Latest KFF Health News Stories
Chinese Government Pledges Greater Support For Organizations Fighting HIV/AIDS
“Organizations involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS will get greater government support,” Yu Jingjin, director of the disease prevention and control bureau under China’s Ministry of Health, said, China Daily reports. He said, “‘The government will beef up investment and support for social groups’ and cooperate with reliable ones,” and added, “Each province this year will support three to five civil societies tackling HIV/AIDS and help them with operational costs and training,” according to the news service. “Yu urged health authorities to work more with society in general to fight AIDS,” China Daily writes, adding, “Cooperation in this sphere has not always worked fully to its potential, he said” (Shan, 3/2).
IPS Examines Gender Discrimination, Disparity In Child Mortality In India
Inter Press Service examines gender discrimination and mortality in India, writing, “Global infant and child mortality rates have been on the decline in recent years, with a large portion of the world seeing young girls experiencing higher rates of survival than young boys; but India remains the exception to this positive trend.” A new report, “‘Sex Differentials in Childhood Mortality,’ a project of the U.N.’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), reveals that a girl aged between one and five years is 75 percent more likely to die than a boy in India, marking the world’s most extreme gender disparity in child mortality,” according to the news service.
Study Examines Relationship Between Conflict, Rise In NTDs In Middle East, North Africa
A study published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Disease on Tuesday examines the relationship between political conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and “the spread or re-emergence of a variety of tropical diseases — some previously eliminated or controlled — affecting an estimated 65 million people” in the region, VOA News reports (Sinha, 3/1). “The report, authored by global health leaders Dr. Peter Hotez, Dr. Lorenzo Savioli and professor Alan Fenwick, reveals the high prevalence and uneven distribution of [neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)] such as schistosomiasis, lymphatic filiariasis, dengue fever and Rift Valley fever in the MENA region and suggests opportunities for NTD control, especially in high-risk populations in Egypt and Yemen,” the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases writes in an article on its website.
State Highlights: Iowa Lawmaker Urges Waiting On Exchange Bill Until Court Rules
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
“The State Department’s announcement that North Korea would halt nuclear activities in exchange for 240,000 metric tons of U.S. food aid was welcomed by aid groups that have long struggled to raise money to feed hungry people under an unpopular regime,” the Los Angeles Times’ “World Now” blog reports. Marcus Prior, spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Asia said the group is “encouraged” by the development but it “remain[s] concerned about the level of nutrition, especially for children in poorer areas,” according to the blog. More than 90 percent of U.S. food aid has been delivered through the WFP since 1996, with the remainder channeled through non-governmental organizations (NGOs), a 2011 Congressional Research Service report (.pdf) says, the blog notes.
HIV Rate Drops Among Needle-Drug Users
About 1 in 10 needle drug users tested positive for HIV in 2009, a steep drop from the rate recorded in the 1990s, which was 1 in 5.
In an announcement launching the Zimbabwe Parliamentarians Against HIV (ZIPAH) in Harare on Thursday, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said since he came to office in 1980 “quite a number of” his cabinet ministers have died of AIDS-related causes, and he challenged government officials to get tested for HIV and publicly reveal their status, the Zimbabwean reports (3/1). Chaired by lawmaker Blessing Chebundo, ZIPAH “aims to end HIV transmission among legislators and increase cooperation with other groups,” according to VOA News, and “so far 175 parliamentarians, including 25 staff members, have joined the program.” Chebundo “said the first public testing will take place in two months,” the news service notes.
Poll Reveals Public Opinions On Contraception Coverage, Medicare Plans
News outlets continue to flesh out findings of a Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll released Thursday.
Hospital Funding Cuts Could Worsen Doc Shortage
Bloomberg reports that the Obama administration’s fiscal year 2013 plan to reduce federal funding for teaching hospitals could undermine efforts to address the nation’s shortage of primary care physicians.
New Pharma Code Expands Guidelines For Interactions With Health Care Providers
A new practice code for pharmaceutical companies now covers all interactions with health care professionals and bans them from giving payments to doctors to attend conferences.
Contraception Coverage Flap Becoming Key Issue In Senate Races
On this point, the Massachusetts Senate rate between Republican Senator Scott Brown and his Demcratic challenger Elizabeth Warren is drawing a significant amount of media attention.
New York’s Beth Israel Hospital Admits To Inflating Medicare Fees
The hospital will pay $13 million for “fraudulently” inflating Medicare inpatient fees between 1998 and 2003 – a practice known as “turbocharging.”
States Consider Their Own Legislation Limiting Contraception Coverage, Abortion
Lawmakers in Mississippi, Arizona, Georgia, Texas and Florida are considering bills to limit contraception coverage or abortion.
Mayo Takes Over Ga. Health System
The Mayo Clinic gains a presence in Georgia, while hospital boards approve other mergers and acquisitions around the U.S. There’s also news about the debate over delivery of charity care by nonprofit hospitals in Illinois.
Gingrey: Outlook Dim For Long-Term Fix For Medicare’s SGR
Politico Pro reports the Rep. Phil Gringrey, R-Ga., a physician, predicted that, because of the congressional calendar and election-year politics, the most likely outcome to the medicare payment problem is a Band-Aid approach.
Republican presidential hopefuls Rick Santorum and Ron Paul launch new criticisms of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich – not to mention of each other.
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the U.S.
Funding Gaps Could Hinder Future Of Health Care In Africa, Report Says
The “improvement and extension of health care in Africa is … being constrained by gaps in financing,” according to a new report (.pdf) by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) based on research commissioned by Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Belgian subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, the Financial Times’ “beyondbrics” blog reports (Wheatley, 3/1). The report, titled “The Future of Healthcare in Africa,” “discusses the continent’s traditional health care issues, such as communicable diseases or financing health care in economically difficult circumstances” and “also addresses less well-known topics, such as the threat of obesity and heart disease, the use of mobile technology, development of more preventive care, and more,” according to the Janssen website (3/1). The report “identif[ies] the key trends shaping African health care systems” and uses them “to develop [five] scenarios that depict the possible health landscape on the continent in 2022,” a Janssen press release (.pdf) states (3/1).
“HIV organizations, researchers and activists have criticized the WHO and UNAIDS for not clearly communicating [guidelines on HIV and hormonal contraception] to African women, who remain the most affected by the continent’s high HIV prevalence rates,” PlusNews reports. In February, the WHO confirmed its existing recommendations after a study published last year suggested that using hormonal contraceptive injections might double the risk of women acquiring HIV or transmitting the virus to a male partner, according to the news service. “However, because the U.N. agency was unable to definitively rule out the possibility that progesterone-only birth-control shots like Depo-Provera posed no HIV risk, it is now strongly advising women at risk of or living with HIV to use condoms concurrently to prevent HIV infection or transmission,” PlusNews writes.
Sachs Says He Is ‘Eager For Challenge’ Of World Bank Presidency
The new president of the World Bank “should come to office understanding the realities of flooded villages, drought-ridden farms, desperate mothers hovering over comatose, malaria-infected children, and teenage girls unable to pay high school tuition. More than knowing these realities, and caring to end them, the bank president should understand their causes and interconnected solutions,” Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece. “My good fortune to see the world through the eyes of others, during 30 years working on some of the world’s most vexing problems, has helped me understand various regions’ challenges and the need for tailored solutions,” which is why “I am eager for this challenge” to lead the World Bank, he writes, advocating for his nomination to be considered for the position.
