Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order on Friday to require all middle school girls entering 6th grade (aged 11 and 12) in Texas to receive the new HPV (sexually transmitted disease) vaccination. The vaccination claims to prevent the disease, which can cause cervical cancer.

Perry claims that authorizing this HPV vaccine is no different than past legislation that requires all children to have the polio vaccine, according to CNN

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department on Friday announced some overdue relief for hospitals and health care providers adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina. HHS will provide a total of $175 million in grants to those entities in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi that have experienced economic pressure as a result of the storm.

Many houses and apartments were destroyed by the storm, which drove employees away. Those that have stayed or come back have demanded higher wages in order to pay for the increased cost of living in the area

Soaring healthcare costs mean more bad news for people struggling to afford healthcare in developed nations, especially in America. Research shows that spending on health is increasing faster than incomes are. That raises questions on how developed nations will pay the tab for healthcare for their citizens, especially in the U.S. where more money is spent per capita on healthcare than anywhere else, according to a statement released by Kaiser Family Foundation.

Worse yet, research shows that despite spending more Americans are not getting any better outcomes from their healthcare than patients in other countries who pay less

The Philippine population is likely to hit 88.1 million this year with an estimated 1.7 million to be born in 2007, as the Commission on Population calls for concrete action to avert the growing population.

Tomas Osias, PopCom executive director said that while the country's population growth rate is on the decline in the past years, the "absolute number" of Filipinos continues to rise

A team of researchers have warned the wanna-be slimmers to be cautious about people who are selling "DNA-diets" on the Internet that claim they will counter genetic vulnerability to certain cancers and other illnesses.

According to BBC reports, the study, led by researchers at the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre of Genomics in Society at the University of Exeter, is the first to look at claims diets can be based on DNA