Health Highlights: June 25, 2008

June 26 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

New England Has Highest Rate of Health Insurance Coverage

New England has the highest rate of health insurance coverage in the United States, while the Southwest has the lowest coverage, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

Only 11 percent of non-elderly adults and 4 percent of children in New England are uninsured, compared with 30 percent of adults and 18 percent of children in the Southwest, the Associated Press reported.

Three regions -- the Great Plains, Great Lakes in the upper Midwest, and the Northeast -- had uninsured rates of 14 percent to 15 percent for adults and 6 percent to 7 percent for children. In the Southeast, almost 23 percent of adults were uninsured.

Overall, about 17 percent of people under age 65 were uninsured when the survey of 106,000 families was conducted from 2004 through 2006, the AP reported.

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FDA Has Questions About Gardasil Use in Older Women

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants more information before it considers approving the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil for women ages 27 to 45, drug maker Merck & Co. said Wednesday. The company had expected FDA approval by next month.

Merck spokeswoman Kelley Dougherty wouldn't reveal the nature of the FDA's questions but said the company will respond to the agency next month, Bloomberg news reported.

Gardasil protects against human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer later in life. According to a Merck-sponsored study, Gardasil prevented 91 percent of precancers and external genital lesions in women ages 24 to 45.

The FDA's concerns about the use of the vaccine in older women don't affect Gardasil's approved use for girls and women ages 9 to 26, Bloomberg reported.

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$30 Billion a Year Needed to Fight Hunger: U.N. Official

About $30 billion will be needed each year until 2050 to stave off world hunger, the director general of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Wednesday at an agricultural conference in Innsbruck, Austria.