America has the most expensive health-care system and many are to go without care because of costs.

A new survey found that one-third of the American respondents felt their health care system is so dysfunctional that it needs to be rebuilt completely--the highest rate in any country surveyed.
The Commonwealth Fund researchers interviewed some 12,000 adults in seven industrialized nations, including Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, Xinhua reported.
The survey found that US patients have the highest out-of-pocket costs and the most difficulty paying medical bills.
“We have certainly the most expensive health-care system,“ Davis said. “What these surveys have shown year after year is that patients in the US experience more problems with access to care because of costs,“ said Karen Davis, Commonwealth Fund president.
In the result, many Americans are likely to go without care because of costs. “In the US, nearly two of five (37 percent) of all adults and 42 percent of those with chronic conditions had skipped medications, not seen a doctor when sick, or foregone recommended care in the past year because of costs--rates well above all other countries,“ said the report.
These rates were far higher than all other countries, according to Cathy Schoen who led Commonwealth Fund researchers.
Schoen added US patients said they received more fragmented and inefficient care, including medical record and test delays, and more time wasted on paperwork, compared with patients in other countries.
“Both low- and high-income patients expressed these views,“ Schoen added, who is also the fund vice president and research director of its Commission on a High Performance Health System.
US patients also said they had the highest rates of lab test errors and some of the highest rates of medical or medication errors. These errors were highest among patients seeing multiple doctors or with multiple chronic illnesses, Schoen said.
Also Reuters reported that the number of Americans lacking health insurance rose by nearly 8.6 million to 47 million from 2000 to 2006, with children and workers from every income level losing coverage.
The increase was “driven primarily by the continued erosion in employer-provided health insurance,“ said the report by the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute.
In 2006, 2.3 million fewer Americans received health benefits from their employers than in 2000, the report said, noting the decline does not take the population increase into account.
Nearly 60 percent of the nation’s children are covered by the insurance provided by their parents’ employers, but 3.4 million fewer children had benefits in 2006 compared with 2000.

With his index finger pointing to the heavens and a perpendicular thumb, the man next to the imam at a Cairo mosque signals the message of Islam to the deaf faithful: “Allahu Akbar“--God is great.
They come to the mosque of Sayeda Zeinab (SA)--where the granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is believed to be buried--in their hundreds every Friday to follow the week’s main prayer session in sign language, AFP reported.
But in the city of a thousand minarets, there is only one volunteer who, along with another two outside the capital, can communicate the Qur’an in sign language to the two to four million deaf people in this country of 76 million.
“When we were first allowed to give prayers in sign language, the faithful were supposed to be put to the back but I asked for them to be allowed to sit in front of the imam so that they are integrated with the rest of the believers,“ says Alaa Al-Din Al-Sayed.
The 34-year-old teacher explains how he set up a non-governmental organization called “Sarkha“ (The Cry) so that deaf people like his sister would no longer be confined to the margins of society and of Islam.
“I learned sign language and launched the project to translate prayers and to put an end to discrimination, here and elsewhere,“ he says, criticizing what he says is the non-application of Egypt’s law that reserves 5 percent of state jobs for the handicapped.
Every Friday, he takes up his position in front of the minbar, the seat from which the imam gives his sermon. Thanks to his lively gestures, Sayed brings the deaf and hard of hearing into immediate union with the congregation of thousands.
“A relative used to accompany me and translate a few bits,“ 67-year-old upholsterer Ahmed Abed-Hal says through an interpreter, having traveled across the city from the district of Zeitun.
“Before, we were too far from the message of Islam.“ Adel Nemr, a deaf trader from the bustling tourist bazaar of Khan Al-Khalili says the government has not done enough for the deaf. He dreams of a television channel and a special mosque dedicated to the deaf.
“When I made the pilgrimage to Mecca (in Saudi Arabia) on my own, I couldn’t perform all the rituals because there was no one there to help me. We want to be treated like all other human beings, like all Muslims,“ he says.

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe has fallen by over 10 percent in the past six years, but the health minister cautioned that the rate was still too high, state media reported.
The state-run Herald newspaper said that the prevalence rate now stands at 15.6 percent in the southern African nation, down from a figure of 18.1 percent in 2003 and 26.5 percent in 2001, reported AFP.
Health Minister David Parirenyatwa applauded the downward trend, but warned that the 15.6 percent prevalence rate was still very high.
“While we welcome it, we should caution ourselves that this is still an alarming figure that we must address,“ Parirenyatwa was quoted as saying by the Herald.
According to the government figures, one in seven Zimbabweans is now HIV positive, a sharp drop from the 1990s when the ratio was one in four.
An estimated 1.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, 651,402 of them women and 132,938 children under 14 years old, whilst 260,000 are in urgent need of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Some 86,0000 people are currently on ARVs.

One of the displays at Tehran's Food Festival, which concluded on Nov. 2.

The percentage of single-person households among total households is expected to rise from 35 percent at present to 44 percent in 2050, according to projections of Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
The national statistical agency said this is mainly because divorce rate grew quickly in recent years and more and more middle-aged people are living without a partner, Dutch media reported.
The number of single people as a percentage of total population is expected to go up to 21 percent in 2050 from 16 percent this year, the agency said in a study, “Population Trends,“ published.
The number of marriages in the Netherlands is falling dramatically and the trend is expected to continue, the agency said.
A man born in 1940 has a 91 percent chance of getting married, and a woman born in 1940 has a 95 percent chance. This chance declines to 65 percent for a man or a woman born in 1990, according to the study.
The aging population is also contributing to the increase in the number of single households, as this leads to more single elderly people.

Gone are the days when cosmetic surgery was associated only with film stars. Now, a new research has found that most of the women and a good amount of men are now showing a desire to go under the knife in order to enhance their beauty and overall personality.
The study conducted by University of California, Los Angeles scientists found that 48 percent of women and 23 percent of men showed willingness towards cosmetic surgery, liposuction or both, while another 23 percent women and 17 percent of men expressed possible interest, ANI reported.
In count, 21 percent of women and 11 percent of men described themselves as unattractive.
“Interest in cosmetic surgery is far more widespread than we had anticipated,“ said David Frederick, a UCLA psychology graduate student and lead author of the study.
“The majority of women expressed some interest in cosmetic surgery, and more than one-third of men expressed some degree of interest, which I found really surprising. We know there is tremendous pressure for women to be thin and have a certain appearance and for men to be fit and muscular, but I would not have guessed that so many people would be interested in clean.“
“There is so much pressure, especially on women, to be thin and beautiful and to look younger. Many people are willing to pay thousands of dollars to permanently alter their bodies surgically. The interest in cosmetic surgery is widespread across the full life span. Especially for women, there never seems to be a reprieve. Your appearance is judged to be an important part of who you are,“
However, Dr Fredrick was surprised that there was no relation between people’s body image and their interest in cosmetic surgery.
He found that even those without a poor body image expressed interest in surgical alteration.
“This isn’t about poor body image, People interested in cosmetic surgery did not report less satisfaction with their body or face than people who are not interested. People interested in liposuction, however, did report lower body satisfaction, even when statistically controlling for body weight,’ he said.

Austria has a divorce rate of more than 50 percent.

In a city where “I do“ often turns into “I want out,“ a fair for those wanting to untie the knot seemed a sure hit.
But journalists easily outnumbered those looking for advice on how to end their marriages on Oct. 27, the first day of what was billed as the world’s first divorce fair, Abclocal.go.com reported.
Detectives were ready to catch a spouse in the act, mediators to help ease the pain of separation, and, of course, lawyers to do everything else.
So where were all those in struggling marriages?
The Austrian capital would seem a good venue for the event, with its 66-percent divorce rate, near the top for European cities. The country itself has a rate of more than 50 percent. In the United States, the rate is thought to be between 40 and 45 percent.
But only a few dozen clients meandered through the two conference rooms of a downtown luxury hotel in the space of an hour, and bemused exhibitors were kept busy mostly by TV crews lining up to interview them.
“It doesn’t matter,“ said real estate agent Christian Novotny, there to offer advice on how to sell homes for splitting couples--or to buy ones for new singles. “Tomorrow’s another day.“
“Too many cameras,“ said Berhard Spernern, one of the few at the event hoping for a divorce. “I think that’s part of the problem--a lot of people don’t want to be seen or be photographed here.“
Spernern said he was happy to have come nonetheless, saying a talk with a lawyer was helpful in letting him know that he has an automatic right to divorce after a three-year separation. And he said he would suggest to his spouse-- who he said does not want to end their marriage--to join him in mediating their dispute with one of the experts he made contact with.
Even the Roman Catholic Church got into the mix, with a stand to offer advice for newly single parents.
Still, the emphasis was less on the emotional and more on the financial and legal aspects accompanying a divorce--a fact criticized by some looking for more than just a chance to limit the mess of their marriage breakup.

During the past 15 years, International Living magazine has calculated its Annual Global Retirement Index; a resource intended to assist retirees and future retirees in evaluating and comparing the world’s most popular retirement destinations. It is based on a number of criteria, giving various weights to each, depending on its importance to retirees. Listed below are those criteria considered with their individual weighting, said Pr-gb.com.
Believe it or not, until this year, Panama had topped the list for the past six years. It still has plenty to offer retirees, however this year, with 30 countries being analyzed and ranked, it fell to fourth position. Ahead of Panama in third position, was Italy with its beautiful cities, its fine weather, and of course, its historic sites. In second position was, of all countries, Ecuador.
Mexico ranked number one in the world for retirement.

Birth defects in Chinese infants have soared nearly 40 percent since 2001, a government report said, and officials linked the rise to China’s worsening environmental degradation.
The rate of defects had risen from 104.9 per 10,000 births in 2001, to 145.5 in 2006, affecting nearly one in 10 families, China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission said in a report on its website, reported Reuters.
Infants with birth defects now accounted for “about 4 to 6 percent of total births every year,“ the family planning agency said. Of these, 30 percent would die and 40 percent would be “disabled.“
The World Health Organization estimates about 3 to 5 percent of children worldwide are born with birth defects.
China’s coal-rich northern province of Shanxi, a centre of noxious emissions from large-scale coke and chemical industries, had the highest rate of defects.