HHS WEEKLY REPORT
26 January - 1 February 2003

THIS ISSUE AVAILABLE ONLINE WITH EXPANDED INFORMATION AND PHOTOS AT:
http://www.hhs.gov/news/newsletter/weekly

IN THIS ISSUE:
1) HHS Secretary Thompson announces $5 million to improve maternal and child health in Afghanistan
2) HHS budget proposal to include $100 million increase to prevent diabetes, obesity and asthma
3) President Bush to propose improvements in childhood vaccine programs
4) HHS releases $200 million in emergency energy assistance
5) Bone marrow generates new neurons in human brains

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HHS Secretary Thompson announces $5 million to improve maternal and child health in Afghanistan

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced $5 million in fiscal year 2004 funds to complete the building of the Rabia Balkhi Women's Hospital in Kabul, and create four satellite clinics for maternal and child health as part of the Bush Administration's commitment to assist the people of Afghanistan. The hospital admits nearly 36,000 patients each year, and delivers 40 babies every day.

These initiatives are a direct result of Secretary Thompson's visit to Afghanistan in October, when he saw first hand the pressing need to immediately rebuild the nation's public health infrastructure - especially in the area of maternal and child health.

"We are keeping President Bush's commitment to the people of Afghanistan to make their country stronger, healthier and more free," Secretary Thompson said. "This investment means that thousands of women and children will live to see a brighter tomorrow in Afghanistan. And these teaching clinics will prepare a new generation of doctors, nurses and midwives to perform critical birth and childcare procedures, allowing them to go throughout the country helping mothers and children."

Currently, 40 percent of deaths among women of childbearing age in Afghanistan are caused by preventable complications related to childbirth. In addition, an estimated one in four children dies before reaching their fifth birthday.

Nearly $3 million of the fiscal year04 funding will go to purchasing equipment, drugs, supplies, and teaching materials; improving laboratory capabilities; paying staff and training Afghan health care workers. The remaining $2 million will be used to staff and equip four satellite clinics throughout Afghanistan.

The maternal and child health teaching clinics will be an important element in HHS' and the United States' contribution to rebuilding the health care infrastructure of Afghanistan. During the Taliban occupation, medical schools and medical professionals were deprived of the necessary tools and textbooks needed to ensure that physicians, nurses, and other health care providers had the proper training.

"This funding is a critical step in delivering on our promise to improve health care in Afghanistan," Secretary Thompson said. "Not only will these facilities provide much needed care, but it will also supplement the growing infrastructure of this war-torn nation. We are planting the seeds of independence and self-sufficiency for the people of Afghanistan."

Lack of medical training is a well-recognized need throughout Afghanistan. The teaching clinics will provide an opportunity to train physicians, nurses and midwives in a clinical environment that is appropriate for the situation currently in Afghanistan. After training, the health care workers will go to remote areas of Afghanistan to train local health care staffs.

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HHS budget proposal to include $100 million increase to prevent diabetes, obesity and asthma

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced an increase of $100 million for a new initiative to prevent diabetes, obesity and asthma through community initiatives in President Bush's fiscal year 2004 budget plan.

"To truly stem the epidemic of preventable diseases that threaten too many Americans, we need to move from a health care system that treats disease to one that avoids disease through wiser personal choices," Secretary Thompson said. "This new initiative will support community programs aimed at getting results and helping those at risk to avoid these diseases through proven prevention methods."

Under the "Steps to a Healthier US" initiative, HHS would fund specific projects at the state and community level that would use proven medical and public health strategies to reduce the burden of diabetes, obesity and asthma among their populations. The initiative includes target goals for disease reduction. Projects under the initiative would include:

· State programs to motivate and support responsible health choices that would reduce the burden of preventable disease;
· Community initiatives to promote and enable healthful choices, especially those focused on youth and older Americans;
· Health care and insurance systems that put prevention first and reduce people's risk factors for chronic disease and reduce potential health care complications.

Secretary Thompson has made disease prevention and health promotion a top priority for the department as part of a broader effort to reduce the burden of preventable medical conditions, both in terms of lives affected and health care costs. In June 2002, he joined President Bush to launch the White House's Healthier US initiative.

The incidence of diabetes and obesity among Americans are up sharply in the past decade, putting millions more Americans at higher risk for heart disease, stroke and other related medical conditions. Diabetes alone costs the nation nearly $100 billion each year in direct medical costs as well as indirect economic costs, including disability, missed work and premature death. Medical studies have shown that modest lifestyle changes -- such as getting more exercise and losing weight -- can reduce an individual's risks for developing these serious health conditions.

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President Bush to propose improvements in childhood vaccine programs

President Bush will propose a series of improvements in the financing of childhood vaccines in his fiscal year 2004 budget request.

These improvements will meet three goals-improve vaccine access, restore tetanus and diphtheria toxoid vaccines (Td, DT) to the Vaccine for Children (VFC) program, and build a national stockpile of childhood vaccine. The proposed improvements will expand on the Department's efforts to improve access to health care for all Americans.

"The President's proposal will expand access to preventive health care for some of our most vulnerable citizens, our children," Secretary Thompson said. "Vaccines are one of the most successful tools we have available today to prevent an array of childhood diseases, so we must do all we can to ensure that our children can get the vaccines they need."

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HHS releases $200 million in emergency energy assistance

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson released an additional $200 million in Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) emergency funds for states, territories and tribes due to increases in home heating fuel prices this winter.

"Higher fuel prices pose a real hardship for many Americans," Secretary Thompson said. "This emergency aid will help more people stay warm this winter."

The Department of Energy predicts that home heating oil prices this winter will be more than 20 percent higher than the average of the last five years. LIHEAP assists more than 4.6 million low-income households each year with energy costs related to extreme heat and cold.


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SCIENCE IN THE NEWS

Bone marrow generates new neurons in human brains

A new HHS study suggests that some cells from bone marrow can enter the human brain and generate new neurons and other types of brain cells. If researchers can find a way to control these cells and direct them to damaged areas of the brain, this finding may lead to new treatments for stroke, Parkinson's disease, and other neurological disorders.

"This study shows that some kind of cell in bone marrow, most likely a stem cell, has the capacity to enter the brain and form neurons," said Èva Mezey, M.D., Ph.D., from HHS' National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), who led the study.

Earlier scientific work has shown that bone marrow cells can enter the mouse brain and produce new neurons. However, the new study is the first to show that this phenomenon can occur in the human brain. The study appears in the January 20, 2003, online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1.

In the study, Dr. Mezey and colleagues examined brain tissue taken at autopsy from four female patients who had received bone marrow transplants from male donors. The investigators searched the autopsied brain tissue for male cells, which contain a Y chromosome. The Y chromosomes in these cells served as a useful way of distinguishing donor-derived cells from those of the female transplant recipients. The researchers found cells with Y chromosomes in brain tissue from all four of the patients.

Most of the bone marrow-derived cells in the brain tissue were glia (support cells) and other non-neuronal cells. However, a small number of neurons from each brain also contained Y chromosomes, showing that those cells had developed from the transplanted male bone marrow. Most of these neurons were found in the cerebral cortex - the outer layer of the brain, which is responsible for conscious thought - and in the hippocampus, a region that helps with memory and other functions.

The Y chromosome-positive cells within each patient's brain appeared in clusters, rather than being randomly dispersed throughout the brain tissue. The clusters sometimes contained both neuronal and non-neuronal cells. This suggests that a single bone marrow-derived stem cell may migrate into an "area of need" within the brain and then change, or differentiate, into several other kinds of cells. The clusters also might result from a large number of marrow cells that are "called" to specific parts of the brain. Previous studies have suggested that stem cells can respond to signals from within the brain that guide them to damaged regions.

Scientists must now determine what growth factors or other signals prompt the bone marrow cells to enter the brain and develop into neurons. This may lead to new ways of treating Parkinson's disease or other disorders where neurons lost to disease are not normally replaced.

"These studies are very much the beginning, but scientists should start to look down this road and find out if and how we can go further," says Dr. Mezey.

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