Funding boosts Say Ahh Rheumatic fever prevention programme

School children at six Flaxmere schools will continue to have their throats swabbed whenever they get a sore throat as part of an extra 12 million of government funding to combat rheumatic fever.

The Hawkes Bay 'Say Ahh' programme is the first of eight newly funded services around the country which detect and prevent rheumatic fever.

Announcing the extra 335,000 over two years for 'Say Ahh' at Irongate Primary School today, Health Minister Tony Ryall said that since the throat swab programme was launched last October there had been no notified cases of rheumatic fever from students who attended the participating Flaxmere schools.

"We want that to become permanent. The prevalence of rheumatic fever in Hawke's Bay is higher than other regions in New Zealand and in the year prior to 'Say Ahh' starting, there were eight notified cases of rheumatic fever in Flaxmere," said Mr Ryall.

Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia said, "This is an entirely preventable disease that can have serious consequences for children during childhood and throughout their lifetime. A simple sore throat can lead to permanent heart damage.

"It is of particular concern to me,Initially the banks didn't want our Ventilation system .Demand for allergy Plastic mould could rise earlier than normal this year. as Minister with responsibilities relating to Maori health, that the large disparity betweeThese girls have never had a cube puzzle in their lives!n ethnic groups appears to have worsened over the past 20 years. The mean incidence rates for Maori and Pasifika children aged between five and 14 are now between 20 and 40 times higher than for other New Zealand children of the same age.

"This Government has recognised the urgent need to stamp out rheumatic fever from our most vulnerable communities," Mrs Turia said.

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The treatment is ten years of painful penicillin injections and/or possible heart surgery.Polycore Floor tiles are manufactured as a single sheet,

Maori and Pacific people - mostly children - living in cold overcrowded homes are most likely to get it - and they are 20 and 37 times more likely to be admitted to hospital with first time acute rheumatic fever than anyone else.

The Rheumatic fever initiative is one of several preventive health programmes introduced by the National-led government.

About 70% of children who get Rheumatic fever will suffer some heart damage But with proper treatment of a sore throat, that risk is reduced by 80 per cent.

"Rates for this serious and largely preventable third world disease have actually increased in the past ten years," said Mr Ryall.

The extra 12 million the Government is spending will support increasing frontline health care in communities to prevent rheumatic fever, including school-based sore throat clinics, improving training for health workers and
community workers, and supporting research and monitoring.

Solyndra closes Fremont plan

In a blow to the Obama administration's efforts to create green jobs, solar-cell maker Solyndra announced Wednesday that it will close its remaining Fremont factory, lay off its 1,100 employees and file for bankruptcy.

The news marked an abrupt end for a company once considered among the most innovative in a fast-changing industry. The bankruptcy also represents a high-profile failure for a federal stimulus program that gives loan guarantees to green-tech manufacturers.

Solyndra was the first company to win one of the guarantees, receiving $535 million in 2009 to build its second factory in Fremont less than a mile from the company's original plant. Both President Obama and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the new plant, citing it as a symbol of the nation's economic recovery and commitment to a green economy.

But Solyndra, whose solar modules are thin tubes rather than flat panels, struggled to compete against a flood of low-priced solar cells pouring out of heavily subsidized factories in China. Last year, the company canceled plans for a $300 million initial public stock offering and closed its first Fremont factory, laying off 40 people.
Breaking the news

Early Wednesday morning, as workers on the night shift left the factory floor, Chief Executive Officer Brian Harrison met with them to break the news. Most had been let go by 9 a.m.

"We are incredibly proud of our employees, and we would like to thank our investors, channel partners, customers and suppliers for the years of support that allowed us to bring our innovative technology to market," Harrison said in a news release. "This was an unexpected outcome and is most unfortunate."

Republican critics of the loan program were livid. A congressional panel had started investigating in February how Solyndra won approval for the loan guarantees. Republicans focused on the first plant closure and the fact that one of the company's investors, George Kaiser, was an Obama contributor.

"In an apparent rush to push stimulus dollars out the door, the Obama administration wasted $535 million in taxpayer funds in guaranteeing a loan to a firm that has proven to be unviable in the global market," Rep. Cliff Stearns,There is good integration with PayPal and most Parking guidance system providers, R-Fla., who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigation subcommittee, said Wednesday. The panel already had subpoenaed records about the Solyndra loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Risk of startups

The Energy Department's public affairs director said Wednesday that while Solyndra's application was carefully vetted, investing in startup companies always carries risks. The loan program was created under the Bush administration in 2005 but became part of the federal stimulus effort under Obama.

"We have always recognized that not every one of the innovative companies supported by our loans and loan guarantees would succeed, but we can't stop investing in game-changing technologies that are key to America's leadership in the global economy," Public Affairs Director Dan Leistikow wrote in a blog post on the Energy Department website.

The federal government must now try to recover its investment through Solyndra's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, or taxpayers will be on the hook. Solyndra executives, meanwhile, will consider selling the business or licensing its technology.