Latest KFF Health News Stories
Cholera Vaccination Campaign Still Stalled In Haiti, NPR Reports
A planned mass cholera vaccination project in Haiti continues to be “bogged down in bureaucratic red tape,” as spring rains begin and the number of cholera cases starts to rise, NPR’s health blog “Shots” reports. The Haitian medical group GHESKIO and international health organization Partners In Health are organizing the vaccination campaign, which “is awaiting approval from a national ethics committee, which wants assurance that the vaccine is no longer considered experimental,” according to the news service, which notes the “WHO last November approved the dollar-a-dose vaccine that’s ready to be used in Haiti.”
India’s Public, Private Sectors Must Do More To Control TB
In this Lancet opinion piece, Madhukar Pai, a professor and tuberculosis (TB) researcher at McGill University and consultant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discusses TB control in India. He writes, “Much has been said and written in the media about totally drug-resistant tuberculosis
CGD Examines House Budget Committee Recommendation To Eliminate Feed The Future
In this post in the Center for Global Development’s (CGD) “Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog,” Connie Veillette, director of CGD’s rethinking U.S. foreign assistance initiative, discusses the passage of the House Budget Committee’s “budget alternative last week that calls for reduced spending for international affairs.” “Perhaps the oddest and most counter-productive recommendation is to eliminate Feed the Future but continue U.S. food aid, also known as PL 480, in its stead,” she writes, continuing, “PL 480 is not a long-term program to promote food security. … It is a ‘feed the now’ rather than a ‘feed the future’ approach” (3/26).
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports detailing what happened during yesterday’s opening-day Supreme Court oral arguments and previewing what’s on tap next.
Kaiser Health News is tracking coverage of the arguments, including reports about the justices’ consideration of whether the Anti-Injuction Act would preclude their review of the legal challenges to the individual mandate.
Opinion Pieces, Editorial Respond To Nomination Of Jim Yong Kim To Lead World Bank
On Friday, March 23, President Obama nominated Jim Yong Kim to be the next president of the World Bank. The following is a summary of several opinion pieces and an editorial published in response to his nomination.
South African Government Plan Aims To Eliminate New HIV, TB Infections Within 20 Years
The South African “government plans to bring down new HIV infection rates to zero in the next 20 years, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Saturday” at a World Tuberculosis (TB) Day even at the Goldfields mine in Carletonville, Gauteng, SAPA/Independent Online reports. “He said the National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and sexually transmitted infections (STI) would aim [to] eliminat[e] new HIV and TB infections, mother-to-child HIV infections, and have zero preventable deaths as well as discrimination associated with” HIV and TB, according to the news agency (3/26). Motlanthe also “launched a plan to diagnose tuberculosis in the country’s gold mines, where the disease’s incidence is the highest in the world,” Agence France-Presse writes, adding, “Motlanthe said the goal was to ‘ensure that all mine workers, particularly in the gold mining sector, are screened and tested for TB and HIV over the next 12 months'” (2/24).
U.S. Has Ability To Help Curb Effects Of HIV Among Women At Home, Abroad
The U.S. has “been working toward integrating HIV, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence services for women overseas,” and “[i]t’s time we did the same at home,” Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, writes in this Huffington Post “Impact” blog post. With the AIDS 2012 conference being held in Washington, D.C., this year, “[t]he administration has already stated it will take lessons learned from global AIDS programs to enhance our programs in the U.S.,” she continues.
Health Solutions Developed In Lower-Income Countries Will Help Bring End To Aid
“It is not just quantity of aid that counts nowadays, but the quality and perspective of that aid, as well as innovation, investment and experience domestically,” Jonathan Glennie, a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, writes in the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog.” Noting a newly released report from the Global Health Strategies initiatives (GSHi) that says the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — are increasing their global health and development aid, Glennie continues, “Most of the BRICS are still developing countries in the traditional sense of that term, which means that they are combating extreme poverty, hunger and disease at home as well as in their aid programs.” He adds, “This is the main characteristic that sets them apart from traditional donors and philanthropic mega-foundations.”
White House Nominates Global Health Expert Jim Yong Kim To Head World Bank
“The White House on Friday named Jim Yong Kim, the president of Dartmouth College and a global health expert, as its nominee to lead the World Bank” beginning “on June 30, when its current president, Robert B. Zoellick, will step down at the end of his five-year term,” the New York Times reports (Lowrey, 3/23). “Kim is a South Korean-born doctor, anthropologist and former head of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department,” the Financial Times notes (Harding/Leahy, 3/23). “Kim helped found the international aid organization Partners in Health, which provides care to patients in more than a dozen countries,” and served as the chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, according to NPR (Horsley, 3/23). At a Rose Garden ceremony to announce the nomination, President Barack Obama said, “It’s time for a development professional to lead the world’s largest development agency,” the Associated Press reports (Pace, 3/24).
Chevron Recognized As First ‘Global Fund Corporate Champion,’ VOA News Reports
VOA News reports on a March 20 panel meeting in Washington, D.C., that highlighted the contributions of corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Chevron, which has “invested $30 million for the three-year period between 2008 and 2011 and has pledged another $25 million through 2013,” was recognized at the meeting as “the first Global Fund Corporate Champion,” according to VOA (DeCapua, 3/23).
Opinion Pieces, Editorials, Blog Posts Recognize World TB Day
Saturday, March 24 was World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. The following is a summary of several editorials and opinion pieces published in recognition of the day.
Day 1 At The Court: Is Time Right For Health Law Review?
Today’s oral arguments will focus on whether an 1867 law — the Anti-Injunction Act – allows the court to consider the challenges to the health law before the individual mandate provision takes effect in 2014.
BRICS Countries Increasing Global Health, Development Aid, Report Says
As their economies grow, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — known collectively as BRICS — “are injecting new resources, innovation and momentum into efforts to improve health in the world’s poorest countries, according to a report [.pdf] by Global Health Strategies initiatives [GHSi]” released on Monday, Business Live reports (Roberts, 3/26). “The report was released in New Delhi, India, where the BRICS Summit, including a heads of government meeting, will be held from 28-29 March,” a GHSi press release (.pdf) states.
Spectator Point-By-Point Guides To The Supreme Court’s Health Law Review
As the health law’s challengers and defenders head to court, media outlets take big-picture looks at how the upcoming three days of arguments could play out, provide primers that detail the key aspects of the issues in play as well and give a heads up on what to watch for.
National Biosecurity Panel To Hold Closed-Door Meeting On Bird Flu Research
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) is scheduled this week to hold “a closed-door meeting to once again look at unpublished manuscripts describing” two studies that showed how H5N1 bird flu virus could be manipulated to become transmissible among ferrets, a model for humans, NPR’s health blog “Shots” reports, noting that the meeting “will include a classified briefing from the intelligence community.” The article examines the “dual use” nature of the studies, meaning “legitimate scientific work that’s intended to advance science or medicine, but that also might be misused with the intent to do harm.” Though the “concept of dual use got a lot of attention even before this bird flu controversy,” scientists, institutions and funding agencies do not always have policies in place to review the potential consequences of research, the blog notes (Greenfieldboyce, 3/26).
U.N. SG Ban Calls For Global Effort To Fight TB On World TB Day
Speaking on Saturday at a World Tuberculosis (TB) Day event, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “called for a global effort to diagnose and treat tuberculosis,” United Press International reports (3/24). According to the WHO, 8.8 million people contracted TB in 2010, and 1.4 million people died of the disease, primarily in low and middle-income countries, CBS News’ “Health Pop” blog notes (Castillo, 3/24). “Let us vow to end the neglect of TB and to end deaths from this disease in our lifetime,” Ban said, adding, “It is critical to support those who lack the means to respond with the care and treatment they need to enjoy healthy and productive lives. … With the right interventions, we can make a major difference,” according to the U.N. News Centre (3/24).
On Capitol Hill, Both Parties See Political Advantage In Rep. Ryan’s Newest Plan
The budget proposal offered last week by the Wisconsin Republican would revamp the Medicare system.
State Roundup: Wash. State Exchange Bill Now Law
A selection of state health policy and politics stories from Texas, Washington state, Georgia, Iowa, Oregon, Connecticut and Minnesota.
Setting The Scene: Court Arguments Offer Different Kind Of Drama
With no Twitter, cameras or telephones allowing reports from inside the court, much of the action will take place on the outside. A range of groups have planned demonstrations. All the while, the lawyers involved in the arguments have been busy with “moot court” practice sessions; spectators have been waiting in line in hopes of getting a seat; and stakeholders, such as the health care industry, are anxiously watching for clues to the outcome.
