Latest KFF Health News Stories
State Dual Eligible Proposals Don’t Focus On Managed Care For Medicare Beneficiaries
CQ HealthBeat reports on comments made by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Cindy Mann to a meeting of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.
Franken Takes Hard Look At Health Data Thefts
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said Wednesday that a lot of needed protections “have yet to be implemented.”
Miss. ‘Personhood’ Amendment Failure Raises Doubts About Strategy
The group that supported the controversial ballot issue says it wants to go forward in other states next year. Meanwhile, a judge in Kansas threw out criminal charges against a Planned Parenthood clinic.
Groups Push For Insurance Oversight Promised By Health Law
A letter was sent to the White House by more than 50 organizations demanding that the administration require simple, standardized health insurance forms starting next year, as called for in the law.
What About Walmart’s Plans To Add Health Clinics?
After questions from reporters, the retailer backpedaled from statements in confidential documents, saying it didn’t plan on dominating the medical market in the way it dominates the discount-store business.
Viewpoints: The Role Of IT In Transforming Health Care; The GOP Raises Super Committee Stakes
A selection of editorials and opinion articles on health policy from around the country.
Longer Looks: Do Extra Brain Cells Offer A Clue To Autism?
This week’s selection of articles comes from Time, The Atlantic, Mother Jones and American Medical News.
PSI Official Discusses Organization’s Innovations Strategies In Washington Post Feature
As part of its series on innovation, the Washington Post features an interview with PSI Vice President for Corporate Marketing and Communications Kate Roberts, who answers several questions regarding PSI’s work in global health. Roberts discusses providing safe drinking water; creating partnerships between the private sector and non-profit organizations; being a “lone actor” for short periods in order to prove an intervention’s worth; investing in an Innovations Fund “that allows us to experiment with new ideas that PSI believes in but that donor agencies aren’t yet ready to support”; and social franchising, which is “a way of delivering health products and services that ensures that they’re accessible, affordable and desirable to all those in need” (Roberts, 11/8).
Pharmaceutical Industry Should Invest More In NTDs
In this Forbes opinion piece, contributor Sarika Bansal examines “[w]hat needs to happen for the pharmaceutical industry, academic researchers, and other key players [to] begin investing more seriously in” efforts to address neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). She writes, “Since the term [NTD] was coined [in 2005], there has been considerable activity in the neglected disease space from governments, donors, pharmaceutical companies, and nonprofits alike,” but the status quo “has not yet changed nearly enough, and there is ample room for the pharmaceutical industry to invest more in NTDs.”
Translating Science Into Service Delivery To Achieve Clinton’s Vision Of An AIDS-Free Generation
In this post in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby responds to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech on HIV/AIDS given at the NIH on Wednesday, in which she called for an “AIDS-free generation,” writing that “her vision was an affirmation of the progress made over the past decade, and a mandate to redouble our efforts with global partners to bring the latest scientific advances to bear in order to save lives.”
“A notable feature of Secretary [of State Hillary Rodham] Clinton’s ‘AIDS-free generation’ initiative is to strengthen health care systems in sub-Saharan Africa, … a view echoed by many eminent voices in the global health community,” Anand Reddi of the University of Colorado Medical School writes in a post on Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog. “To address the African health care workforce shortage, I encourage Secretary Clinton to adopt the principles of the” Global Health Service Corps (GHSC), which would be composed of U.S. health professionals who could “provide medical education and technical assistance to enhance the health care workforces in low-income countries,” Reddi says. In addition, the GHSC would focus on “infrastructure development, knowledge transfer, and capacity building,” Reddi writes.
An End To AIDS Is Possible In Our Generation
In this post in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog, Sheila Nix, U.S. executive director of ONE, summarizes progress in the global fight against HIV/AIDS in the 30 years since the first cases were documented and writes that “as budgets constrict and leaders turn their attention inward, it’s easy to see why a renewed push on global AIDS doesn’t seem possible. Yet 2011 marks a critical inflection point in our fight against AIDS.”
Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the U.K. have “made a critical discovery about the way the most deadly species of malaria parasite invades human red blood cells,” Reuters reports. They “pinpointed a single receptor for a protein that is critical for the parasite to gain entry into red blood cells before multiplying and spreading,” according to a study published in Nature on Wednesday (Kelland, 11/9). “The researchers hope the finding will help them design a new malaria vaccine,” which “has been ‘a difficult nut to crack,’ Gavin Wright of the [Sanger Institute] said at a press briefing about the study in London on Monday,” ScienceNOW notes (Reardon, 11/9).
China Considers Ban On Infant Formula Ads To Encourage Breastfeeding
“China may ban sales promotions and advertising for milk formula designed for babies younger than six months in an effort to encourage breastfeeding, the Ministry of Health” said Wednesday in a statement, Bloomberg reports, adding that “the government is canvassing public opinion on a draft plan.” UNICEF “said it supported measures to curb the use of infant formula, whose sales in China more than doubled in four years,” Bloomberg writes.
Global Press Institute Examines HIV/AIDS Among Women In Zambia
“With the HIV prevalence rate higher among women than men in Zambia, experts say the epidemic now has a women’s face here and, therefore, requires more specialized intervention programs,” and “[w]omen living with HIV say that women must be taught how to live positively with it,” the Global Press Institute reports in a story examining the epidemic among women in Zambia. The article looks at factors influencing higher HIV rates among women and government efforts to provide treatment and prevention programs, and includes comments from Nkandu Luo, a Zambian HIV/AIDS advocate and researcher; Viola Morgan, U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) country director; and Clementine Mumba, executive secretary for the Network of ARV Users, a support and advocacy group for people living with HIV/AIDS (Katongo, 11/10).
Action On Climate Change Required To Prevent Harm To Health, Development, Reports Say
“[A] lack of action on climate change and habitat destruction will threaten the progress of developing countries,” because environmental sustainability affects “a wide range of social issues,” including “health, education, income, gender disparities and energy production, combined with protection of the ecosystem,” according to the U.N. Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report 2011, titled, “Sustainability and Equity: a Better Future for All,” VOA News reports. The report “argues that if you invest in people’s health and schooling, the population will be a better keeper of its environmental resources over the long term,” according to the news service (Lewis, 11/8).
Expert Panel Discusses Global Health Outcomes Of G20 Summit At Kaiser Family Foundation Webcast
As part of its U.S. Global Health Policy: In Focus webcast series, the Kaiser Family Foundation on Wednesday hosted a panel of experts to discuss outcomes of the Cannes G20 Summit meetings on infrastructure development, food security and innovative financing options for development and the implications for global health. Panelists also discussed the current state of global health funding from donor countries, including the United States and European community, as well as a range of new financing mechanisms under consideration to supplement funding from traditional channels.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about what’s new with the super committee, continuing coverage of Wal-Mart’s thoughts about adding clinics and more analysis of this week’s election results.
