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Kwarteng: no time for new spending review this year
The government shelved plans for a new spending review this year due to a lack of time, the chancellor has said. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was speaking at a fringe event during the Conservative Party Conference, hosted by the Institute for Economic Affairs and the Taxpayers Alliance.
Responding to a question from LGC as to why the new spending review had been cancelled despite rising inflationary costs, Mr Kwarteng said the government would be sticking with the spending review package of 2021.
Kwarteng said: “I mean, these things take forever [...] and I think, let’s stick to what we’ve got to do. I don’t want to go into another process of reopening the CSR [comprehensive spending review].”
When the last comprehensive spending review was set in November 2021, inflation sat at 4%. It is now projected to rise to 11% in the autumn. During prime minister Liz Truss’s leadership campaign, she promised to hold a new spending review this year in light of rising inflation.
Kwarteng emphasised that the government’s pursuit of growth would prove beneficial to funding public services, telling attendees: “If we grow the economy at 3-4%, that gives you a lot more width to have great public services.”
Source: Local Government Chronicle, 5 October 2022
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More than 2.5 million US teens vaped in 2022 says CDC report
An estimated 2.55 million US middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes during the early part of this year, health officials have said. According to findings from the National Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in four of those students said they used e-cigarettes daily.
Juul Labs Inc's e-cigarettes dropped out of the top list of brands favoured by teens, the survey found, with Puff Bars, British American Tobacco Plc's (BATS.L) Vuse or Hyde reported as the most popular brands. A US federal appeals court in June put on hold an FDA ban on the sale of Juul's e-cigarettes, after the company argued the order would cause the company "irreparable harm."
Among students who reported e-cigarette use, nearly 85% said they used flavoured versions and more than half disposable e-cigarettes. The FDA since 2016 has sought to crack down on fruity, sweet-flavoured e-cigarettes marketed towards teens. In January 2020, the agency banned all flavours except tobacco and menthol in Juul and other cartridge-based e-cigarettes.
The survey suggests that e-cigarette use is up from last year where nearly half of respondents took the survey remotely but down significantly from 2019 and 2020 levels. The CDC, however, cautioned against comparing the results to previous years because of a change in how the data was collected. Nearly all of the students who completed the latest online survey did so while in classrooms, similar to how the data was collected in 2019, when 5.4 million students reported using e-cigarettes, and 2020, when that number was 3.6 million.
Source: Reuters, 6 October 2022
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Asthma Health Equity Index identifies social determinants of health to help patients connect with services
Researchers at Rady Children's Health Network have developed an Asthma Health Equity Index, demonstrating current disparities among patients in San Diego with moderate to severe asthma who visit the emergency department. The programme is hoped to l aid hospitals in other areas to better identify and assist disadvantaged populations and track health equity-related improvements.
Race and ethnicity were strongly associated with food insecurity, unstable housing, and tobacco use.
Dr. Keri L. Carstairs, vice president of network operations and clinical integration and the chief population health officer at Rady Children's said on the index: "When managing the health of a child and, in particular, any chronic condition such as asthma, it is critical to acknowledge the profound importance that social determinants, race, ethnicity, and language barriers play in the life of that child and family [...] By committing to an understanding of those needs that extend beyond the health care setting, we can have a greater impact on the health of children by designing necessary interventions to support these needs through the development of a collaborative community ecosystem with community partnerships that can support vulnerable populations."
Source: Medical Xpress, 7 October 2022
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US study: Policy and resources crucial for lung cancer screening
A Veterans Health Administration project in the US that provided resources for lung cancer screening programs was successful in increasing target population screening rates, according to a study published in the journal Chest.
Researchers compared screening data from the demonstration project centres (before, during and after the two-year project) with data from VA medical centres that applied for the project but were not selected. The researchers found that the demonstration project centres screened about 18 veterans per 1,000 eligible veterans per month, compared to 0.3 veterans screened in the comparison group.
The findings have already been used to advocate for a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Lung Cancer Screening Program Office, that provides resources including personnel, clinical and educational tools and support for lung cancer screening to boost engagement..
Jennifer Lewis, MD, MS, MPH, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre said: "Only 10–20% of eligible people in the U.S. are currently screened for lung cancer. The goal is for every individual at high risk for lung cancer to be offered screening. Our study provides data to support continued or additional resources for screening programs. Policy really matters."
Source: Medical Xpress, 6 October 2022
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Podcast: Mentally Yours – Smoking and mental health
Marking the start of Stoptober, hosts Ellen Scott and Yvette Caster of the Mentally Yours podcast chat to Mark Rowland, newly appointed chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation and Co-Chair of the Mental Health and Smoking Partnership about the links between smoking and mental ill health.
Link to podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Gi1OF4y531QEIbWgsRjw7?si=065dbf0aef1c45bc
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Podcast: Let’s talk e-cigarettes
Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Dr Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Harry Tattan-Birch from the Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London.
Tattan-Birch talks about their team's recent randomised controlled trial examining whether, in adults receiving behavioural support, offering e-cigarettes together with varenicline helps more people stop smoking cigarettes than varenicline alone. This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches.
See also: Study - E-cigarettes to Augment Stop Smoking In-person Support and Treatment With Varenicline
Link to podcast: https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/september-2022-harry-tattan-birch
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