There are improvements in the physical and emotional health of Canadian youths, particularly on areas of bullying, smoking and couch-potato behavior. According to William Boyce of Queen's University, bullying incidents in 2006 among 9,500 Grade 6 to 10 students across the nation slightly dipped to 40 percent from 43 percent in 2002.

Boyce explained the slight drop to higher awareness in campuses and in Canadian society about the negative effects of physical, verbal, sexual and cyberspace bullying. But racial bullying had gone up a little bit, Boyce admitted

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to spend $50 billion to battle HIV/Aids in the next five years. The bipartisan measure was passed by 308 to 116 votes in an effort to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS around the world, and fight tuberculosis and malaria.

The bill marks a huge increase from the $15 billion authorized during the first five years in 2003. The bill extends President Bush's program called PEPFAR (President's Emergency Program For AIDS Relief) for another five years. The initiative would be the largest U.S. investment ever against a single disease

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warns that Ethiopia needs an estimated $650 million to achieve wider sanitary access for its people. A new report from UNICEF explains that 35 million Ethiopians would benefit from the funds that would finance projects aimed at achieving universal access.

UNICEF's representative to Ethiopia Bjorn Ljunqvist has appealed to the international community for assistance as half of the African nation's people currently lack adequate sanitation facilities

Infants born prematurely have higher death rates in childhood and, if they survive, much less likely to have children of their own in adulthood, according to the largest study of prematurity ever undertaken.

The study, conducted using Norwegian birth data, raises questions about future risks for even tinier babies saved today by modern medicine. Previous studies have shown that premature infants faced many neurological and developmental problems, but the new findings to be reported Wednesday indicate that the problems persist throughout the child's lifetime

California doctors are shunning Medi-Cal patients over the low reimbursements that they have been getting. In 2000, half of the state's physicians were already turning away Medi-Cal patients after the medics increased their rates. Since then more medical practitioners have closed their doors to Medi-Cal patients.

Following the rise in rejection of patients holding state health insurance cards, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to announced by Tuesday a plan to file a suit by local governments and healthcare providers to force a return to rates before a 10 percent cut was made in February on doctors' fees