Health News Roundup: Kidney dialysis-related infection rates higher in U.S. minorities -report; Trudeau to offer 10-year Canada healthcare funding of more than C$100 billion - The Globe and Mail and more

Citing an unidentified senior federal source, the report said the 10-year funding proposal, designed to help fix the country's struggling health care system from Ottawa, will include tens of billions of dollars of new money, as well as earlier planned increases. Death toll from mysterious meningitis outbreak in Mexico at 35 State officials in northern Mexico on Monday reported another death caused by a mysterious meningitis outbreak, bringing the total number of victims linked to the disease to 35.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Kidney dialysis-related infection rates higher in U.S. minorities -report

Preventable bloodstream infections related to kidney failure treatment are more common in U.S. Blacks and Hispanics than in whites, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on Monday. Use of neck veins for administration of hemodialysis was the most important risk factor, but not the only one, researchers said in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Trudeau to offer 10-year Canada healthcare funding of more than C$100 billion - The Globe and Mail

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will present a funding offer of over C$100 billion ($74.5 billion) for the country's healthcare system in talks with provincial and territorial leaders on Tuesday, The Globe and Mail reported on Monday. Citing an unidentified senior federal source, the report said the 10-year funding proposal, designed to help fix the country's struggling health care system from Ottawa, will include tens of billions of dollars of new money, as well as earlier planned increases.

New York mayor ending COVID vaccine mandate for city workers

New York Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday that he was lifting a controversial COVID-19 vaccine mandate for municipal workers and the city's Department of Education employees. The United States' largest city by population will also end the vaccination requirements, which began in late 2021, for nonpublic school, early child care, and daycare staff.

Workers stage largest strike in history of Britain's health service

Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance service staff walked off the job on Monday in a pay dispute, putting further strain on Britain's state-run National Health Service with their largest ever strike. Nurses and ambulance workers have been striking separately since late last year but Monday's walkout involving both, largely in England, is the biggest in the 75-year history of the NHS.

Drug companies face COVID cliff in 2023 as sales set to plummet

Pharmaceutical companies that made billions from the pandemic over the past two years selling vaccines and treatments are now up against a steep COVID cliff and investor pressure to spend their windfalls wisely. Western drugmakers including Pfizer Inc, BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc, Gilead Sciences Inc, AstraZeneca Plc and Merck & Co are estimated to have brought in about $100 billion in revenue from COVID vaccines and treatments in 2022.

Nearly 60 hair relaxer lawsuits against L'Oreal, others consolidated in Illinois federal court

Nearly 60 lawsuits claiming hair relaxer products sold by L'Oreal USA Inc and other companies cause cancer and other health problems will be consolidated in Chicago federal court, according to a Monday order from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. At least 57 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts across the country over the products, which use chemicals to permanently straighten textured hair, court records show. The lawsuits allege the companies knew their products contained dangerous chemicals but marketed and sold them anyway.

WHO says Syria, already in crisis, needs massive humanitarian aid after quake

Senior officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that Syria's humanitarian needs where the highest after a major earthquake killed thousands there and in southern Turkey. Adelheid Marschang, WHO Senior Emergency Officer, said Turkey had a strong capacity to respond to the crisis but that the main unmet needs in the immediate and mid-term would be across the border in Syria, already grappling with a years-long humanitarian crisis due to the civil war and a cholera outbreak.

Analysis-Canada's decriminalization experiment no match for toxic drug supply

A Canadian experiment to decriminalize small amounts of hard drugs could reduce stigma and police run-ins for addicts but does little to tackle a bigger problem of overdose deaths from drugs adulterated with lethal ingredients. The province of British Columbia, at the epicentre of a drug poisoning crisis that has already killed more than 32,000 Canadians since 2016, last week began a three-year pilot programme in which people carrying less than 2.5 grams of drugs such as meth and heroin will not be prosecuted.

Explainer-What ails Canada's healthcare system?

Canada's provincial and federal leaders were slated to meet on Tuesday in an attempt to agree upon potential solutions to bolster the country's stretched public healthcare system. Long a source of pride, Canada's publicly funded healthcare system has been strained to the breaking point due to factors including the pandemic and staffing shortages. Here are some of the issues facing Canada's health system:

Death toll from mysterious meningitis outbreak in Mexico at 35

State officials in northern Mexico on Monday reported another death caused by a mysterious meningitis outbreak, bringing the total number of victims linked to the disease to 35. To date, health authorities in Mexico's largely rural Durango state have documented 79 meningitis cases over the past few months.