President George Bush had initially proposed doubling the program to fight AIDS in Africa and other parts of the world to $30 billion. Then the House, led by Democrats, raised it to $50 billion. The House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill which will more than triple spending to combat AIDS abroad - the vote, a bi-partisan compromise, was passed, 308 to 116. Democrats voted unanimously in favor.

The CEO of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority and a state lawmaker remain split on whether using state Medicaid funds to provide prenatal care services to undocumented immigrants will jeopardize federal funding for the program, the Oklahoman reports (McNutt, Oklahoman, 4/2).

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) have proposed a new set of cost offsets to the House version of a mental health parity bill (HR 1424) that passed in March, CongressDaily reports.

NJ FamilyCare, a subsidized health program in New Jersey, did not verify eligibility for all of the program’s beneficiaries, and more than 873 people with annual gross incomes more than $85,000 received benefits through the program, according to a report by State Auditor Richard Fair, the Bergen Record reports.

The San Antonio Express-News on Tuesday examined the sex education programs used in Bexar County, Texas, school districts.

The New Zealand AIDS Foundation this week launched a fund to provide HIV-positive people in the country with financial assistance for health and travel costs, the NZPA/New Zealand Herald reports.

There is little evidence that drinking loads of water, a recommended 8 glasses of 8 ounces (8×8) per day, improves your health, say scientists from the University of Pennsylvania. The two kidney experts explained that unless you are an athlete or live in a hot place, drinking extra water may be a waste of time. You can read about this study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, April 2nd online issue.

HIV-positive women in the U.S. face stigma associated with the virus, according to the results of an online survey released Monday by the American Foundation for AIDS Research, CNS/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Krouse, CNS/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/31).

CMS on Monday announced a new rule that will allow some low-income Medicare drug plan beneficiaries to stay enrolled in their current plans instead of being reassigned to a new one at the end of the year, CQ HealthBeat reports.

GlaxoSmithKline’s antiretroviral drug abacavir could nearly double the risk of heart attack, according to a study released at a meeting in February and published on Tuesday in the online version of the Lancet, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 4/2).