Acting on health After several failed attempts, an update of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act has been approved by the US Senate. About US$35 billion will be invested over 10 years to progress health services for the USA’s estimated 1·9 million Native Americans, who are disproportionately affected by diabetes, cancer, and suicide.

Abandoning mutilation World Women’s Day (March 8) has been highlighted by ten UN agencies joining together to eliminate female genital mutilation within a generation. This harmful practice currently affects millions of women, girls, and newborn babies in Africa, Asia, and the middle east. The agencies have pledged to support governments and communities to achieve a major reduction in this practice by 2015.

Measuring up Since increasing waist girth has proven health implications, the report that adults in the UK perceive themselves to be much slimmer around the waist than they actually are is cause for concern. Research from the University of Leicester found that men underestimated their waist size by an average of 7·9 cm, and women by an average of 5·5 cm.

Vaccine trial Researchers from Oxford have started a trial of a new tuberculosis vaccine-MVA85A-in children in Cape Town, South Africa. The trial is part of phase IIa safety and immunogenicity studies, which have already been done in adults and adolescents. This study will also include efficacy data; even if the results are positive, a licence for the vaccine is not likely to be granted until at least 2015.

Child smoking Commended for drawing attention to underage smoking, comprehensive NICE guidelines now recommend offering nicotine patches, with support, infor-mation, and advice, to children as young as 12 years in the UK. NICE anticipates that Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities will apply this cost-effective policy to benefit young addicted populations.

Positive step Malawi’s Government plans to introduce a new law to clamp down on traditional healers and religious leaders who mislead HIV/AIDS patients about their treatment. The legislation, which was presented to parliament on March 4, aims to stop traditional healers from claiming they can treat HIV/AIDS, and religious leaders from advising patients to abandon antiretrovirals for prayer.

Record of life The Encyclopedia of Life is the sweeping name for a singularly ambitious web project which was launched last week. An international team of scientists will contribute one-page entries describing every known species-at present, about 1·8 million-and millions of additional species are expected to be identified.

Lawsuit U-turn The Nigerian state of Lagos has withdrawn a US$23 billion lawsuit it filed against three tobacco firms for the public-health costs of treating smoking-related diseases. But tobacco companies still face similar suits from two other states and the federal government, which is also planning to introduce a raft of anti-smoking measures including a ban on the sale of cigarettes to children younger than 18 years old.

Asian doctors Since 2007, doctors from Taiwan who passed the exam-ination for a Chinese physician cer-tificate could work in mainland China. This opportunity has now been extended to local physicians with 5 years’ experience who are resident in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macao. The offer is a generous overture by China, although average salaries are lower for physicians on the mainland.

Rise of Fairtrade To mark Fairtrade Fortnight in the UK-Feb 25 to March 9 international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, has announced that funds to expand the Fairtrade label internationally, and help producers in the world’s poorest countries, will be doubled to £1·2 million. This decision reflects the rising popularity of Fairtrade goods in the UK, which rocketed in value last year from £273 million to £493 million.

Entomophagy Eating insects can be good for your health, and also help rural farmers, according to a recent UN Food and Agricultural Organization conference. Some insects have twice the protein of raw meat and fish, and Thai farmers are already rearing crickets, ants, and caterpillars to sell as snacks to local markets. So crisps or creepy-crawlies? Tough choice.

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