WHO: Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. Surgeon General and current Director of the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, where he occupies the Poussaint-Satcher-Cosby Chair in Mental Health.WHAT: Satcher addressed attendees of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) 115th Annual Convention on the topic of “Culture, Race, Ethnicity, and Mental Health: A Dialogue. [click link for full article]

The President’s Cancer Panel on Thursday recommended that the federal government place strict regulations on tobacco marketing and sales and increase taxes on tobacco products to help reduce cancer in the U.S., the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports. [click link for full article]

Coughing is an extremely common reason why people go see their doctor. Some people seek help when they’ve been coughing for days, while other may wait years before going to…

The Wall Street Journal on Friday published letters to the editor addressing an Aug. 9 editorial about SCHIP. According to the editorial, the “good news” in the debate over SCHIP “is that the House legislation is so egregious that it barely passed 225-204, and … [President] Bush has promised to veto a major expansion of the SCHIP program. [click link for full article]

A new study found that only about one quarter of all children and adolescents with high blood pressure (hypertension) seem to have been diagnosed with the condition. You can read about this study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), August 22/29 issue. About 2%-5% of children/adolescents suffer from hypertension. [click link for full article]

The birth rate in at least 16 European countries slightly increased from 2004 to 2006 after a 20-year decline, USA Today reports. According to USA Today, the increases are slight, but they reverse a 20-year decline that had officials “sounding alarms” about not having enough children to replenish the population and sustain economic growth. [click link for full article]

South Carolina will move more than 550,000 Medicaid beneficiaries to managed care plans starting Nov. 1, the Columbia State reports. State officials say the shift will improve preventive care and provide beneficiaries with a primary care physician, which will reduce costs associated with care received in hospital emergency departments. [click link for full article]

Experts have today called for international agencies to provide insecticide-treated bed nets for all children in Africa as the most equitable way of tackling malaria. Their call is supported by new research co-funded by the Wellcome Trust showing how successful a scheme run by the Kenyan government has been at distributing the nets.Over a million children die from malaria in Africa each year. [click link for full article]

Warner Chilcott on Wednesday announced it has received a notice from Barr Laboratories indicating that Barr has filed an abbreviated new drug application with FDA for a generic version of the chewable oral contraceptive Femcon Fe, [click link for full article]

The New York Times reported on Monday that the White House is making it harder for states to bring children from middle income families into the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Instead, the Bush administration, which is currently battling with US Congress over expansion of SCHIP, wants states to focus on making sure the program covers the poorest children first.Director of the federal Center for Medicaid and State Operations, Dennis G. [click link for full article]