World Report on Disability

The WHO/World Bank is launching its first World report on Disability (See description below) in the U.S. on September 12 & 13 . DoubleTree Hotel Crystal City, Arlington , VA. September 12 & 13, 2011. (The international launch is at the UN on June 9 when the Report will be released.) The September 12-13 U.S. launch/symposium is free but you must register. For registration, please go to http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/conferences/2011/

The Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE) will conduct a two-day symposium, September 12 & 13, 2011, on the World report on disability, which is being released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank on 9 June, 2011. This USA launch event will be conducted in cooperation with WHO, the Pan American Health Organization, the World Bank, the Interagency Committee on Disability Research, and the United States International Council on Disabilities.

What is the World report on disability?

The World report on disability summarizes the best available scientific evidence on disability and makes recommendations for action in support of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The product of a multi-year effort by over 300 contributors from all parts of the world, the World report provides documented evidence of the social and economic status of persons with disabilities, the state of disability services, the problems and good practices, as well as recommendations for needed research and development. It will also include the first update of WHO's global disability prevalence estimates for more than thirty years. For the topics discussed, it represents the best single source of knowledge on disability at the global scale.

What is the purpose of this symposium?

The objective of the September meeting is to introduce the report to U.S. audiences. WHO has encouraged member states to conduct national events to disseminate the report to key stakeholders in each country, especially policy makers and practitioners. The U.S. launch is aimed at moving the report's recommendation forward through U.S. policy, practice and advocacy. The symposium will examine the implications of the World report for the U.S. domestically and internationally.

What will the symposium be like?

The first morning will feature representatives of international organizations and U.S. federal government agencies that develop and implement disability policies and fund research related to disability, as well as representatives of disability rights organizations. The next day and a half will be devoted to the presentation and discussion of the eight chapters of the Report. Discussion will focus on the implications of each chapter for the U.S. , both domestically and internationally.

The chapters in the World report comprise:

• Understanding disability
• Disability - a global picture
• General healthcare
• Rehabilitation
• Assistance and support
• Enabling Environments
• Education
• Work and employment

Who should attend the symposium?

This meeting will be of interest to all those who wish to deepen their knowledge of the global state of disability, with particular reference to the U.S. These include policy makers, practitioners, researchers and persons with disabilities. There is no registration fee, but participants will be required to register and registration will be capped at 120 persons on a first-come-first-served basis.

Further information about the program, the speakers and logistics will be forth coming on the conferences website (http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/conferences/2011/).

CIRRIE is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education.

WHO Warns of Enormous Burden of Chronic Disease

By Kate Kelland


LONDON (Reuters) Apr 27 - Chronic illnesses like cancer, heart disease and diabetes have reached global epidemic proportions and now cause more deaths than all other diseases combined, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.


In its first worldwide report on so-called non-communicable diseases, or NCDs, the United Nations health body said the conditions caused more than half of all deaths in 2008 and pose a greater threat than infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis (TB) -- even in many poorer countries.


"The rise of chronic noncommunicable diseases presents an enormous challenge," WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, who launched the report at a meeting in Moscow, said in a statement.


"For some countries, it is no exaggeration to describe the situation as an impending disaster; a disaster for health, for society, and most of all for national economies," she said.
More

GOP Unveils Medicaid Flexibility Bill

By Sam Baker


Congressional Republicans' bill to let states cut their Medicaid rolls would save the federal government nearly $3 billion over the next five years, according to a preliminary estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).


A group of House and Senate Republicans on Tuesday outlined their bill to repeal the Medicaid "maintenance of effort" provisions in the new healthcare law. The law expands Medicaid beginning in 2014, and the federal government will initially foot the bill for the new beneficiaries. In the meantime, states are prohibited from reducing their eligibility levels.
More

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Eligibility,

This proposed rule would implement provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (FCEA) affecting the eligibility, benefits, certification, and employment and training (E&T) requirements for applicant or participant households in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The rule would amend the SNAP regulations to:

• Exclude military combat pay from the income of SNAP households;
• raise the minimum standard deduction and the minimum benefit for small households;
• eliminate the cap on the deduction for dependent care expenses;
• index resource limits to inflation;
• exclude retirement and education accounts from countable resources;
• permit States to expand the use of simplified reporting; permit States to provide transitional benefits to households leaving State-funded cash assistance programs;
• allow States to establish telephonic signature systems;
• permit States to use E&T funds to provide post-employment job retention services; and
• limit the E&T funding cycle to 15 months.

These provisions are intended to increase SNAP benefit levels for certain participants, reduce barriers to participation, and promote efficiency in the administration of the program.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 5, 2011.

Full Federal Register Notice

Salt Study Discounts Link to Hypertension

In a study that seems likely to re-energize the debate over dietary salt, European researchers found that the changes in the amount of sodium excreted in the urine were related to changes in systolic blood pressure.

But they were not linked to diastolic pressure or the risk of developing hypertension, according to Jan Staessen, MD, PhD, of the University of Leuven in Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues.

And levels of urinary sodium excretion were inversely related to the risk of dying of cardiovascular causes, Staessen and colleagues reported in the May 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. More

National Audio Conference on the Federal Budget

Audio Conference Sponsored by SPOTLIGHT on POVERTY and OPPORTUNITY and the SHRIVER CENTER

Featuring Rep. Jan Schakowsky

May 9, 2011, 4:00-4:30 pm EST

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law are excited to co-sponsor a national audio conference featuring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D – IL) offering an insider's perspective on the latest budget developments in Congress. Sign Up Now

After a bruising battle around the federal budget for FY 2011, which resulted in $38 billion in spending cuts and a near shutdown of the government, Congress is now beginning debate on the budget for FY 2012. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) has developed a budget blueprint that is $6.2 trillion lower than President Barack Obama's plan. The Ryan blueprint includes privatizing Medicare, turning Medicaid into a block grant, and lowering taxes for corporations and the wealthy.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky served on President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. She opposed the deficit reduction proposal presented by the co-chairs and offered her own approach, which reached the same fiscal goals without cutting Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. The Schakowsky plan also addressed income disparity – which is at its greatest level since 1928.

Sign Up Now. When you sign up, you can send in your questions to audioconference@clasp.org for this half hour audio conference.

To attend the audio conference, please RSVP here.

AoA eNewsletter May 2011

Table of Contents


Top Story
    Older Americans Month 2011

AoA News

•     AoA Grantees Impact Over 106,000 Older Adults with Proven Health Promotion Programs
•     AoA’s May Widget Celebrates National Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
•    HIV/AIDS Turns 30 - Together We Can: Educate, Empower, Prevent - HIV/AIDS and the Aging Network
• Cancer Screening and Older Adults

Other HHS News

• NIH-Supported Survey to Study Functional Change in Older Adults
• Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2011 User Comparative Database Report

Funding Opportunity

• Grants to Enhance Older Adult Behavioral Health Services
• Lifespan Respite Care Program - Competing Program Expansion Supplements
• Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement

More News

• U.S. Treasury to "Retire" Paper Checks
• National Observances