Archives: Morning Breakouts

Humanitarian aid officials are concerned about high levels of malnutrition among young children at the Dolo Ado refugee camps in southern Ethiopia "despite the free availability of Plumpy'nut, a peanut-based paste in a plastic wrapper for treatment of severe acute malnutrition," the Guardian reports. "'Maybe they're not eating it properly,' said Giorgia Testolin, head of the refugee section of the World Food Programme Ethiopia. 'The food is there, there is easy access, but why is the situation so bad? This needs to be investigated,'" the newspaper writes, adding a report (.pdf) out last month from USAID and the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET) noted some refugees, including children, sell or trade Plumpy'nut for other supplies, such as sugar, tea leaves, powder milk and meat. Overcrowding in the camps also presents problems, as 8,000 people await the opening of a fifth camp, which has been delayed because proper sanitation facilities are not yet ready, according to relief officials, the newspaper notes (Tran, 11/22).

In this Financial Times opinion piece, journalist Andrew Jack examines the challenges of family planning in some poorer countries, where public health programs "risk adding to population pressures and inadvertently setting back development," writing, "In a number of countries, notably in central and western Africa, health programs have contributed to cutting infant mortality rates, but birth rates have continued to remain stubbornly high. The unintended consequence is a fast-growing population that adds further pressure on poor families and fragile environments."

"Recurring drought, insufficient hygiene and ongoing regional conflict are driving a deadly outbreak of acute watery diarrhea (AWD) across the Horn of Africa, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported" on Tuesday, the U.N. News Centre writes. "WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva that more than 50,000 cases of AWD have been recorded in the region this year, resulting in over 700 deaths in Djibouti and Somalia," the news service notes (11/22).

The president may not always highlight the health overhaul before the public, but it's a strong talking point at his fundraising events. Meanwhile in the debate Tuesday, former Gov. Mitt Romney, while lamenting scheduled Pentagon cuts, said they are about the same as what the health law will cost.

In most cases, those higher costs don't translate into better outcomes, says report comparing 34 nations.

The state regulators approved a resolution asking for a change in the law to exempt insurance brokers' fees from an insurance company's administrative costs.

The pharmaceutical giant will pay a $321 million criminal fine and a $628 million civil settlement.

The Supreme Court justice's role in her old job at the White House is under examination by the House Judiciary Committee.

The WHO "said on Monday it has received just one application for the U.N. health agency's top post," from China, which submitted Margaret Chan, the current WHO director-general and former Hong Kong health chief, Agence France-Presse reports. "An executive board meeting in Geneva between January 16 and 23 will decide whether to put the name forward to the World Health Assembly in May, which would make the final decision regarding the appointment," the news agency writes (11/21).

Karen Davis, who has run the health care research foundation The Commonwealth Fund since 1995, will step down at the end of 2012.