Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/425846
ByLindseyTanner TheAssociatedPress CHICAGO Too many U.S. infants sleep with blankets, pillows or other unsafe bed- ding that may lead to suf- focation or sudden infant death syndrome, despite guidelines recommending against the practice. That's according to researchers who say 17 years of national data show parents need to be better informed. Thestudy Researchers from the Na- tional Institutes of Health and federal Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention analyzed annual telephone surveys involving a total of nearly 20,000 parents. Al- most 7 out of 8 used blan- kets or other soft bedding for their infants in 1993. That dropped sharply over the years but by 2010, more than half still were doing so. The practice was most com- mon among young mothers, blacks and Hispanics. The study was published Mon- day in Pediatrics. The issue Accidental suffocation in bed, though uncommon, is the leading cause of injury- related deaths in infants. The rate doubled from 2000 to 2010, when about 640 in- fants died from accidental sleep-related suffocation, government data show. While SIDS deaths have de- clined in recent years, they still totaled about 2,000 in 2010. For more than a de- cade, the American Acad- emy of Pediatrics, the NIH and safety experts have warned parents against us- ing soft bedding in infants' cribs, either over or un- der the baby. That includes blankets, quilts, cushiony crib bumpers, pillows and soft toys. That doesn't mean let- ting babies freeze; safe sleepwear is advised, in- cluding one-piece sleepers, and keeping the room at a comfortable temperature. Safety campaigns The decline in SIDS deaths is often attributed to the government's Back to Sleep campaign emphasiz- ing the importance of plac- ing babies to sleep on their backs, not stomachs. To encompass other sleep-related risks, too, including suffocation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Devel- opment and its partners renamed the effort the "Safe to Sleep" campaign in 2012. Safe practices include having babies sleep alone in cribs or bassinets, not on couches, water beds or sheepskin. These infant deaths "are tragic and they're just not necessary," said study co- author Marian Willinger, a SIDS expert at the Na- tional Institute of Child Health and Human Devel- opment. BABIES St u dy : To o ma ny i nf an ts s ti ll s le ep w it h bl an ke ts ASSOCIATEDPRESS Dr. Wendy Gunther demonstrates how an infant can die due to unsafe sleeping practices using a scene re- enactment doll in Norfolk, Va. Online: Safe to Sleep HTTP://TINYURL.COM/ N7KJ7YP By Lynsey Chutel Associated Press JOHANNESBURG In T- shirts boldly declaring "HIV Positive," members of the Treatment Action Campaign marked the 10th anniversary of their court victory that brought the South African government to provide drugs to AIDS patients, in Johannesburg on Monday. Commemorating World Aids Day, the group called it a reunion rather than a celebration as speaker af- ter speaker remembered how life had changed since 2004 now that 2.7 million HIV-positive South Afri- cans receive free treat- ment. The group refused to join a much larger gather- ing organized by the South African government and the National AIDS Coun- cil in another part of the country. The TAC, one of the country's largest AIDS awareness groups, said it would not join a cele- bration while South Afri- ca's over-burdened pub- lic health care system is eroding progress made in the last decade. "We cannot be a mid- dle-income country and accept that we do not have first class treatment," said Vuyiseka Dubula, who joined the Campaign when she was diagnosed with HIV more than a de- cade ago. Speaking at the separate government-led festivity, Deputy President Cyril Ra- maphosa, who is also chair- man of the National Aids Council, said South Africa had received $54 billion from the Global Fund to improve its health services. More than 6.4 million South Africans are liv- ing with HIV and about 400,000 more are infected each year, according to the government. Ramaphosa warned that an estimated 2 million HIV-positive South Africans do not know they are infected with the deadly virus. The Treatment Action Campaign said continuous education and improved primary health care are essential in stopping the spread of the disease. WORLD South African AIDS group says treatment stalling ASSOCIATED PRESS A man makes a call on a mobile phone as he passes World AIDS Day banners on the perimeter of an office building in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday. By Judy Lin Associated Press SACRAMENTO President Barack Obama's executive order to spare some im- migrants from deporta- tion has galvanized Demo- crats, immigration groups and health care advocates in California to push for ex- panding health coverage to a segment of the population that remains uninsured. The president's action excludes immigrants who came to the country ille- gally from qualifying for federal health benefits. But California has its own pol- icy of providing health cov- erage with state money to low-income immigrants with so-called "deferred action" that allow them to avoid deportation. Immi- grant and health care ad- vocates say that means Obama's executive order will enable hundreds of thousands of low-income immigrants in California to apply for Medi-Cal, Cali- fornia's version of Medicaid. Anthony Wright, execu- tive director of Health Ac- cess California, said allow- ing this expanded group of immigrants to partici- pate in the Medicaid pro- gram will enable people to get primary and preventive care, "rather than just at the emergency room." The California Depart- ment of Health Care Ser- vices, however, has yet to receive formal guidance. A state official said it's too early to tell how the immi- gration program will im- pact the overall Medi-Cal program, which is consum- ing an increasing share of state funds. Medi-Cal is a health pro- gram for the poor paid for by the federal government and the state. It has grown by about 3 million people in California under federal health care reform and now covers more than 11 million Californians, about 30 per- cent of the state's popula- tion. The federal govern- ment is paying for the ex- pansion, but the state will eventually pay 10 percent of additional costs to cover low-income adults, many of whom are childless. The state is expected to spend more than $17 bil- lion of its own money on the program this year, up 3.5 percent a year ago, accord- ing to the Legislative Ana- lyst's Office. "We are assess- ing what some of the poten- tial impacts could be, but it would be premature for us to comment until we have more specific information available," said Norman Williams, a spokesman for the Department of Health Care Services. The president's action has also emboldened a Democratic lawmaker to re- vive a bill that would pro- vide health coverage to all Californians, regardless of their immigration status. Sen. Ricardo Lara, D- Bell Gardens, plans to rein- troduce his Health4All bill on Monday to open Medi- Cal to immigrants, as well as extending subsidized health benefits in a new in- surance marketplace for those without legal status. The proposal, which previ- ously carried a cost as high as $1.3 billion a year, stalled in a legislative committee last cycle and Republicans had criticized the cost of the expansion. "The president's action covers almost half of Cali- fornia's undocumented pop- ulation, but that still leaves over a million people with no access to health care. We can do better. The bill will cover those remaining un- insured that will not ben- efit from Obama's action," Lara said. According to the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank in Washington, D.C., the presi- dent's action lifts the threat of deportation to as many as 1.2 million immigrants living illegally in Califor- nia. There are an estimated 2.6 million people living il- legally in the state. The issue of benefits for immigrants who are ille- gally in the United States is a sensitive one. Joe Guzzardi a spokes- man for Californians for Population Stabilization, a Santa Barbara, Califor- nia-based group that advo- cates for lower population, said the state is already more generous toward im- migrants than most states and adding health cover- age may attract more peo- ple to cross into California illegally. "There are millions of Californians who don't have health care insurance or have to pay for their health care insurance out of their own pockets. So it seems unfair to have legis- lation that provides for peo- ple who came to the United States unlawfully to be re- warded with a health care plan," Guzzardi said. Gabrielle Lessard, a health policy attorney with the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles, said it will be months be- fore immigrants can apply for the program and fewer will apply or qualify for Medi-Cal. 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