Latest KFF Health News Stories
In an interview with Foreign Policy, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah speaks “about how he is reinventing USAID, an often-embattled agency charged with helping the world’s poorest countries develop, while at the same time dealing with crises around the globe,” the magazine reports. Shah discusses his career path, spending oversight, “expanding public-private partnerships, and integrating development and emergency intervention,” especially in relationship to food security in Africa, according to Foreign Policy. Shah said, “The challenges remain fierce but we are excited about the momentum we are achieving through our resilience work around the world and with specific countries,” the magazine notes (Loewenberg, 5/3).
Sierra Leone Has Made Progress In Improving Maternal, Child Health Care, But ‘Much More To Do’
“Just two years ago, our country had one of the worst maternal and infant death rates in the world,” Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma writes in a Huffington Post U.K. “Impact” blog post, adding, “We knew something had to be done.” So in September 2009, the government announced “that all health user fees would be removed for pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of five” and “introduced the Free Health Care Initiative [FHCI] in April 2010, which would give around 460,000 women and a million children a much better chance of having a longer and happier life,” Koroma writes. In one year, the FHCI facilitated a “214 percent increase in the number of children attending outpatient units” and a 61 percent reduction in “the number of women dying from pregnancy complications at facilities,” and “increased the number of health workers and ensured they were given big salary rises to reflect the importance of their positions,” he notes.
As part of a series of Slate articles highlighting issues being examined by the Copenhagen Consensus Center, Bjorn Lomborg, director of the center, examines the implications of population growth on development indicators. In a research paper released on Thursday “for Copenhagen Consensus 2012, Hans-Peter Kohler of the University of Pennsylvania looks at sub-Saharan African nations that, among high-fertility countries, make the dominant contribution to world population growth,” he notes, adding, “‘High-fertility’ countries today account for about 38 percent of the 78 million people that are added annually to the world population, despite the fact that they are home to only 18 percent of the population.”
Guardian Examines Launch Of GAVI-Sponsored Immunization Campaign In Ghana
Ghana’s recent “rollout of the rotavirus vaccine and, to much acclaim, a new vaccine against pneumococcal infections, [makes it] the first country in sub-Saharan African to introduce two new vaccines at the same time,” the Guardian reports. The immunization campaign, organized by the Ghanaian government and the GAVI Alliance in partnership with other international agencies, philanthropies and the private sector, is “expected to save thousands of lives,” the newspaper notes. “That GAVI has deemed Ghana able to introduce rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines together is a vote of confidence in the country’s ability to establish a ‘cold chain,'” a refrigeration network necessary to keep the vaccines viable, according to the Guardian.
The Kaiser Family Foundation on Thursday released a new issue brief that “provides a summary of the major policies and statutory requirements governing U.S. participation in international family planning and reproductive health efforts,” according to the website. “These laws and policies collectively direct how funds are spent, which organizations receive funds and generally shape U.S. family planning and reproductive health activities around the world,” the website adds (5/3).
President Obama Invites Four African Leaders To G8 Summit To Discuss Food Security
President Barack Obama has invited the leaders of four African nations “to join the G8 leaders’ summit at Camp David later this month for a session on food security, the White House said on Thursday,” Reuters reports. White House spokesperson Jay Carney said in a statement that Obama invited Benin President Yayi Boni, Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Ghana President John Mills and Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete, according to the news service (MacInnis, 5/3). They will join other leaders of G8 member nations — which include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — at the summit, scheduled for May 18-19, CNN notes. The leaders are expected to discuss food security “amid fears of famine and drought in some parts of Africa,” the news service writes (Karimi, 5/4).
China Joins Global Alliance For Clean Cookstoves
“Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo announced that China has joined the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves during a tour of a clean cookstove exhibit with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Beijing today,” a U.S. Department of State press release reports. “By joining the Alliance, China will help meet the Alliance’s goal to ensure 100 million homes adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020,” the press release states (5/3).
UNFPA, International Confederation of Midwives Recognize International Day Of The Midwife
In a joint statement (.pdf), UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin and Agneta Bridges, secretary-general of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), recognize the International Day of the Midwife on May 5. “The right to health is a basic human right that every woman should enjoy. Yet, every day, almost 1,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth
U.N. Adopts Resolution On Young People’s Sexual And Reproductive Rights
This RH Reality Check post by the International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region (IPPFWHR) examines a “resolution in support of young people’s sexual and reproductive health and human rights” adopted recently by member states at the 45th Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development (CPD). According to the post, “[k]ey points of the final resolution include: The right of young people to decide on all matters related to their sexuality; Access to sexual and reproductive health services
Dengue Fever Costs Puerto Rico Nearly $38M A Year, Study Shows
“The costs of treating and coping with dengue fever in Puerto Rico total nearly $38 million a year, a new study,” published Wednesday in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, finds, according to U.S. News & World Report. “It also said that every $1 spent on surveillance and prevention of the mosquito-borne disease could save $5 in illness-related costs,” the news service reports (5/2). “A team of researchers from Brandeis University says households in the U.S. territory pay almost half of that cost, with the government and insurance companies splitting the rest,” the Associated Press/Seattle Times notes (5/2).
Reining In Medicare Costs: Lots Of Talk But Little Action
News outlets report on how efforts to control Medicare spending often get lost in campaign posturing.
High Profile Judge Hints That Decision To Strike Health Law ‘Would Be A Mistake’
The Wall Street Journal reports that Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson said the high court should “think twice” about overturning the law. In other health law news, the White House’s under-the-radar effort to build support for the overhaul appears to be working.
For U.S., Preventable Health Conditions A Gathering Storm
Georgia Health News reports that speakers at a recent Atlanta conference had much to say about the burden of obesity and diabetes.
Ore. Gets $1.9B To Launch Medicaid Coordinated Care Organizations
The federal support will help Oregon’s Medicaid Coordinated Care Organizations as they try to cut health costs by 2 percent over two years using preventive care to keep patients healthy.
Survey: First-Year Medical School Enrollment Expected To Increase
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the number of students entering medical school will show an increase of nearly 30 percent from its starting point in 2002 to projections for 2016.
HCA’s Profits Up, Cigna’s Down, As Patients Use More Services
News outlets pointed out that “after a long slump,” patients have been seeking more care.
Group Says It Has Kan. Clinic Abortion Records; Iowa Preps For Abortion Battle In Budget
An anti-abortion group says it has patient records of dozens of women and girls who sought treatment at a Kansas abortion clinic last month. In the meantime, Iowa lawmakers prepare to tackle the state’s health spending, including whether victims of rape or incest may get abortions through its Medicaid program.
Romney Plan Could Hurt Mass. Medicaid; States Scramble Around Health Law
A plan to cut federal Medicaid spending could hurt Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health reform law, Meanwhile, residents in Maine consider what the federal health law means for them and 90 women in Washington state are suing their attorney general for what they term a breach of ethical duties by his legal challenge to the health law.
Poll Shows Obama Leading In Virginia Despite Mixed Views On Health Law
Virginia is viewed as one of the hot states in the presidential campaign. Also, because female voters continue to be considered an important force in the upcoming election, women’s health issues are getting a lot of air time.
State Highlights: Fla. Passed Up $200M Because It Comes From Health Law
News outlets report on health care policy news from California, D.C., Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Texas and Washington.