Health Buzz: AIDS Is World’s Top Killer of Younger Women and Other Health News

AIDS Is World's Top Killer of Younger Women

A new study released by the World Health Organization finds that HIV is the leading cause of death in women ages 15 to 44, the Associated Press reports. The study, which is the agency's first to look at women's health worldwide, identified risk factors for early death in the age group. Unprotected sex is a factor in 1 in 5 deaths of women of childbearing age, the agency found. WHO also reported that lack of access to contraceptives puts women at an increased risk of death, according to the AP.

[Read: Circumcision Doesn't Prevent Transmission of HIV to Women and HIV Self-Test Proves Accurate.]

Abortion Coverage Severely Restricted in House Health Reform Bill

The Saturday-night passage of the House health reform bill has left a bad taste in the mouths of reproductive-rights advocates. They're opposed to the last-minute addition of a controversial amendment that specifically prohibits abortion coverage in plans funded by the federal government, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz writes.

In an E-mail sent out about an hour before the reform bill passed, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards called the amendment "an unacceptable addition to the healthcare reform bill that, if enacted, would result in women losing health benefits they have today." Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, called the amendment "anti-choice" and vowed to fight to remove this provision from the final version of any health reform bill, Kotz reports.

Both advocacy groups claim that women will lose their access to abortion coverage in private insurance plans that offer it. The procedure is now covered for most insured women, though not for Medicaid recipients or those employed by the federal government. That's because federal law—under the Hyde amendment—already prohibits taxpayer funds from being used to finance abortions. The new amendment put forth by Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan and GOP Rep. Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania doesn't allow abortion coverage in the public plan option except in the case of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother. Read more.

[Read: House Healthcare Bill Rewards Activism on Women's Issues and Why Women Should Push for Healthcare Reform.]  

Chronically Depressed? What to Do When Antidepressants Don't Work

Many people with chronic depression are disappointed by antidepressants and are finding some relief in other therapies ranging from exercise to electroconvulsive therapy, U.S. News's Sarah Baldauf writes.

ECT, which has been controversial since the days when it was performed without anesthesia and sometimes without proper consent, has evolved considerably in recent years. By inducing a seizure, it is thought to reset dysfunctional brain circuitry. It is the most effective and rapidly acting treatment for severe depression, says one leading brain stimulation researcher. But because ECT is an invasive therapy that involves anesthesia and often memory loss, people suffering from unrelenting depression are steered to other approaches first.

Adding cognitive behavioral therapy to a prescription treatment regimen is another approach. Some evidence suggests that chronic depression may respond more readily to medication plus therapy than to either alone, Baldauf writes. Read more.

[Read: Depressed and Coping: Treating Depression When Medication Fails and Brain Stimulation: Can Magnetic or Electrical Pulses Help You?]

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