Latest KFF Health News Stories
Viewpoints: Debt Estimates And Medicare Plans; Sen. McConnell On Fate Of Health Law
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
February Issue Of WHO Bulletin Available Online
The February issue of the WHO Bulletin features an editorial on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis; a public health round-up; an article on the health care challenges posed by population aging; a research paper on the systems approach to improving maternal health in the Philippines; and a policy paper on reducing death rates from cyclones in Bangladesh (February 2012).
Rethinking Government Approach To GHI
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, highlights two recent posts by CGD’s Amanda Glassman and Nandini Oomman on the future of the Global Health Initiative (GHI). She writes, “With the Appropriations Committee weighing in by requiring a status report by mid-February on transitioning GHI to USAID, it is no understatement that the GHI is at an important juncture. Declining budgets for foreign assistance will also require new thinking on where the U.S. provides assistance and for what purpose” (1/31).
Pilot Program In Tanzania To Improve TB Detection Shows Promise, IRIN Reports
“A pilot community program to improve [tuberculosis (TB)] detection in northern Tanzania has shown good results and could be replicated nationwide as the country seeks to improve its TB treatment and prevention systems,” IRIN reports. The program, run by Management Sciences for Health with help from PATH and Tanzania’s National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme and financial support from USAID, “emphasized that TB and HIV treatment must be done ‘hand in hand,'” according to IRIN.
Collapse Of Global Fund Would Stall Global Health Efforts
“The Global Fund’s drive to ensure sustainability and efficiency means that it may not be able to meet its commitments to combat disease, says Laurie Garrett,” a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, in Nature’s “World View” column. Citing his resignation letter, Garrett discusses the “the political struggle” that led Michel Kazatchkine to step down as executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria last week and writes, “It is a classic battle of titans, pitting urgency against long-term sustainability. … Kazatchkine essentially conceded victory to the forces for sustainability.”
GSK CEO Speaks About New NTD Public-Private Partnership
In her “Global Health Blog,” Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley speaks with GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty about the year-long efforts to bring together the heads of more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies in a large public-private initiative to control or eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). “In terms of what should this industry be doing preferentially, it should be making available the drugs which nobody else has for people in these countries who suffer from these diseases … and we should be committing ourselves to discover more, better drugs for the future, and we’re doing that today and we’re collaborating with others to make it happen quicker,” Witty said (1/31).
All Players Involved With Global Fund Must Take Responsibility For Future Success
“The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has proved to be one of the world’s most important and innovative multilateral funding agencies,” a Financial Times editorial states. Therefore, “[t]he abrupt reshuffle of top management last week”
Islamist Rebel Group Bans ICRC From Southern Areas Of Somalia Under Its Control
The Islamist rebel group al-Shabab has banned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from distributing food in southern areas of Somalia under its control, accusing the organization of delivering out-of-date food, the Guardian reports. “The new ban could deal a major blow to aid operations in the dangerous south of the country as the ICRC was one of only a few international agencies still able to operate there after al-Shabab banned 16 other groups last November,” the newspaper reports. Famine continues to threaten 250,000 people in the region, according to the Guardian (Chonghaile, 1/31).
Poor Quality Vaccination Campaigns, Lack Of Government Commitment Helping Polio Spread In Chad
“Poor-quality emergency immunization campaigns and low routine polio immunization coverage are helping the polio virus to spread in Chad, with 132 cases reported in 2011 — five times the number in 2010,” IRIN reports. “More commitment is needed across the board, especially from local health authorities, to try to get immunizations right, say aid agencies,” the news service adds.
South African Government Officials Recall Defective Condoms
Government health officials in Free State, South Africa, have recalled a lot of 8,700 boxes of condoms that were distributed free of charge at guesthouses, hotels, restaurants, and bars to celebrate the centenary of the African National Congress, BBC News reports (1/30). “The Free State Health Department says it is recalling the estimated 1.35 million condoms as a ‘precautionary measure’ — and urged the public not to panic,” the BBC notes, adding, “They say they are still investigating claims that the condoms are porous.”
National Science Advisory Board Explains Decision To Censor Bird Flu Research
“Details of a genetically altered strain of the deadly avian flu virus are ‘a grave concern’ to public safety and should be kept under wraps,” the 23-member National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity declared Tuesday “[i]n a letter released by the journals Science (.pdf) and Nature,” CNN reports (1/31). “The board explains that its main concern was that publishing the experiments in detail could help someone to develop viruses for harmful purposes,” BBC News writes, adding, “But it acknowledges the work holds ‘clear benefits’ in alerting humanity to the potential H5N1 threat, and that it could lead to greater preparation and potential development of novel strategies for disease control” (Walsh, 1/31).
First Edition: February 1, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including details about the Congressional Budget Office’s latest analysis of the nation’s budget deficit and its take on the long-term impact of Medicare and other entitlement programs.
Democrats Anxiously Await New GOP Budget Plan
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has indicated the soon-to-be-unveiled proposal will include a plan to privatize Medicare at least “in part.”
GOP Presidential Hopefuls Make Final Pitches To Florida Primary Voters
Among the campaign issues are the parallels between the federal health overhaul and the Massachusetts law former Gov. Mitt Romney signed and Newt Gingrich’s support of the individual mandate.
New General Manager’s Banking Background Beneficial At Global Fund
In this post on the Center for Global Development’s (CGD) “Global Health Policy” blog, Amanda Glassman, a research fellow and director of global health policy at CGD, explains why the banking background of the new general manager of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Gabriel Jaramillo, “should serve him well.” She says that obtaining the highest health return on investment “requires a fundamental rethink of the organization’s role as a commissioner of or payer for health services and, ultimately, health outcomes. Instead of a passive cashier, the fund can become an active and strategic investor in the shared enterprise of producing health results. And that is a banker’s business” (1/30).
Opinion Pieces, Blog React To New Public-Private NTD Initiative
Pharmaceutical company heads and global health leaders gathered at a conference on Monday in London to announce the formation of a large public-private partnership to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and endorse the “London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases” (.pdf), in which they pledged to work together and track progress. The following is a summary of two opinion pieces and a blog post in response to the news.
Opinion Pieces Recognize Global Fund Anniversary
Last week, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria celebrated its 10-year anniversary. The following are summaries of two opinion pieces written in recognition of this milestone.
S&P Warns Some G20 Nations Face Downgrade Unless Reforms To Stem Rising Health Care Costs Enacted
“Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s warned it may downgrade ‘a number of highly rated’ Group of 20 [G20] countries from 2015 if their governments fail to enact reforms to curb rising health care spending and other costs related to aging populations,” Reuters reports. “Developed nations in Europe, as well as Japan and the United States, are likely to suffer the largest deterioration in their public finances in the next four decades as more elderly strain social safety nets, S&P said in a report,” the news agency writes (Hopfner et al., 1/31).
Words From Daily Report Readers
Here’s today’s sampling of health policy haikus.
Faster, Less Expensive Methods Of Circumcision Being Tested, Reviewed, New York Times Reports
The New York Times examines developments in circumcision technology, after “three studies have shown that circumcising adult heterosexual men is one of the most effective ‘vaccines’ against [HIV] — reducing the chances of infection by 60 percent or more.” The newspaper writes, “[P]ublic health experts are struggling to find ways to make the process faster, cheaper, and safer” and “donors are pinning their hopes on several devices now being tested to speed things up.” The New York Times reports on several circumcision methods currently being tested, including PrePex, which received FDA approval three weeks ago and “is clearly faster, less painful and more bloodless than any of its current rivals” (McNeil, 1/30).
