Latest KFF Health News Stories
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Monday announced it has formed an alliance “with the Brazilian Ministry of Health in the latest expansion of the foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative,” the Puget Sound Business Journal reports (Bauman, 4/16). The strategic alliance, which will “explore new ways of tackling challenges associated with vaccines, nutrition, maternal and child health, and infectious disease control,” builds on existing collaborations “to control tuberculosis and dengue fever and improve productivity among small famers,” according to a joint press release from the Gates Foundation and the Brazilian Ministry of Health (4/16).
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including health policy reports from the presidential campaign trail as well as news from the states regarding abortion laws.
Questions Surround Medicaid Expansion, Insurance Subsidies
News outlets report on how a range of health law provisions are taking shape — from details of the proposed rule federal subsidies to buy health insurance on state-based exchanges, to its Medicaid expansion and accountable care organizations.
Entitlement Programs At Center Of Capitol Hill’s Gathering Budget Storm
The likely and emerging partisan clash in Congress could force GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to take difficult policy positions in the fall — just as the campaign is coming to an end. Meanwhile, this week on Capitol Hill, lawmakers will wrestle with a number of health care issues.
Responses To U.S. Nomination Of Jim Kim For World Bank Presidency
The following is a summary of several recent pieces published in response to the U.S. nomination of Jim Yong Kim to be the next president of the World Bank.
Use Of Sewage-Contaminated Water To Irrigate Crops Poses Disease Risk In Zimbabwe, IRIN Reports
IRIN examines how local Zimbabwean farmers’ usage of water containing raw sewage to irrigate their crops poses a risk of disease transmission to people who consume the vegetables. In the capital Harare, less than half of the raw sewage produced is treated before being sent back into tributaries, according to IRIN, which notes, “In a recent report, Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda said 60 percent of the capital’s residents did not have access to clean water, and 10 percent relied on boreholes and unprotected wells.” Since a cholera outbreak in 2008, UNICEF and other international donors have been helping Zimbabwean municipalities treat their water, but the UNICEF program is winding down, leaving some unsure whether local authorities “can go it alone,” IRIN writes (4/16).
Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Offer Hope Of Malaria Eradication Amid Growing Drug Resistance
“In recent weeks, the emergence on the Thai-Myanmar border of malaria strains resistant to artemisinin, a plant-derived drug, have led to pessimistic headlines and reminders of the setback caused by resistance to the drug chloroquine, which began in the 1950s,” columnist and author Matt Ridley writes in the Wall Street Journal’s “Mind & Matter,” noting, “April 25 is World Malaria Day, designed to draw attention to the planet’s biggest infectious killer.” He continues, “For this reason, prevention generally works better than cure in eradicating infectious diseases: Vaccination beat smallpox, clean water beats cholera, less crowded living beats tuberculosis and protection from mosquitoes beats malaria.”
WHO, U.N.-Water Report Examines Access To Safe Drinking Water, Improved Sanitation
“Nearly 780 million people are deprived of safe drinking water — and 2.5 billion lack access to improved sanitation — all because governments aren’t spending scarce resources wisely, according to a joint report [.pdf] of the World Health Organization and U.N.-Water,” VOA News reports. Though “more than two billion people gained access to safe drinking water and 1.8 billion gained access to improved sanitation” between 1990 and 2010, billions of people still lack these basic services, the report noted, according to the news service.
WHO Report Discusses Financing, Coordinating R&D For Health Needs In Developing Countries
This post on IntraHealth International’s “Global Health Blog” discusses a new report (.pdf) from the WHO, titled “Research and Development to Meet Health Needs in Developing Countries: Strengthening Global Financing and Coordination,” which “concludes that ‘all countries should commit to spend at least 0.01 percent of GDP on government-funded R&D [research and development] devoted to meeting the health needs of developing countries.'” The post states, “The report has a double significance. First, it is a vigorous statement of the need for a binding agreement on health innovation to address diseases that mostly affect developing countries. Second, it is an important concrete step on the long path to it” (Chiscop, 4/13).
Global Fund’s Restructuring Shows Organization’s Viability
This post by writer Cynthia Schweer in Foreign Policy Blogs Network describes the recent restructuring of the Secretariat at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, with a focus on grant management. The reorganization is “important” because “[a]fter an age of largesse in global health funding, the financial crisis has caused funding increases to come to a screeching halt,” Schweer writes, saying, “Despite commitments that far outstretch current revenues, the Global Fund is still the most viable multilateral providing funding for global health.” She concludes, “Slowing down the pace of progress at this critical juncture will have implications that reverberate far beyond the realm of current programs” (4/13).
U.S. Nominee Jim Kim Likely To Emerge As World Bank President
“Jim Yong Kim, the U.S. nominee, seems certain to become the next president of the World Bank after developing countries failed in an effort to unite behind a single candidate,” the Financial Times reports, noting, “Jose Antonio Ocampo, the former Colombian finance minister, withdrew from contention and endorsed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Nigerian finance minister, after she won wider support among a group of developing countries on Friday.” According to the newspaper, “The World Bank’s executive board met on Friday to discuss interviews given by the three candidates,” and “Kim, a health expert and president of Dartmouth College, is likely to emerge as the new president as early as Monday after the board takes a straw poll” (Harding/Fontanella-Khan/Leahy, 4/13).
U.S. Should Separate Diplomatic Pressures On N. Korea From Humanitarian Assistance, Provide Food Aid
A Seattle Times editorial says a “radical response” to North Korea’s rocket launch would be to “[k]eep diplomatic channels open with the 240,000 tons of food aid planned before” the launch. “Providing food aid is wholly apart from maintaining political and economic pressure on the country,” the editorial says, adding, “Sending food does not preclude international sanctions to deny North Korea access to electronic technology and military hardware.” The editorial suggests “[s]end[ing] the food aid with an insurance policy of sorts. Use the connections and credibility of nongovernmental organizations, including Mercy Corps and World Vision, to track the deliveries. … Get the United Nations involved as well.” The editorial concludes, “Keep diplomatic channels open. Move beyond the provocations and deliver basic food relief” to the more than one-quarter of North Koreans in need (4/15).
Study Says Mass. Health Reform Not A Budget Hardship
A study from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says that the commonwealth’s health law has amounted to only a small increase in spending on health care. In the meantime, some struggling municipalities in Massachusetts have opted out of a new law that reduces local government’s share of health care costs for employees.
States Roundup: Calif. Mental Health System Grapples With Controversy
A selection of health policy news from Ohio, California, Texas, Connecticut, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Oregon.
‘Starvation Protocol’ Guidelines Would Help India’s Hunger Problem
In the final article of a six-part series titled “Starving in India” in the Wall Street Journal’s “India Real Time” blog, series author Ashwin Parulkar of the Centre for Equity Studies writes that the research conducted for the articles shows “that India needs a new legal framework for dealing with chronic hunger and starvation.” He notes that “[t]he draft version of the National Food Security Bill that is being considered by India’s Parliament would guarantee discounted food-grains to 50 percent of the urban population and 75 percent of the rural population.” While “[m]uch of the debate on the measure has been over its cost and scope, … my biggest problem with the bill is the way it deals with starvation,” leaving it up to state governments to identify starving individuals and provide them with two meals a day for six months, Parulkar writes.
Medicaid News: Neb.’s Prenatal Care Flap; Texas’ ‘Ticking Time Bomb’
A selection of Medicaid news from Texas, Nebraska, Missouri and Arizona.
New Deadline For Medicare EHR Bonus Appeals
Medscape reports on a deadline extension for physicians who believe they deserve a Medicare bonus for adopting electronic health records. And, in an interview, Medscape explores how medical technology is changing the practice of medicine.
Politics In Play As April Marks The End Of The Texas Women’s Health Program
Texas’ fight with the federal government over funding for its Texas Women’s Health Program, which will end this month and leave 130,000 low-income women paying for their own birth control or going without it, must include a discussion of politics — even for the judges considering the case, The Associated Press reports.
Consumers Face Difficulties In Getting Health Care Price Lists
News outlets report on how the health care system sometimes adds to consumers’ difficulties.
Viewpoints: The Missing Debate On Women; The True Cost Of Care; Fair Wages For Home Health Aides
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
