AIDS drug roll-out boosts South African life expectancy

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa has achieved a “stunning” increase in life expectancy in the last three years due to a government push to roll out antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to people with HIV/AIDS, researchers said on Thursday.

The average South African is now likely to live to the age of 60, a study in the Lancet medical journal said, compared with just 56.5 in 2009 when President Jacob Zuma came to power with promises of a new approach to the country’s HIV/AIDS burden.

Africa’s biggest economy is home to 6 million HIV/AIDS sufferers but under Zuma’s predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, the government was reluctant to provide the life-prolonging drugs, the study said.

Nearly 2 million people are now taking ARVs daily in what is the world’s largest ARV programme. That total compares with 912,000 in 2009 and just 235,000 three years before that.

Although overall infection rates have stayed constant at around 10 percent since 2006, the study’s authors said such a dramatic increase in life expectancy was unheard-of.

“There are many factors that contribute to life expectancy but the single most important one was the expansion of the ARV treatment programme,” said Professor Salim Abdool Karim, director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa and a member of the Lancet South Africa team.

“That increase in life expectancy is nothing short of stunning. You don’t see those kinds of increases in the real world.”

Lead researcher Bongani Mayosi from the University of Cape Town singled out Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi for praise in reversing the policies of Mbeki, whose health minister outraged activists by questioning the effectiveness of ARVs and championing the benefits of garlic and beetroot instead.

“We have no doubt that the new administration that came in 2009 was eager to make an improvement on the disastrous record of the first 15 years of the ANC government,” Mayosi said.

South Africa still faced formidable challenges however, particularly in reducing huge racial disparities in housing, employment and access to health services, Mayosi said.

Just 10.3 percent of black South Africans, who make up 80 percent of the population, have medical insurance, compared with 70.9 percent for whites, who make up just 10 percent of the overall 52 million population, the study showed.

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

France Veers to Left With Threat to Nationalize a Mill

France’s threat to nationalize a steel mill to prevent job losses is shaping up as a public relations disaster for the government—with potential collateral damage to the European steel industry as well.

President François Hollande’s Socialist government says it may take temporary control of the Hayange-Florange plant in Lorraine to prevent its owner, ArcelorMittal (MT), from eliminating about 630 of 2,700 jobs at the site. Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg told Parliament on Nov. 28 that the government had already found a potential buyer for the facility, which ArcelorMittal does not want to sell. The transaction would involve “a temporary nationalization” and resale, Montebourg said.

Talks between the government and the steelmaker are continuing after a Nov. 27 tête-à-tête between Hollande and Chief Executive Lakshmi Mittal at the Elysée Palace failed to produce an agreement.

The showdown has sparked an uproar extending well beyond France’s borders. In a Nov. 26 newspaper interview, Montebourg said, “We don’t want Mittal in France,” and accused the company of breaking earlier promises to protect jobs. Lakshmi Mittal’s family told Le Monde it was “extremely shocked” by the comment. London Mayor Boris Johnson, who happened to be visiting Mittal’s native India at the time, told a group of Indian businessmen: “If France doesn’t want you, Britain does.”

Nationalization of private companies was abandoned decades ago by most major economies—including France, where it was last used by Socialist President François Mitterrand in the early 1980s.  Its resurrection, along with the government’s attacks on Mittal, aren’t likely to help French efforts to reverse a slump in foreign investment. According to the United Nations, foreign direct investment in France last year totaled $ 40.9 billion, less than half the figure five years ago. Even the left-leaning Paris newspaper Libération wondered in a Nov. 27 article whether nationalization was “really a good idea, or mission impossible?”

Underlying the Florange dispute is a big problem facing European steelmakers: Too much production capacity is chasing too few customers. Producers such as Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal and Germany’s ThyssenKrupp (TKA:GR) collectively sell about 150 million tons of steel per year, utilizing only 71 percent of their capacity, says Seth Rosenfeld, an analyst at Jefferies International in London.

The excess capacity “reduces their pricing power” and weighs on profitability, Rosenfeld says. ArcelorMittal on Oct. 31 reported its lowest quarterly profit in almost three years.

With steel demand slumping almost everywhere in the world except China, other producers are struggling to cut capacity. ThyssenKrupp is trying to sell mills in the U.S. and Brazil, and Russia’s Novolipetsk Steel wants to downsize its mill at Louvière, Belgium.

Against that backdrop, transferring ownership of Florange to another company “continues the situation of having excess steelmaking capacity,” Rosenfeld says. “The government has a short-term view toward job preservation, rather than a longer-term view toward allowing the steel industry to remain profitable.”

ArcelorMittal wants to close two blast furnaces at Florange that are already idle, while continuing to operate other factories at the site. Taking those factories away from ArcelorMittal would disrupt its supply chain, jeopardizing “substantially more jobs” among the 20,000 the company employs in France, says Charles Bradford, an independent steel industry analyst in New York. “Arcelor has an integrated setup, some plants feed other plants,” he says. Without supplies from Florange, “other mills would have to close because they wouldn’t have the feedstock.”

Businessweek.com — Top News

Read More..

Myanmar cracks down on mine protest; dozens hurt

MONYWA, Myanmar (AP) — Security forces used water cannons and other riot gear Thursday to clear protesters from a copper mine in in northwestern Myanmar, wounding villagers and Buddhist monks just hours before opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was to visit the area to hear their grievances.

The crackdown at the Letpadaung mine near the town of Monywa risks becoming a public relations and political fiasco for the reformist government of President Thein Sein, which has been touting its transition to democracy after almost five decades of repressive military rule.

The environmental and social damage allegedly produced by the mine has become a popular cause in activist circles, but was not yet a matter of broad public concern. However, hurting monks — as admired for their social activism as they are revered for their spiritual beliefs — is sure to antagonize many ordinary people, especially as Suu Kyi’s visit highlights the events.

“This is unacceptable,” said Ottama Thara, a 25-year-old monk who was at the protest. “This kind of violence should not happen under a government that says it is committed to democratic reforms.”

According to a nurse at a Monywa hospital, 27 monks and one other person were admitted with burns caused by some sort of projectile that released sparks or embers. Two of the monks with serious injuries were sent for treatment in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city, a 2 ½ hour drive away. Other evicted protesters gathered at a Buddhist temple about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the mine’s gates.

Lending further sympathy to the protesters’ cause is whom they are fighting against. The mining operation is a joint venture between a Chinese company and a holding company controlled by Myanmar’s military. Most people remain suspicious of the military, while China is widely seen as having propped up army rule for years, in addition to being an aggressive investor exploiting the country’s many natural resources.

Government officials had publicly stated that the protest risked scaring off foreign investment that is key to building the economy after decades of neglect.

State television had broadcast an announcement Tuesday night that ordered protesters to cease their occupation of the mine by midnight or face legal action. It said operations at the mine had been halted since Nov. 18, after protesters occupied the area.

Some villagers among a claimed 1,000 protesters left the six encampments they had at the mine after the order was issued. But others stayed through Wednesday, including about 100 monks.

Police moved in to disperse them early Thursday.

“Around 2:30 a.m. police announced they would give us five minutes to leave,” said protester Aung Myint Htway, a peanut farmer whose face and body were covered with black patches of burned skin. He said police fired water cannons first and then shot what he and others called flare guns.

“They fired black balls that exploded into fire sparks. They shot about six times. People ran away and they followed us,” he said, still writhing hours later from pain. “It’s very hot.”

Photos of the wounded monks showed they had sustained serious burns on parts of their bodies. It was unclear what sort of weapon caused them.

The protest is the latest major example of increased activism by citizens since the elected government took over last year. Political and economic liberalization under Thein Sein has won praise from Western governments, which have eased sanctions imposed on the previous military government because of its poor record on human and civil rights. However, the military still retains major influence over the government, and some critics fear that democratic gains could easily be rolled back.

In Myanmar’s main city of Yangon, six anti-mine activists who staged a small protest were detained Monday and Tuesday, said one of their colleagues, who asked not to be identified because he did not want to attract attention from the authorities.

Asia News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

U.S. daily deals website Living Social to cut 400 jobs: WSJ

(Reuters) – U.S. daily deals online firm Living Social Inc is expected to announce on Thursday it is cutting 400 jobs, representing 9 percent of its workforce, as demand for daily deals and emailed daily discounts dries up, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a source familiar with the plans.

The Washington-based company’s workforce has increased nearly 10-fold since the beginning of 2010 and it currently employs about 4,500 people worldwide, the Journal said. (http://link.reuters.com/rus34t)

Retail website Amazon.Com Inc owns a 30 percent stake in Living Social and booked a third-quarter charge of $ 169 million on the holding.

Living Social declined to comment to Reuters on the Journal report.

(Reporting By Neha Dimri and Alistair Barr; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

X Factor judge Louis Walsh settles defamation case

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Television personality and pop music producer Louis Walsh on Wednesday settled a 500,000 euro ($ 640,000) defamation case against News Group Newspapers in Ireland.

The deal came after Walsh, best known for his role as a judge on the hit television show “The X Factor”, sued the group for publishing a story last year based on false allegations that he had groped a man in a Dublin night club.

Leonard Watters, who made the accusations before later retracting them, was jailed for six months earlier this year.

Paul Tweed, Walsh’s solicitor, said: “The publishers of the Irish, UK and online editions of the Sun have this morning unreservedly apologized to Louis Walsh.

“They have also agreed to pay very substantial damages of 500,000 euros together with his legal costs.”

Walsh, who managed Irish boy bands Westlife and Boyzone, said the story had a “terrible effect” on him.

“I’m very satisfied with this morning’s total vindication for me, but I remain very angry at the treatment I received at the hands of the Sun,” he said outside court.

“I have the utmost respect and time for most journalists with whom I’ve always enjoyed a good relationship, and I’m therefore absolutely gutted and traumatized that these allegations should have been published

“I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”

The Sun said it apologized “unreservedly”.

(Reporting by Sarah O’Connor)

Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

FDA advisory panel backs efficacy of J&J TB drug

(Reuters) – An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday voted that data suggest an experimental Johnson & Johnson drug for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is effective, the drugmaker said.

The medicine, called bedaquiline, is a member of a new class of drugs that target adenosine triphosphate synthase, an enzyme the tuberculosis bacterium needs to generate its energy.

J&J said the panel of outside medical experts, in a vote of 18 to 0, found that trial data support the efficacy of bedaquiline in adults, taken in combination with standard treatments.

In September, the FDA granted priority review of the medicine, based on data from two mid-stage trials that tested it among patients with tuberculosis that is resistant to standard drugs.

J&J is hoping the agency will grant accelerated approval of the drug, on the basis of favorable data from mid-stage trials. The company plans to begin a larger Phase 3 study in the fourth quarter.

In a pair of completed Phase 2 trials, two doses of the medicine were tested for 24 weeks, in combination with standard treatments, followed by continuation of standard therapy for a year to 18 months.

The planned larger trial will involve nine months of treatment with bedaquiline, in combination with standard drugs, compared with standard drugs alone for the same period. The total nine-month treatment period would be far shorter than the current 18- to 24-month treatment period for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis drugs recommended by the World Health Organization, J&J said.

Cowen and Co has forecast peak annual sales of $ 300 million for bedaquiline, which would make it a fairly modest product for the diversified healthcare company.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is caused by strains of the bacterium that have become resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin, the two most potent drugs for TB.

Resistance to anti-TB drugs can occur when they are misused or mismanaged, for instance when patients don’t complete their full course of treatment or when doctors prescribe the wrong treatment, wrong dose or length of time taking the drugs.

An estimated 8.7 million people in 2011 fell ill with tuberculosis – which is spread by coughing and sneezing — while 1.4 million died from the disease, according to the World Health Organization. About 310,000 cases of multidrug-resistant TB were reported the same year, the organization said, with almost 60 percent in India, China and Russia.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Jan Paschal and Carol Bishopric)

Medications/Drugs News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Oil below $87 after OECD cuts growth forecasts

BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil fell below $ 87 a barrel Wednesday after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its growth outlook for the U.S. and the 17 countries that use the euro currency.

Benchmark oil for January delivery was down 23 cents to $ 86.96 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 56 cents to finish at $ 87.18 a barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.

The Paris-based OECD said Tuesday that the combined economy of the 17 euro countries will contract by 0.4 percent this year, worse than May’s 0.1 percent forecast. For 2013, it will contract a further 0.1 percent.

The OECD also downgraded its forecasts for the U.S. economy. Even if the White House and Congress strike a budget deal before Jan. 1 and avoid the so-called fiscal cliff of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, the OECD said the U.S. will grow by only 2 percent next year, down from May’s forecast of 2.6 percent.

Traders said weak economic growth would likely hurt demand for energy.

Michael Hewson, senior market analyst of CMC Markets, said the OECD report refocused concerns on “the toxic effect the European crisis continues to have on global growth prospects.”

Brent crude, which is used to set prices for many international varieties of oil, fell 28 cents to $ 109.59 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline was down 0.3 cent at $ 2.692.

— Natural gas fell 2 cents to $ 3.749 per 1,000 cubic feet.

— Heating oil fell 0.2 cent to $ 3.023 a gallon.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Economy News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Exclusive: Banks offer to help Sony offload battery unit – sources

TOKYO (Reuters) – Sony Corp has been approached by at least three investment banks offering to sell its battery business as the struggling Japanese group looks to offload non-core assets and focus on reviving its consumer electronics business, banking sources said.

Selling the unit, which employs 2,700 people and had sales last year of $ 1.74 billion, would help Sony cut costs and generate cash as it restructures its operations, three people involved in the preliminary discussions told Reuters.

The company, a byword for innovative gadgetry in the 1970s and 80s, has been battered by weak demand for its TVs in a fiercely competitive market. The TV business has racked up huge losses; Sony’s market value has slumped to below $ 10 billion and ratings agency Fitch last week downgraded the company’s debt to “junk” status – a move likely to push up borrowing costs and make asset sales more attractive.

CEO Kazuo Hirai has pledged to rebuild Sony around gaming, digital imaging and mobile devices, while nurturing new businesses such as medical devices. He is axing 10,000 jobs, closing facilities and selling assets. Any disposals would be part of a broader “garage sale” by Japan’s leading electronics groups that are hurting in weak markets and tight financing.

Potential buyers for Sony Energy Devices Corp – founded in 1975 as Sony-Eveready, a joint venture with Union Carbide Corp – could include Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry and BYD Co Ltd, a Chinese carmaker backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, said one of the sources. Hon Hai is also in negotiations to become rival TV maker Sharp Corp’s biggest shareholder.

FOREIGN INTEREST

Despite a strong yen, interest is likely to come mainly from potential foreign buyers, said the sources, who did not want to be named as the talks are private.

Selling the business overseas may not go down well with a Japanese government that in the past has kept technology at home by promoting alliances between local producers. Panasonic Corp, NEC Corp and Hitachi Ltd also make lithium-ion batteries, though the firms’ fabrication technology differs.

Sony declined to comment on the possible sale of the business, which makes lithium-ion batteries used in smartphones, tablets and PCs. “At our corporate strategy announcement in April, (Hirai) said we would explore possible alliances in E-vehicle batteries and battery storage,” said spokesman George Boyd.

As with TVs, Sony has struggled to compete against South Korean rivals in a battery business that is worth $ 18 billion a year. The small cells that power mobile devices now account for around 60 percent of the market, ahead of those used in cars and electrical tools, according to research company IHS iSuppli.

While lithium-ion battery demand has steadily expanded with the boom in mobile consumer electronics, severe price competition has resulted in razor thin margins that favor large-scale manufacturers with weak local currencies.

“The battery business is a prime example of the company’s loss-making and unwanted assets. It doesn’t make sense for them to keep it,” said one of the banking sources.

FALLING MARKET SHARE

As Hirai doubles down on Sony’s strength in consumer electronics, the company has sold a chemicals company, with 2,900 workers, and may also let go its U.S. headquarters building in New York go. At the same time, it has spent close to $ 2 billion on a U.S. game clouding company and a stake in medical equipment maker Olympus Corp.

Sony produced 74 million lithium-ion battery cells in July-September – almost 40 percent fewer than in the first quarter of 2008, when its output topped Samsung SDI Co Ltd’s 110 million and LG Chem Ltd’s 54 million, according to Techno System Research in Tokyo. Sony’s market share is now 7 percent, dwarfed by Samsung SDI’s 27 percent, Panasonic’s 21 percent and LG Chem’s 17 percent.

Sony’s battery unit, which also makes button batteries for watches and smaller appliances and optical devices, has three factories in Japan and two overseas assembly plants in China and Singapore. It has yet to enter the more lucrative business for automotive batteries.

In its most recent filing, Sony valued the battery unit’s fixed assets, including production sites and machinery, at 52 billion yen ($ 633 million). Under Sony’s accounting rules, asset sales are typically booked as operating profit.

The cost to protect $ 10 million of Sony debt against default for five years has edged higher this week to almost $ 400,000. The CDS spreads had tumbled earlier this month – from above 480 basis points – after Sony said it would raise 150 billion yen ($ 1.9 billion) through a sale of convertible bonds.

($ 1 = 82.1200 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Reiji Murai; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

In elf ears and wizard hats, ‘Hobbit’ fans rejoice

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Wearing elf ears and wizard hats, sitting atop their dad’s shoulders or peering from balconies, tens of thousands of New Zealanders watched their favorite “Hobbit” actors walk the red carpet Wednesday at the film trilogy’s hometown premiere.

An Air New Zealand plane freshly painted with “Hobbit” characters flew low over Wellington’s Embassy Theatre, eliciting roars of approval from the crowd.

Sam Rashidmardani, 12, said he came to see Gollum actor Andy Serkis walk the red carpet — and he wasn’t disappointed.

“It was amazing,” Rashidmardani said of the evening, adding his Gollum impression: “My precious.”

British actor Martin Freeman, who brings comedic timing to the lead role of Bilbo Baggins, said he thought director Peter Jackson had done a fantastic job on “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”

“He’s done it again,” Freeman said in an interview on the red carpet. “If it’s possible, it’s probably even better than ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ I think he’s surpassed it.”

While is unusual for a city so far from Hollywood to host the premiere of a hoped-for blockbuster, Jackson’s filming of his lauded ‘LOTR’ trilogy and now “The Hobbit” in New Zealand has helped create a film industry here. The film will open in theaters around the world next month.

One of the talking points of the film is the choice by Jackson to shoot it using 48 frames per second instead of the traditional 24 in hopes of improving the picture quality.

Some say the images come out too clear and look so realistic that they take away from the magic of the film medium. Jackson likens it to advancing from vinyl records to CDs.

“I really think 48 frames is pretty terrific and I’m looking forward to seeing the reaction,” Jackson said on the red carpet. “It’s been talked about for so long, but finally the film is being released and people can decide for themselves.”

Jackson said it was strange working on the project so intimately for two years and then having it suddenly taken away as the world got to see the movie.

“It spins your head a little bit,” he said.

Aidan Turner, who plays the dwarf Kili in the movie, said his character is reckless and thinks he’s charming.

“I don’t get to play real people it seems, I only get to play supernatural ones,” he said. “So playing a dwarf didn’t seem that weird, actually.

Perhaps the most well-known celebrities to walk the carpet were Cate Blanchett and Elijah Wood, who reprise their roles in the LOTR in the “Hobbit.”

“Mostly I came here to see everyone. I like them all,” said fan Aysu Shahin, 16, adding that Wood was her favorite. She said she wanted to see the movie “as soon as possible. I’m excited for it.”

At a news conference earlier in the day, Jackson said many younger people are happy to watch movies on their iPads.

“We just have to make the cinema-going experience more magical and more spectacular to get people coming back to the movies again,” he said.

Jackson said only about 1,000 of the 25,000 theaters that will show the film worldwide are equipped to show 48 frames, so most people will see it in the more traditional format. The movie has also been shot in 3D.

A handful of animal rights protesters held signs at the premiere.

The protest by the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals comes after several animal wranglers said three horses and up to two dozen other animals had died during the making of the movies because they were housed at an unsafe farm.

Jackson’s spokesman earlier acknowledged two horses had died preventable deaths at the farms but said the production company worked quickly to improve stables and other facilities and that claims of mistreatment were unfounded.

“No mistreatment, no abuse. Absolutely none,” Jackson said at the news conference.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Salary growth lagging for primary care doctors

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Despite rising spending on health care in the United States, primary care doctors don’t seem to be reaping the rewards on their paychecks, a new study suggests.

The findings could have implications for what some predictions say will be a primary care shortage in some parts of the country in the coming years.

Researchers found that since the late 1980s, the average doctor‘s earnings have grown more slowly than the salaries of other health professionals, such as pharmacists, dentists and registered nurses.

“It is possible that there are some specialties that have done extremely well in the past 10 or 15 years,” said health policy researcher Amitabh Chandra from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who worked on the study.

But, “In terms of the experience of the median doctor, the median doctor is not at the heart of all the cost growth we’re seeing in America.” And that may have implications for the primary care field in the future, he noted.

For their study, Chandra and his colleagues analyzed data from a nationally-representative survey of Americans’ occupations and earnings conducted every year between 1987 and 2010. Each round included people older than 35 from 60,000 different households.

Over the 14-year study, 30,556 health professionals were surveyed, including 6,258 doctors.

The researchers found that between 1987-1990 and 2006-2010, the median doctor’s annual earnings grew from $ 143,963 to $ 157,751 – a difference of 9.6 percent. That was after taking into account any salary differences based on gender, age and location.

In comparison, the average pharmacist’s earnings increased by 44 percent, from $ 70,341 to $ 101,279, and the average dentist’s by 23 percent, from $ 105,511 to $ 129,795, the researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Looking closer, the study team found that doctors’ salaries grew between 1987-1990 and 1996-2000, but then were stagnant over the next decade – a time when other health professionals continued to get bigger paychecks.

Because the earnings reflect pay for doctors in the middle of the salary pack, Chandra said the slow growth probably represents patterns for primary care doctors rather than specialists – and earnings for some “procedure-driven specialties,” such as cardiology, may have grown a lot.

Medicare payment cuts, as well as tougher bargaining by insurance companies, may be partly to blame for the “sluggish” growth in the primary care field, he added.

THE WHOLE PACKAGE?

In addition, more women and minorities are becoming doctors – and research has suggested they make less money than white, male physicians, said Bob Konrad from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has studied doctor salaries.

He said the new findings may also not tell the whole economic story for primary care doctors.

Recently employers have started offering to pay off more of new doctors’ college and medical school debt as a way of luring top candidates, he said – but such financial benefits wouldn’t show up on their paychecks.

“Going forward, thinking about physician incomes, you have to think about the whole package,” Konrad, who wasn’t involved in the new study, told Reuters Health.

But Chandra said the study may have implications for some parts of the U.S. that are already facing a shortage of primary care doctors.

“If as a country we want more people to go into primary care, this anemic, jaundiced earnings growth is not going to be a motivator to get people to join primary care,” he told Reuters Health.

One profession not covered by the new research, Konrad pointed out, is wage workers such as home health aides.

“That’s a big part of the healthcare workforce and growing much faster than many other occupations,” he said. What’s more, “The hourly wage of a home health aide has been going down every year for the last 10 years… Half the people in the health sector are in the bottom half (of American workers) – they’re making less than $ 40,000 a year.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/JjFzqx Journal of the American Medical Association, online November 27, 2012.

Seniors/Aging News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..