Latest KFF Health News Stories
New International Consortium Aims To Prepare Researchers For Next Pandemic
“A group of health organizations [on Wednesday] launched a new international consortium to better prepare the clinical research community to respond to the next pandemic or other emerging health threat,” CIDRAP News reports (Schnirring, 12/7). “The International Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Consortium (ISARIC) is a global collaboration of over 20 hospital-based clinical research networks … aimed at ensuring the clinical researchers have in place the necessary open access protocols and data-sharing processes and have considered the ethical issues that will allow them to respond to rapidly emerging diseases with epidemic or pandemic potential, such as the recent pandemic H1N1 influenza and SARS outbreaks and potentially other rapidly emerging public health threats,” according to a Wellcome Trust press release.
First Edition: December 8, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the HHS decision on the Plan B morning after pill, as well as the latest progress reports from Capitol Hill on the payroll tax break extension and the doc fix.
HHS: Plan B Access Will Stay Limited
The Department of Health and Human Services announced today that the morning-after pill will continue to be kept behind the pharmacy counter and girls younger than 17 will continue to need a prescription to obtain it. KHN tracked news coverage of this development.
Women Face Disproportionately High Risks From Climate Change, UNEP Report Says
“Women, particularly those living in mountain regions in developing countries, are facing disproportionately high risks to their livelihoods and health from climate change, as well as associated risks such as human trafficking, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),” released at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, the UNEP News Centre reports.
Fatal Snakebites ‘Vastly Underreported,’ Researchers Report At Annual ASTMH Meeting
“Fatal snakebites worldwide have been vastly underreported because many die before seeking or reaching medical care, researchers” from the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, Germany, reported on Monday at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s (ASTMH) annual meeting, UPI.com writes (12/5). NPR’s “Shots” blog notes that, “even at the low end of estimates, deaths from snakebites would exceed those from better-known scourges, such as cholera, dengue fever and Chagas disease,” according to researchers at the symposium (Hensley, 12/6).
Reid Threatens Session Through Christmas To Finish Business
Many insiders expect a final package will emerge that wraps the payroll tax cut extension into a broader bill that also includes other measures, like the Medicare physician payment fix, with end-of-year expiration dates.
Myanmar Appeals For Assistance In HIV/AIDS Fight, Develops 5-Year National HIV/AIDS
“Myanmar appealed on Tuesday to the international community to increase assistance in combating HIV/AIDS, as AIDS response in the country has entered a critical stage,” Xinhua reports, adding, “The appeal was made by participants attending” a round-table discussion on reaching zero AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in the country (12/6).
Medicare Enrollment Deadline Extended – For Some
Kaiser Health News reports that federal officials are extending this Dec. 7 deadline for at least two days – but only to those seniors who contact any of several sources of assistance.
Agreement On Climate Deal Unlikely At Durban U.N. Conference, Ban Says
“Only a binding global accord on cutting greenhouse gases will spare Africa, the world’s poorest continent, more devastating floods, droughts and famine, a senior African climate change official said on Tuesday” at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, Reuters reports. “The talks, bringing together nearly 200 nations, have repeatedly struggled to get a new deal to update the Kyoto Protocol, whose crucial clause on enforcing targets on carbon cuts expires at the end of next year,” the news service writes. Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, chair of the Africa Group, “said legal force was the only way to make polluters take the necessary action and states who failed to deliver should in effect be ‘named and shamed,'” according to the news service (Lewis, 12/7).
Global Plan Of Action Needed To End AIDS
After “President Obama threw the full weight of the U.S. government behind a vision” to end the AIDS epidemic in a World AIDS Day speech, “[n]ow the question is: How will we achieve this goal? What are the priority actions to take today, tomorrow, and years from now?” Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, writes in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog. “First and foremost, the resource commitments need to match the strength of the scientific data,” he says, adding, “It is precisely at this moment, when the potential dividends are greatest, that the world’s modest AIDS investments should be sustained.”
Obama Administration To Promote And Protect LGBT Rights Through Foreign Aid, Diplomacy
“The Obama administration said Tuesday that it will intensify efforts to fight discrimination against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people as a major element of its foreign policy,” the Washington Post reports (DeYoung/Wilson, 12/6). “In the first U.S. government strategy to deal with human rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens abroad,” President Obama issued a presidential memorandum on Tuesday “instruct[ing] agencies to use foreign aid to promote such rights,” the Guardian writes.
MENA Region Among Top Two Regions With Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic, Report Shows
“A report on the HIV epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) shows that while the overall HIV prevalence in the region is still low, the rise in new infections since 2001 has put the MENA region among the top two regions in the world with the fastest growing HIV epidemic,” UNAIDS reports (12/4). The regional report was released Monday in Cairo, Egypt, under the auspices of the League of Arab States, according to the Egypt Independent (Helmy, 12/6). “The report outlines many recommendations on how to strengthen the AIDS response in the MENA region,” according to UNAIDS, including “review of laws and policies that hinder access to HIV prevention and treatments services, to invest smartly using an evidence-informed and human rights based approach, and the importance of strong political leadership” (12/4).
Horn Of Africa Food Crisis Could Last Into Summer 2012, E.U. Aid Commissioner Says
“The crisis in the Horn of Africa, which has left more than 13 million people at risk of starvation, will continue into the spring, and possibly the summer,” European Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said Tuesday, Reuters reports (Batha, 12/6). She “said investing in the Sahel now was not just the ethically and morally right thing to do, but would be less expensive than waiting for disaster to strike, as was the case in Somalia,” the Guardian writes, adding, “Seven million people are already facing shortages in Niger, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria and Burkina Faso, with major shortfalls in food production in many areas. The figures point to a massive problem of food availability next year, according to the European commission” (Tran, 12/7).
Study Raises Questions About Breast Cancer Therapy
Study of Medicare records finds that women who had a radiation treatment called brachytherapy were twice as likely to have a mastectomy in the following five years.
