Latest KFF Health News Stories
Report Examines Political History Of International AIDS Conferences
In this post in the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ (CSIS) “Smart Global Health” blog, Katherine Bliss, deputy director and senior fellow at the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, discusses a report — titled, “The International AIDS Conference Returns to the United States” — that “examines the political history of the international AIDS conferences from 1985 to the present.” She writes, “The report finds that the most significant conferences from participants’ point of view have featured either major scientific breakthroughs, such as the 1996 Vancouver meeting, or substantial sociopolitical breakthroughs, as in Durban in 2000, when unprecedented civil society engagement helped generate momentum for the development of an international consensus to institute and scale up treatment for HIV-infected populations in resource-limited settings” (3/29).
Somaliland Officials Appeal For Food Aid, Water For Thousands Of Families Affected By Drought
“Officials in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, [in] northwestern Somalia, are appealing for food aid and potable water for thousands of families who have lost their livelihoods in the current drought,” IRIN reports. “In February, [the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP)] provided food assistance to nearly 150,000 people in Somaliland, according to Challiss McDonough, WFP’s senior spokesperson for East, Central and Southern Africa,” according to the news service. Food insecurity in some areas is classified at “crisis level,” with children, expectant and nursing mothers, and the elderly most affected, IRIN notes. “WFP is shifting its focus from emergency assistance towards targeted programs, including building reservoirs, wells and roads which support communities’ resilience to seasonal shocks, according to spokesperson McDonough, who said that in the past year WFP had doubled the number of nutrition programs in Somalia,” the news service writes (3/30).
‘Large-Scale Action’ Needed In Myanmar To Prevent Spread Of Artemisinin-Resistant Malaria Parasites
In this New York Times opinion piece, Frank Smithuis, director of Medical Action Myanmar in Yangon, and Nick White, professor of tropical medicine at the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Bangkok, recount a brief history of the development of anti-malaria drugs and their contribution to “a significant global reduction in malaria” and note that this progress “is now threatened by the emergence of malaria parasites that are resistant to artemisinin on the Cambodia-Thailand border …, the same place where chloroquine resistance emerged 50 years ago and spread across Asia and Africa to claim millions of lives.” They write, “The spread of artemisinin resistance is a very serious threat to health in the tropics. There are currently no drugs that can satisfactorily replace artemisinins.”
India’s Success Against Polio Is Promising Step In Defeating Disease Worldwide
“That India is free of wild polio today is a testament to the commitment of the Indian government,” which “invested more than $1 billion over the last decade and collaborated with community leaders, health workers, businesses, and parents,” as well as governments, non-governmental organizations, and multilateral agencies, to fight the disease, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius writes in a Foreign Affairs opinion piece. “The victory over the disease in India has saved millions of lives from disability and death. And although the world must remain vigilant against polio to prevent its resurgence, India’s success will gradually allow the nation to focus resources and experience on [other] diseases and initiatives,” she states.
Inter Press Service reports on a research study conducted in Argentina that “explored women’s knowledge and beliefs about cervical cancer, in the provinces with the highest mortality from this highly preventable form of cancer, to design more effective policies.” The news service writes, “Although there are now effective tools to prevent cervical cancer, and vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) is free and mandatory for 11-year-old girls, the death rate from cervical cancer is not declining in Argentina, and the geographical distribution of the burden is extremely unequal.”
USAID Issues Scientific Integrity Policy To Guide Scientific, Scholarly Activities
“Spurred by a 2009 directive from President Obama and subsequent guidance from the White House,” USAID on Wednesday “issued a new Scientific Integrity Policy [.pdf] to safeguard the quality and integrity of the Agency’s scientific and scholarly activities,” according to a USAID press release. The policy “articulates the principles regarding how scientific and scholarly activities are supported and carried out, and how research findings are used and disseminated,” the press release states, adding, “The intention of this policy is to capture and employ … best practices throughout the Agency and introduce new ways that USAID can enhance the use of science for development” (3/28).
Panel Discussion Focuses On Lessons Learned From Bush Administration Foreign Aid Programs
The Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog reports on a panel discussion hosted on Wednesday by the Consensus for Development Reform and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network in Washington, D.C. “Foreign assistance experts discuss[ed] the George W. Bush administration’s legacy on global development, focusing on lessons learned and applying them to the next decade and beyond,” and a central theme was the engagement of the private sector, the blog writes. Panelists highlighted the Millennium Challenge Corporation and PEPFAR, according to the blog (Mazzotta, 3/29).
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that the House yesterday approved the $3.5 trillion Ryan budget plan – which includes deep cuts in entitlements and will likely trigger the election-year fiscal debate.
Social Media Rundown: Three Days At The Supreme Court
This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the 2010 health law, in what court watchers are calling the biggest case at the high court in decades. Here’s a rundown from the social media-sphere of what happened in those three days. Day 1: Can We Even Argue About The Health Care Law? Mon., March 26 […]
Like The U.S., Europe Wrestles With Health Care
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. The U.S. has been absorbed by the Supreme Court case this week on the future of health care. But Americans are not alone. Several European nations, where universal health care has been the norm for decades, have been waging their own intense debates as they also deal […]
Insurers Push Back On Consumer Rebate Letter
Consumers owed rebates will get a letter along with a check beginning in August, but insurers don’t want to have to send notices about the rebate rules to customers not owed money.
Recapping The Health Law’s Week At The Court
Mary Agnes Carey, Stuart Taylor, SCOTUSblog’s Tom Goldstein, and NPR’s Julie Rovner discuss this week’s historic oral arguments and answer reader questions about what happens next.
Today’s Headlines – March 29, 2012
Here are your morning headlines — much of them trying to wrap up a tumultuous three days of health law oral arguments at the Supreme Court. Enjoy! The New York Times: On Day 3, Justices Weigh What-Ifs Of Health Ruling The justices seemed divided on both questions before them: What should happen to the rest of […]
The Supreme Court Arguments Are Over – What Happens Now?
News outlets sum up the oral arguments and preview when to expect a decision, what impact the legal review might have on politics and what other ripple effects could occur.
High Court And Severability: What Parts Of The Law Could Fall?
On Wednesday, the nine justices pondered what parts — if any — of the health law could go forward if the individual mandate is overturned. The discussion involved fundamental consitutional questions.
Webcast Replay: Deconstructing The Supreme Court’s Historic Health Law Arguments
Our panelists, who answered questions from readers that even the justices didn’t ask, includes KHN Senior Correspondent Mary Agnes Carey; Stuart Taylor, attorney, author and KHN legal analyst; Tom Goldstein, Goldstein & Russell, P.C., and publisher of SCOTUSblog; and Julie Rovner, health policy correspondent, NPR.
Vigorous Questions On Severability, Medicaid On Final Day
The justices heard from the opposing lawyers about issues as basic as ‘what is liberty?’ and whether it’s better to ‘fix’ flaws in legislation or scrap it entirely. Legal analyst Stuart Taylor, Jr., talks with Jackie Judd about the last 2
Commentators explore the case as it unfolded before the high court and the effect on the justices.
Democrats Respond To Ryan Budget Plan With Billboard, Cries Of Foul
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney offered his support for the plan advanced by Rep. Paul Rayn, R- Wis., causing Democrats to point out inconsistencies with his attacks on the health law. Meanwhile, Democrats have posted a billboard in Ryan’s hometown criticizing his proposals on Medicare.
Tough questions by the conservative justices at the Supreme Court are driving commentators to consider what happens if the health law, or at least the individual mandate, is struck down.