Children play harder and longer when their child care centers provide portable play equipment (like balls, hoola hoops, jump ropes and riding toys), more opportunities for active play, and physical activity training and education for staff and students according to a study published in the January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. [click link for full article]

Although approximately three-quarters of US adults with coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or other conditions that increase their risk of developing cardiovascular disease suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension), only about 33% to 50% of them ever reach their blood pressure targets, according to an article published in Archives of Internal Medicine (JAMA/Archives), December 10/24 issue. [click link for full article]

Black women are “not showing up for mammograms early and often enough,” which contributes to a higher incidence of breast cancer and mortality rate from the disease, a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial says. According to the editorial, part of the reason for black women’s “delay is a ‘what I don’t know can’t hurt me’ mentality. [click link for full article]

The Wall Street Journal in an editorial on Monday writes that it is “delighted” that Democrats “renounced their ballyhooed budget pledge” to follow pay/go rules, adding that “there’s a larger lesson in this failure for the tax and spending battles of 2008. [click link for full article]

Parents’ cultural beliefs influence how they view their children’s asthma and its treatment, according to a U.K. study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, Reuters Health reports. The study looked at a survey of the parents of 150 children treated at asthma clinics in London. [click link for full article]

Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, examines a House Medicare package, a likely long-term extension of SCHIP and prospects for fiscal year 2008 spending bills in this week’s “Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ. [click link for full article]

With the Medicare open enrollment period ending at the end of the month, some physicians are saying that they will not accept patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, the Des Moines Register reports. The Iowa Clinic and Minnesota’s [click link for full article]

Few Medicare plans in 2008 will offer brand-name prescription drug coverage in the so-called “doughnut hole” gap because of cost, meaning that Medicare beneficiaries will have fewer options when choosing a plan during the open enrollment period that ends Dec. 31, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. [click link for full article]

More than 1.3 million Kenyans will gain access to safe water and sanitation for the first time, thanks to the Government of Netherlands donation of $US 41 million to the Government of Kenya and UNICEF’s Water and Sanitation Programme. The programme aims to increase access and raise awareness to the importance of safe drinking water and sanitation as well as appropriate hygiene; especially hand washing. [click link for full article]

UNICEF is assisting an estimated 72,000 children and 109,000 families with life-saving supplies, food and shelter for the cyclone survivors in Bangladesh. The devastating Cyclone Sidr killed over 3,200 people and affected 8.5 million as it hit 30 out of 64 districts on 15 November. Close to half of the affected population are children. [click link for full article]