US health care takes a battering.

to see an international fund established to subsidize drug purchases and delivery systems in the poorest countries. In Norway this month (April) about 50 experts from around the world are meeting at a workshop organized by WHO and the WTO to discuss differential pricing as a means to ensure that the poor have access to essential drugs without undermining the international patents system — a system that gives pharmaceutical manufacturers an incentive to develop new drugs. However, even at heavily discounted prices, many drugs still remain way beyond the means of low-income countries. WHO's director-general, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, says that no matter how low prices go, additional funding — in the form of development assistance and debt relief — will be needed to meet the costs of care for the poorest: ''The private sector is showing it is willing to do its part to fight the HIV/ AIDS epidemic. The onus is now on governments and international organizations to make sure the funds to pay for these drugs are made available and that health systems are strengthened so that they are able to provide the care needed. We are talking about a 500-fold increase in care that could translate to as much as US$ 10 billion per year. Lifestyle and Alzheimer disease — study strengthens link African-Americans living in an industrialized US city are more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer disease and other dementias than are Africans living in Nigeria, according to a study published in the 14 February Journal of the American Medical Association. The ten-year study, a collaborative effort of researchers from both countries, compared the incidence rates of Alzheimer disease (AD) and other dementias in people over age 65 in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the US, and in Ibadan, Nigeria. A baseline survey identified 2147 African-Americans in India-napolis and 2459 Yoruba residents of Ibadan who did not have dementia. Follow-up studies at 2 and 5 years found that 2.52% of the African-Americans eventually developed AD, compared to only 1.15% of the Yoruba; overall, 3.24% of the African-Americans developed any form of dementia (including AD), compared to 1.35% of the Yoruba. The rates found among the African-Americans are in the ''higher range of previously published'' rates, while the rates found in the Yoruba are among the lowest, reported the study's principal investigators, Dr Hugh C. The researchers did not draw conclusions as to why the disease …