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U.N.: 750,000 Preterm Babies Die Unnecessarily Each Year

The lives of at least 750,000 premature babies could be saved every year by taking simple and inexpensive steps to limit preterm birth, the world's largest killer of newborns, U.N. health experts said Friday.

"There are many interventions that can save lives and improve the quality of these babies' lives that are not high-skilled intensive care but that are simple interventions," said Elizabeth Mason, who heads the World Health Organization's Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.

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U.N.: Poor Sanitation Kills 2.7 mn People a Year

Improving sanitation and building more toilets could save millions of lives around the world and would remove an important source of inequality, the U.N. said Friday ahead of World Toilet Day.

“Eliminating inequalities can start in the most unlikely of places: a toilet,” said Catarina de Albuquerque, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation.

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Migration Officials Say Cholera in Haiti on Rise

The world's largest agency that deals with global migration says cholera is again on the rise in Haiti.

The International Organization for Migration says Haitian officials have confirmed 3,593 cholera cases and another 837 suspected cases since Hurricane Sandy's passage.

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India's Public Health System Has Collapsed

India's rural development minister said Friday the country's public health system had "collapsed" in a blunt assessment of his government's failure to extend a social safety net for the poor.

Jairam Ramesh, known as a maverick with often outspoken views, stressed that 70 percent of spending on health was out of people's own pockets, making it the single most important reason for indebtedness in rural areas.

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Meat Bad for Morals, Says Indian Textbook

The pros and cons of meat-eating may be the subject of debate for nutritionists, but one Indian school textbook is clear: a fleshy diet will make you lie, steal and even commit sex crimes.

The unusual moral guidance appeared in a school book for 11-year-olds, purporting to offer education on issues from health and hygiene to sex education and exercise, the NDTV news channel reported.

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Study: U.S. Sees Dramatic Rise in Diabetes Rates

The United States saw a dramatic rise in the number of adults suffering from diabetes between 1995 and 2010, according to official statistics released Thursday.

The prevalence of the disease increased by at least 50 percent in 42 of the country's 50 states. In 18 of those, the rate at least doubled, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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U.S. Probes if Deaths Were Linked to Energy Shots

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports of 13 deaths possibly linked to so-called "energy shots" and cautioning consumers to talk to their doctors before they take them or other energy drinks.

The agency has received 92 reports that cite illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths after consumption of a product marketed as 5-Hour Energy. The FDA has also received reports that cited the highly caffeinated Monster Energy Drink in five deaths and one non-fatal heart attack.

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Dutch Hospital to Lead Organ Trafficking Probe

Medical and police authorities are launching a major international probe into the illegal trafficking in human organs for transplants, to help clamp down on the crime, one of the researchers said Thursday.

Frederike Ambagtsheer, of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, said a three-year probe now aims to map out the trade and the involvement of criminals in the trafficking.

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Two Dead in New Outbreak of Ebola in Uganda

A fresh outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in central Uganda has killed at least two people, the health minister said Thursday.

The virus has killed two members of the same family since Saturday about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital Kampala, Health Minister Christine Ondoa said.

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Vitamin D in Pregnancy May Prevent Multiple Sclerosis

Researchers said Thursday they have found evidence that Vitamin D supplements for pregnant women in the world's colder, darker countries may stave off multiple sclerosis (MS) in their offspring.

The finding adds to a growing body of work showing a link between low Vitamin D levels and the debilitating disease, which sees the immune system attacking the body's own nerve fibers.

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