Senate Democrats on Monday introduced a $100.3 billion economic stimulus package (S 3689) that includes $37.8 billion in additional federal Medicaid funds for states and $1 billion in additional funds for NIH, CQ Today reports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that he hopes to hold a vote on the stimulus package on Wednesday.

Louisiana Gov.

The Rwandan government is increasing efforts to provide HIV/AIDS testing and treatment to children who are living with or vulnerable to the disease in the country, Health Minister Richard Sezibera said recently, Rwanda's New Times reports.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on Monday returned to the Senate for the first time since July and reaffirmed his intentions to introduce universal health care legislation next year, the New York Times' "The Caucus" reports. Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer in May (Hulse/Stout, "The Caucus," New York Times, 11/18).

Spending on direct-to-consumer advertisements for medications has decreased for the second consecutive year, according to a study recently released by TNS Media Intelligence, the AP/Albany Times Union reports. According to the study, spending on such ads reached a high of $5.43 billion in 2006 and decreased by 3% to $5.26 billion in 2007.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Cambodia last week launched the first phase of a program that aims to test 10,000 people in the country for HIV, the Phnom Penh Post reports. The campaign is part of an AHF program to test one million people worldwide for HIV by World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

The following is a summary of selected women's health-related blog entries.

Diabetes in 2007 cost the U.S. $218 billion in direct medical care and indirect costs, such as lost productivity, according to a report released on Tuesday, the AP/Raleigh News & Observer reports.

UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot on Sunday said that an Indian law criminalizing sex between men is a "major obstacle" to the country's efforts to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, News Track India reports. Piot called the law a "violation of human rights" and said that it should have been abolished a long time ago.

Although "Catholic bishops welcome working with the incoming Obama administration on immigration and health care reform, they stoutly oppose President-elect Barack Obama's championing" of the Freedom of Choice Act to codify abortion rights, Michael McManus -- a syndicated columnist and president and co-founder of Marriage Savers -- writes in a Washington Times opinion piece.