This is very exciting news! Partners HealthCare is investigating the efficacy of using cell phones with cameras to diagnose leg wounds. From what I can surmise from this article, nurses, who travel to areas that expert physicians cannot visit, take pictures of patients' wounds. They then upload the pictures to the internet, and physicians determine the most immediate treatments.

Critics have questioned whether or not camera phones can produce a good enough quality photograph for physicians to make diagnostic decisions. However, Andrew Needleman, who developed the cell phone technology being used in the pilot, is confident about use of camera cell phones. He predicts their common use within five years.

Africa, the country where AIDS incubated itself, is feared to be the next breeding ground for the avian flu virus. Although Africa, along with many other countries, has blocked the import of domestic fowl, it is not poultry that researchers are worried about. Africa is the final winter resting place of many migratory birds.

African delegates at a World Health Organization (WHO) conference have been warned that wild ducks probably already carry the bird flu. An organized effort is being made to encourage small traders to report sick birds, so that the disease could possibly be contained. With AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, Africa is seen as particularly susceptible to the bird virus.

Some countries have not heeded the warning to prepare for individual outbreaks and treatments, and now face the expensive development of vaccinations for huge populations. WHO officials warn that this approach would be devastating in Africa, and the virus must be prevented, if at all possible, from reaching the general population.

Walmart is responding to critics, who blast the company for not providing health coverage to its employees, with a new health plan. In order to help employees get off Medicaid, the company is now offering employees insurance at low rates from $11-$65/month, and coupling them with high deductibles. Critics still purport that employees, who are paid on average $10/hour, won't be able to afford $1000 deductibles.

However, Walmart continues the plan by offering co-pays for the first three doctors' visits and prescriptions. Furthermore, they have established a tax-free health plan, similar to a 401K, for employees to pay into, with Walmart matching funds. Additionally, employees retain the health savings investments even if they move to other jobs.

The Goldcoast Medical Association in Australia is calling for less bureaucracy, and less governmental red tape when it comes to providing health care. The country's liberal party insists that non-medical personnel have been governing health care for too long, and would welcome a return of medical governance by doctors and other health care professionals.

Physicians are currently scoffing at funding to build a new Parklands hospital. Goldcoast Medical Association Vice President David Lyndsey, MD, called for a better-planned facility that would serve patients and doctors, rather than faculty and students.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives has managed to annoy several business owners by approving a health plan that protects health coverage of all its citizens. The health plan requires business owners to pay into a state-wide health insurance fund if they do not provide health coverage to their employees. Governer Mitt Romney opposes the tax on businesses, but the House has enough votes to overturn a veto.

The state Senate's plan is slightly more forgiving: businesses that don't provide health care must pay health costs for employees who take advantage of a state-provided plan. Romney is urging lawmakers to come to a concrete agreement by January to be elegible for federal funding.

The state will take advantage of a $255 million dollar per year tobacco settlement fund in order to make sure that health insurance is provided. Citizens who can afford to provide their own insurance, even if employers don't, are required to provide it; however, the state Medicaid program is being expanded to make sure that disadvantaged citizens have more equal access to health coverage. Perhaps other states will follow their bold example.