Morning Breakouts

Latest KFF Health News Stories

U.S. Offers North Korea Flood Assistance, Considering Food Aid Separately

Morning Briefing

“The United States has offered North Korea up to $900,000 in emergency flood assistance but has made no decision yet on a broader request for humanitarian food aid for the isolated country, the State Department said on Thursday,” Reuters reports. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland “said the flood assistance would not include food, and was considered separately from a standing appeal by North Korea for food aid to offset bad harvests that a U.N. report said earlier this year had left millions hungry,” according to the news agency (Quinn, 8/18).

Researchers Turn Their Attention To Chagas Disease As Developed Countries See Rise In Infection Rates

Morning Briefing

Chagas disease, a historically neglected tropical disease that the WHO estimates affects about 10 million people worldwide, is drawing increased attention as infection by the parasite spreads from Latin America to developed countries, such as Spain and the United States, Science reports. “The main reason for this rise isn’t the spread of insects carrying Trypanosoma cruzi but rather emigration from Latin America of large numbers of people who are already infected,” the magazine writes.

South Africa Should Heed Recommendations Of HRW Report On Maternal Abuses

Morning Briefing

“If the moral test for a society is the way in which it treats its most vulnerable citizens, then the release of a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) marks a sad day for South Africa,” a Lancet editorial states.

Employers Predict Big Increases In Health Care Costs

Morning Briefing

Based on responses to a survey conducted by the National Business Group on Health, large employers are bracing for cost increases and will likely pass the added burden on to their employees.

FAO Holds Second Emergency Meeting On Famine; WHO Warns Of Cholera Spread; Turkish PM Visits Mogadishu

Morning Briefing

For the second time in one month, representatives of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) held an emergency meeting on Thursday in Rome “to take stock of the humanitarian disaster” in the Horn of Africa, the Guardian reports (Tran, 8/18). The officials “called for a twin-pronged approach to tackle the food crisis, stressing immediate relief and the strengthening of the resilience of affected communities to enable them to cope with future shocks in the drought-prone region,” the U.N. News Centre reports (8/18).

Report: Gains In Enrolling Kids In Public Health Care Programs

Morning Briefing

The report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services found that the number of children eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program fell. Meanwhile, HHS also awarded $40 million in grants for more outreach.

Research Roundup: Majority Of Docs Face Malpractice Claims

Morning Briefing

This week’s studies and reports come from the Government Accountability Office, the Journal Of General Internal Medicine, New England Journal Of Medicine, Harvard Medical School’s Department Of Health Care Policy, Health Affairs, the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

First Edition: August 19, 2011

Morning Briefing

Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a range of reports looking ahead to the work of the deficit ‘super committee’ and other budget news.

Isolation of HIV Antibodies Advances Search For AIDS Vaccine

Morning Briefing

A team of researchers has “identified 17 potent antibodies whose discovery opened up valuable pathways in the search for an AIDS vaccine,” Agence France-Presse reports (8/17). The researchers “at and associated with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the Scripps Research Institute, the biotechnology company Theraclone Sciences and Monogram Biosciences Inc., a LabCorp company, report in the current issue of Nature” that the antibodies are “capable of neutralizing a broad spectrum of variants of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,” according to a joint press release (8/17).

U.K., Islamic Countries Pledge Additional Funds For Famine Aid In Somalia

Morning Briefing

During a visit to the Somali capital of Mogadishu, U.K. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell on Wednesday pledged an additional $41.5 million in aid to Somalia, to be distributed through UNICEF, BBC News reports. The funding will enable UNICEF “to provide supplementary rations for up to 192,000 people