Latest KFF Health News Stories
This Mother’s Day, Ensure Babies Everywhere Are Born Free Of HIV
Ahead of Mother’s Day on May 13, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe writes in this post in the Huffington Post’s “Global Motherhood” blog, “Together we can go from 390,000 children becoming infected with HIV each year to zero,” and he highlights “three simple things we can all do to ensure babies everywhere can be born free from HIV.”
For solutions to help end avoidable child deaths, “government and development sector leaders should heed the lessons of a massive-yet-innovative program” in Bangladesh, called SHOUHARDO, a Bangla word for “friendship,” “that is not only helping children … reach their fifth birthdays but also ensuring they grow healthier, and in many cases, taller,” Faheem Khan of CARE Bangladesh, who heads the SHOUHARDO program, writes in this Christian Science Monitor opinion piece. The first phase of the program, which is run by CARE, USAID, and the government of Bangladesh, was implemented from 2004 to 2010 and “represented the largest non-emergency USAID food security program in the world,” Khan writes.
Ariz., Iowa Republicans Tweak Abortion, Contraception Bills
GOP legislators have backed down from some of the anti-abortion and anti-contraception coverage measures they wanted.
Nepalese Government Launches ‘Ambitious’ Plan To End Malaria, IRIN Reports
“The Nepalese government has launched an ambitious plan to curb the spread of malaria in high-risk parts of the country, where some 3,000 people were infected last year,” IRIN reports. Through the program, which began on May 1 and “is the first nationwide push to end malaria,” the “health ministry will distribute [anti-malarial] drugs at their local offices, and through their representatives in rural areas,” IRIN writes. The news service notes, “Nepal is still considered one of the most malaria-prone countries in Asia, even though the ministry is using a 1994 study, which showed that 20 million of the country’s 30 million people were at risk.”
Experts Discuss U.S. International Food Aid Programs At Kansas City Conference
Kansas City’s KCUR 89.3 FM reports on the 2012 International Food Aid & Development Conference, where experts gathered this week to discuss food aid programs. The news service writes, “The challenge for governments, aid agencies and recipient countries is to create a collaborative food aid system that accommodates both the needs of the U.S. agriculture industry and growing food insecurity among a mushrooming population,” and quotes a number of experts who spoke at the event.
Drug Manufacturers Draw Attention For Politics And Pain Killers
Politico examines the relationship between industry-group PhRMA and congressional Republicans in the post-health-reform-debate landscape. Meanwhile, in the Senate, some lawmakers are investigating the relationship between drug manufacturers and the medical groups as well as the physicians who advocate using certain narcotic painkillers.
Accretive Lowers Forecast, Promises To Release Its Own Report On Minn. Probe
The billing and collection company has denied allegations by the Minnesota attorney general that it used overly agressive tactics on patients.
Steps Toward A Permanent Medicare ‘Doc Fix’?
Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., and Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., introduced the latest bill Wednesday aimed at reforming how Medicare pays health care providers and preventing a scheduled, Jan. 1, 2013 cut to physician reimbursement rates. The bipartisan measure would replace Medicare’s current pay formula.
“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, [on Wednesday] announced over 100 new grants of $100,000 each to support innovative global health and development proposals that have the potential to unlock transformative, life-saving solutions in the developing world,” a foundation press release reports. “Additionally, the Gates Foundation announced additional funding of up to $1 million each for six existing Grand Challenges Explorations projects to enable grantees to continue to advance their ideas towards global impact,” the press release adds (5/9).
HHS Announces Big Pay Boost For Some Medicaid Docs
HHS says the increase, required by the health law, would raise primary care doctors’ payments for treating Medicaid patients, on average, 34 percent.
Iowa Legislature Approves State Mental Health System Revamp
The Iowa plan had been held up by funding concerns. In other news on mental health issues, North Carolina is also weighing major changes in its system.
State Roundup: Ill. House Wants State Retirees To Pay Part Of Their Health Care
News organizations report on state health care policy issues in Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and Oregon.
Feds Pinpoint $5.6 Billion In ‘Suspect’ Medicare Billings From Pharmacies
This report from the Health and Human Services inspector general concluded that corner drugstores are vulnerable to fraud.
Global Fund Announces $1.6B In Additional Funding For 2012-2014
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria “expects to have an additional $1.6 billion to fund projects in 2012-2014, [the fund’s General Manager Gabriel Jaramillo] said on Wednesday, a turnaround from a funding freeze last year,” Reuters reports (Miles, 5/9). “The new funds are a result of ‘strategic decisions made by the Board, freeing up funds that can be invested in countries where there is the most pressing demand,’ a statement by the fund said,” according to PlusNews (5/10). “The money includes funds from new donors, from traditional donors who are advancing their payments or increasing contributions and from some donors, such as China, that have offered to support projects in their own country to free up cash for more pressing needs elsewhere, Jaramillo said,” Reuters notes (5/9). “This forecast is better than expected, and it comes from the fantastic response we are getting to our transformation,” Jaramillo said, adding, “But we need more to get the job done. Countries that implement our grants are saving more and more people, but demand for services is still enormous,” according to the statement (5/9).
Small Businesses Miss Out On Health Law’s Tax Credit, Report Finds
According to a report from Families USA, millions of businesses with fewer than 25 employees failed to take advantage of a tax credit that would help them provide health coverage to their workers.
Viewpoints: Can Medicare Taxes Really Fund Student Loans?; Daschle On Diabetes And Kids
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
When To Retire? Health Costs Enter Into The Decision
The New York Times reports on how many people are opting to delay retirement for financial reasons and climbing health costs are among their main concerns.
Longer Looks: More 20-30 Somethings Are Taking Care Of Elderly
Every week, Kaiser Health News reporter Shefali S. Kulkarni selects interesting reading from around the Web.
MSF Says Additional Resources Needed To Improve ART Access In Burma
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the largest provider of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in Burma, also known as Myanmar, are calling for the gap between the need for and access to ART in the country to be closed, the Guardian reports. Approximately 240,000 people live with HIV in Burma, and doctors say half are in need of “urgent” ART, but national data estimates less than 30,000 were receiving ART in 2010, the newspaper writes, adding, “In a country where nearly 33 percent of people live below the poverty line, thousands of Burmese are unlikely ever to be able to afford ART, which, according to [MSF], cost $30 a month.”
Efforts To Stem Childhood Mortality In Ghana Will Not Be Enough To Reach MDG, UNICEF Official Says
Anirban Chatterjee, chief of health and nutrition for UNICEF in Ghana, said the country “is doing a lot” to fight child mortality — referring to a recently launched vaccination campaign and an initiative to educate mothers about nutrition — but “I don’t think it’s enough” to reach the fourth U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds by 2015, Inter Press Service reports. “I think there is definitely scope and need for more improvement,” he added, according to the news service. A GAVI Alliance-supported campaign to provide vaccines against rotavirus and pneumococcal disease is underway, but Chatterjee added that efforts to improve nutrition need to be provided simultaneously because he “said malnourishment can sometimes double or triple the chances of dying from a condition like diarrhea or pneumonia,” IPS writes.
