands. We know that some viruses and bacteria can live 2 hours or longer on surfaces like cafeteria tables, doorknobs, and desks.
How to Stop the Spread of Germs
In a nutshell: take care to
Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing
Cough or sneeze into a tissue and then throw it away. Cover your cough or sneeze if you do not have a tissue. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.
The "Happy Birthday" song helps keep your hands clean?
Not exactly. Yet we recommend that when you wash your hands -- with soap and warm water -- that you wash for 15 to 20 seconds. That's about the same time it takes to sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice!
Alcohol-Based Hand Wipes and Gel Sanitizers Work Too
When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers may be used. You can find them in most supermarkets and drugstores. If using gel, rub your hands until the gel is dry. The gel doesn't need water to work; the alcohol in it kills the germs on your hands.*
Germs and Children
Remind children to practice healthy habits too, because germs spread, especially at school.
The flu has caused high rates of absenteeism among students and staff in our country's 119,000 schools.
Influenza is not the only respiratory infection of concern in schools -- nearly 22 million schools days are lost each year to the common cold alone. However, when children practice healthy habits, they miss fewer days of school.
School administrators, teachers and staff: See Preventing the Spread of Influenza (the Flu) in Schools for CDC interim guidance.
More Facts, Figures, and How-Tos
CDC and its partner agencies and organizations offer a great deal of information about handwashing and other things you can do to stop the germs that cause flu, the common cold, and other illnesses. See Other Resources and Posters on this Stop the Spread of Germs site for a select listing of Web sites, materials, and contact information.
This information was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.
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Secretary Thompson's Public Schedule:
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Last updated: February 18, 2004
United States Department of Health and Human Services
Contact the HHS Newsletter Team.