Latest KFF Health News Stories
Women In Haiti Face Widespread Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Exploitation 2 Years After Earthquake
Two years after Haiti’s January 2010 earthquake, a “crisis of gender-based violence and exploitation is festering — and foreign aid efforts are still failing to protect survivor communities from harm, or to make the criminal justice system more accountable,” The Nation reports. “In a recent study of conditions surrounding four internally displaced people’s camps, researchers with the Global Justice Center and Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) estimate that ’14 percent of households reported that at least one member of the household had been a victim of sexual violence since the earthquake,'” the news service writes, adding, “Victims were typically young, female, and deprived of access to food, water and sanitation.”
Mozambique Expected To Pass Bill Legalizing Abortion In March
“Mozambique’s legislature is expected to pass a bill to legalize abortions in March in an effort to reduce the country’s high rate of unsafe … abortions,” the Christian Science Monitor reports, noting under current law, abortion remains illegal in the country under any circumstances. The bill “would revise the country’s … abortion law and legalize voluntary abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy,” making Mozambique “the ninth African country to liberalize its abortion policy in the last decade,” according to the newspaper.
First Edition: February 8, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the continuing fracas over the Obama administration’s birth control rule, and the Capitol Hill impasse surrounding the Medicare ‘doc fix’ as well as the extension of the payroll tax break.
Al Jazeera Examines Unique Polio Eradication Campaign In Pakistan
In this video report, Al Jazeera examines polio eradication efforts in Pakistan, writing, “[I]n an unusual effort to eliminate the disease, health workers are stopping vehicles at a busy toll booth outside Islamabad to administer free polio vaccination drops to children under the age of five.” The video recounts a “promise” made by Pakistan’s prime minister last month to eliminate new polio infections in the country by the end of the year and provides commentary by Shahnaz Wazir Ali, assistant to the prime minister on social affairs, and Dennis King of UNICEF Pakistan about the target, current infection rates, and ongoing eradication efforts (Tyab, 2/6).
‘Doc Fix’ Negotiations Hit An Impasse
The gridlock is over how to pay for the fix, and could threaten the broader legislative package, which includes the payroll tax break extension. Meanwhile, lawmakers examine familiar offset possibilities, as well as some ideas from the private sector.
Action Needed To Reach Ambitious Targets Set Forth In President’s World AIDS Day Speech
President Barack Obama’s December 1 World AIDS Day speech “could be pivotal, but only if it is followed by changes in how we tackle global AIDS,” Chris Collins, vice president and director of public policy at amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, writes in this Huffington Post “Global Motherhood” opinion piece. “Obama signaled a renewed U.S. commitment to funding for global AIDS programs at a time when resources at home are constrained and other countries are backing away from the fight,” he writes, adding, “Now it’s time to plot a course for implementing the president’s vision.”
Opponents Argue The Health Law ‘Went Too Far’
Briefs filed by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business argue that Congress overstepped its constitutional authority when it mandated that individuals buy health insurance or pay a penalty.
Calling For Greater Protection Of Health Care Workers In Conflict Settings
In this post in IntraHealth International’s “Global Health” blog, editorial manager Susanna Smith examines how health care workers operating in areas of conflict are “being used as pawns of warfare.” Smith highlights the decision by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) last month to suspend services in prisons in the Libyan city of Misrata due to reports of torture and notes, “[MSF] General Director Christopher Stokes called the situation an obstruction and exploitation of the organization’s work.” Smith cites a Center for Strategic and International Studies report released last week “calling for ‘the mere handwringing that has largely greeted attack on the health care in the past’ to ‘be replaced by concerted international action and a system on documentation, protection, and accountability,'” and concludes, “The international community owes at least this much to these health workers, who give so much and put themselves at risk to care for others” (2/2).
Four Options For Resolving Bird Flu Research Debate
In this Scientific American opinion piece, author and former staff writer at Scientific American John Horgan examines “a bitter debate” among scientists over the publication of controversial H5N1 research, writing, “Research involving the bird-flu virus H5N1 poses an especially knotty dilemma, in which scientists’ commitment to openness — and to reducing humanity’s vulnerability to potential health threats — collides with broader security concerns.” Horgan provides some statistics on H5N1 infection, recounts a brief history of the research in question and suggests four options to resolve the dilemma.
World Recognizes 9th Annual International Day Of Zero Tolerance To FGM/C
As the international community on Monday marked the ninth annual International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), the U.N. and international and human rights organizations called for an end to FGM/C and are appealing for tougher legislation to halt the practice that has affected up to 140 million girls and women worldwide, according to WHO statistics, VOA News reports (Schlein, 2/6). “The United States stands in consensus with women, governments, and donors around the world in a commitment to provide the energy and resources necessary to end this harmful traditional practice that violates girls’ right to bodily integrity, harms their health, and reduces their status in society,” USAID writes on its website (2/6).
USAID Provides Testing Equipment To Vietnam To Help Speed Diagnoses Of Drug-Resistant TB
USAID on Monday said it has “delivered the first two of 17 planned laboratory devices” to help quickly diagnose drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB), VOA’s “Breaking News” blog reports. “It says the machines allow for technicians to diagnose multi-drug resistant tuberculosis within as little as two hours, instead of the previous time requirement of several months,” the blog writes. The “new lab devices, along with 12,000 testing cartridges, will be given to tuberculosis hospitals and clinics in more than 10 Vietnamese provinces,” according to the news service (2/6).
The U.N. Economic and Social Commission for the Asia Pacific (ESCAP) on Monday in Bangkok “opened a three-day meeting lauding impressive gains in recent years in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” but the body cautioned “there are still legal and social barriers that significantly set back eradication efforts,” VOA News reports. U.N. ESCAP Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer “note[d] the gains are uneven and there are still gaps in the goal of universal access to HIV treatment,” the news service writes.
Debate Continues Over Needle/Syringe Exchange Programs
Matt Fisher, a research assistant at the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Global Health Policy Center, summarizes the ongoing debate in Congress over needle and syringe exchange programs (NSEPs) in this post on the SmartGlobalHealth.org blog. He presents a history of NSEPs and notes, “President Obama recently signed the FY12 omnibus spending bill that, among other things, reinstated the ban on the use of federal funds for needle and syringe exchange programs (NSEPs); this step reversed the 111th Congress’ 2009 decision to allow federal funds to be used for these programs.” He concludes that despite scientific evidence that NSEPs are an effective public health intervention, “ideological and moral opposition remains,” and therefore, “the issue of federal funding will continue to be actively debated” (2/6).
State Department, USAID Blog Posts Support Elimination Of FGM/C
In support of the ninth annual International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, and David Robinson, acting assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, outline several examples of U.S. advocacy and funding related to stopping the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in this post on the State Department’s “DipNote” blog. They call on governments and international donors to “overturn deeply entrenched social norms that are not only harmful to women and girls, but to our communities and societies” (2/6). In a post on USAID’s “IMPACTblog,” Sandra Jordan, communication and outreach adviser for USAID’s Bureau for Global Health, writes, “The single most important aspect of ending this practice is involving the community. USAID focuses on enabling and empowering communities to make their own collective choice to abandon FGM/C” (2/6).
World Economic Forum Helps ‘Improve Global Cooperation’ Surrounding Health Issues
Meetings such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) “are highly beneficial for the health sector, since there is a genuine need for reaching out to non-state actors in the midst of the many transformations shaping global and domestic health sector public policy,” Sania Nishtar, founder of Heartfile and Heartfile Health Financing, writes in a Huffington Post opinion piece. “But that is not all the World Economic Forum is doing for health. It is also contributing substantively in the normative and advocacy space,” according to Nishtar, who uses non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as an example. “By identifying NCDs as the top 10 risks to the world in WEF’s Global Risk Reports for two consecutive years (2009 and 2010) it helped raise concern, globally, at a time when it mattered the most,” especially leading up to last year’s U.N. High Level Meeting, she writes.
Guardian Blog Interviews Researcher Regarding Artemisinin Synthesis Discovery
In this post in the Guardian’s “The Observer,” Mark Honigsbaum, a research associate at the University of Zurich’s Institute for Medical History, interviews Peter Seeberger, the director of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, about a recent announcement that Seeberger and colleague Fran
Humana, HCA Show Brighter Earnings Picture Though Worries Remain
Humana met analyst projections for the quarter although revenue “was softer than expected;” and HCA stock shares are rebounding amid improved employment numbers.
Question For Cardiologists Has Far-Reaching Implications For Health Care Costs
The Washington Post explores a key question about health care treatment options that underscores certain issues within the health care system.
States Busy Implementing Local, Federal Health Reforms
Vermont may for the short term allow small businesses to offer low-premium, “bronze” insurance plans. In other news, a N.J. legislative committee approved a bill to establish a state health insurance exchange, and a California plan to move 875,000 children to Medicaid raises concerns.
Obama Administration Rejects Calif. Medicaid Co-Pay Proposal
The Obama administration said no Monday to California’s proposal to help close its budget gap by charging Medicaid beneficiaries co-pays on doctor visits, hospitals stays and prescription drugs. Elsewhere, Texas is planning a change to how it doles out charity care pay in its Medicaid program.
