"Health & Medical News"

Washington — Down syndrome is a familiar condition, affecting about one in every 800 children born in the United States. Although it is the most frequent genetic cause of mild to moderate mental retardation and it is associated with numerous other medical problems, much about it remains unknown.

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Congress is being asked to fund a $1.4-billion aid package to Mexico aimed at fighting international drug trafficking, the Dallas Morning News reported Feb. 8.

Officials from the Bush administration appeared before that House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Western Hemisphere subcommittee to call for funding the so-called Merida Initiative, which includes more direct aid to Mexico and Central America, some of it in the form of military equipment and training. “This is money well spent,” said Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.

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Advocates for decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts appear to have gathered enough resident signatures to move the legal initiative forward, the Boston Globe reported on Nov. 24.

Proponents had to gather at least 66,593 signatures by Nov. 21, equal to three percent of ballots cast in the 2006 gubernatorial election. Proponents for the initiative appear to have done so, said Brian McNiff, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. Still, city and town clerks have to certify the signatures, and the secretary of state’s office has to count them.

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The Kaiser Family Foundation is probably the best disseminator of information, this is their bread and butter. Thanks to them, you can watch the proceedings of the Clinton Foundation annual meeting (this week). The image below will take you to instructions for the free webcast and you can check out the Foundation’s web page for further information on scheduling. In addition the Financial Times has a page dedicated to covering the annual summit. For those in the public health community, that fact that FT is covering this is yet one more sign that the business community is starting to get involved in global health/development issues. See the FT website here.

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