Latest KFF Health News Stories
2M Pakistanis Affected By Diseases Related To Widespread Flooding In Southern Region
Two million Pakistanis have become ill from malaria, diarrhea, skin diseases or snake bites “since monsoon rains left the southern region under several feet of water, the country’s disaster authority said Thursday,” Agence France-Presse reports. “More than 350 people have been killed and over eight million people have been affected this year by floods that officials say are worse in parts of Sindh province than last year,” the news agency reports.
Vaccination Must Be Part Of Response To Cholera Outbreak In Haiti
Though “[c]holera vaccines are not a magic bullet and are not available in adequate numbers” to vaccinate everyone in Haiti, where at least 10 people die each day in an outbreak that began in October 2010, “there are compelling reasons to add vaccinations to the arsenal of public health weapons that has been deployed against cholera in Haiti,” a Washington Post editorial states. Efforts to improve access to clean water, educate the public about cholera transmission and treat those infected are ongoing, “[b]ut those efforts should be supplemented with an ambitious vaccination program starting as soon as practicable,” the editorial writes.
More Funding For Leishmaniasis Treatment Could Save More Lives In East African Outbreak
“East Africa’s worst outbreak in a decade of visceral leishmaniasis, the deadliest parasitic disease after malaria, could ease if donors paid more attention to the illness,” which infects approximately 500,000 people and kills up to 60,000 annually in 70 countries, the non-profit group “Leishmaniasis East Africa Platform, or LEAP, said in a statement from Nairobi” on Friday, Bloomberg reports.
First Edition: September 23, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how health policy issues played in Thursday night’s GOP presidential primary debate.
Young Adults Make Gains In Health Coverage
New data indicate as many as a million young adults have signed up for health insurance in the last year, offering evidence that this 2010 health law benefit is proving to be popular.
AARP Launches Ad Campaign Urging Debt Panel To Steer Clear Of Medicare
According to the national ad campaign’s script, which urges the deficit panel to take Medicare cuts off the table, Social Security payments have been earned by a lifetime of work and Medicare, the health insurance plan for seniors, is paid for by participants.
Global Partnership Accelerates Progress In Maternal, Child Health
In a post in the State Department’s “DipNote” blog, Scott Radloff, director of the Office of Population and Reproductive Health at USAID, examines how, for the past year, the Alliance for Reproductive, Maternal, and Newborn Health, a partnership between USAID, the U.K. Department for International Development, the Australian Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched at last year’s U.N. General Assembly Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, has “accelerate[d] progress in improving maternal and child health” worldwide. Radloff highlights successes in Ethiopia and Pakistan and writes that by 2015, the Alliance aims to contribute to increases in the use of modern contraceptives, the number of women giving birth in the presence of a skilled birth attendant and the number of infants exclusively breastfed through the first six months of life (9/21).
Cutting Foreign Assistance Funding Might Mean Death For World’s Poor
In this opinion piece in The Hill’s “Congress Blog,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif) writes that cutting “funding of vital programs that focus on global food security, health, climate adaptation, and disaster relief, … which make up less than one percent of the U.S. federal budget, will not get us far in terms of plugging the budget gap but they could literally make the difference between life and death for many of the world’s poor.” She adds, “As part of a global response, the U.S. is responding, having already provided more than $600 million in assistance. … To ensure that future droughts don’t again devastate poor and vulnerable communities, we must support investments in small scale food producers, especially women, to increase agricultural productivity and build resilience,” (9/21).
Senate Committee Approves FY12 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a $53 billion FY12 foreign operations appropriations bill, the Associated Press reports. “Reflecting the economic pressure, the bill is $6.2 billion less than President Barack Obama requested,” the news agency notes (Cassatta, 9/21).
Researchers To Expand Malaria Vaccine Study After Initial Trial Yields Encouraging Results
Encouraged by early results of a study of an experimental malaria vaccine involving 45 children in Burkina Faso, researchers led by Pierre Druilhe at the Pasteur Institute in Paris are set to expand the clinical trial, resulting in a larger study involving 800 children in Mali, BBC News reports. The initial trial aimed “to test the safety of the vaccine but this follow up study found that children who received it had an incidence of the disease three to four times lower than children who did not,” BBC writes.
State Roundup: N.Y. To Pay $5 Million To End Suit Over Autistic Teen’s Death
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
U.S. Entities Announce Global Smoke-Free Workplace Challenge
“The Mayo Clinic, Johnson & Johnson and others are joining forces to try to snuff out smoking in the workplace throughout the world,” the Wall Street Journal’s “Health Blog” writes, adding, “Their global smoke-free worksite challenge, announced today at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, calls on employers to ban smoking at offices and facilities worldwide.” The blog notes, “Smoky offices seem like a thing of the past in much of the U.S. … But globally, only about 11 percent of people are protected by comprehensive national smoke-free laws, the WHO says.”
Multi-Donor Program Improves Availability Of Essential Medicines In Zimbabwe’s Public Health Sector
IRIN reports on “[t]he improved availability of essential medicines in Zimbabwe’s public health sector” as a result of “a multi-donor program started in 2008 through collaboration between the government, the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Zimbabwe, the European Union (E.U.), the U.K., Australia, Canada and Ireland.” “According to a survey carried out by the E.U., 80 percent of essential medicines are now available at over 80 percent of health facilities compared to only 28 percent availability of vital drugs at public health institutions in 2008,” IRIN notes. The news service writes, “To date, the Essential Medicines Supply Programme (EMSP) has received $52 million in funding, according to UNICEF,” adding, “The money is used to buy drugs and medical supplies which are distributed to health centers by Natpharm, the supply arm of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare” (9/20).
Commercial Interests Confound Fight Against NCDs, Some Experts Say
The Washington Post examines the influence of commercial interests on the “political declaration” that emerged from this week’s U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York. NCDs “are the globe’s biggest health problem, responsible for 63 percent of all deaths each year, with incidence growing steeply in the low-income, rapidly urbanizing nations of the world,” but they “are deeply entangled with important global industries, not only tobacco but also food, pharmaceuticals, advertising, transportation and construction,” the newspaper writes, adding, “The bigger issue in preparing the document, however, was how much to invoke the … World Trade Organization’s agreement on intellectual property, known informally as TRIPS” (Brown, 9/20).
Arizona’s Mental Health Budget Cuts Concern Experts
Short-term savings could have long-term consequences for patients and the community, mental health experts tell The Arizona Republic. Meanwhile, a county in Iowa gets state aid to help people on a waiting list for mental health and disability care.
The Nigerian government is expected to sign an agreement with UNESCO at the 36th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, which begins next month, for an international biotechnology center that will focus on strengthening food safety, tropical disease research and the conservation of bio-resources across Africa, SciDev.Net reports, adding that “UNESCO’s executive board approved the establishment of the center earlier this year.”
NYT: Ethics Probe Involves Kidney Transplant Center, Rep. Berkley
The investigation focuses on Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and her efforts to prevent the closure of a Nevada kidney transplant center – which her husband’s medical practice helps to run. Also at issue are her efforts to push federal regulators not to cut Medicare reimbursements for dialysis centers, including those that are owned by her husband’s practice.
Mercer: Health Insurance Costs Expected To Rise Next Year – Again
Costs for U.S. employers are expected to increase at the lowest rate in years, but costs for workers will likely outpace their earnings.
Poll: Health Industry Under Prepared To Protect Patients’ Digital Records
Reuters reports on a new poll of health executives that indicates that the industry is not adequately prepared to protect patients’ digital health records. Still, according to the Boston Globe, Dr. David Blumenthal, offered a positive view of medical technology in a Wednesday night speech, saying that electronic medical records made him a better doctor.
DOJ Faces Strategic Decisions In Next Steps On Health Law Challenges
Politico Pro reports that the DOJ’s decision, due on Monday, will provide a meaningful clue about when the Supreme Court may decide the question regarding the individual mandate’s constitutionality.
