Latest KFF Health News Stories
Fighting NCDs Can Be Achieved With Low-Cost Interventions
In this Atlantic opinion piece, Amanda Glassman, director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development (CGD), and Denizhan Duran, a research assistant at CGD, outline the macro- and microeconomic effects non-communicable diseases (NCDs) can have on countries and families, noting that “80 percent of NCD deaths occur in developing countries, mostly the middle-income countries.” However, they write that NCDs “can be substantially reduced with simple, low or no-cost interventions,” but “middle-income countries are not implementing these simple interventions at scale” for reasons that “have little to do with money.”
Gates Foundation Names Novartis AG Executive To Head Global Health Program
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday announced that Trevor Mundel, a senior executive at the pharmaceutical company Novartis AG, will join the foundation on December 1 “as president of the philanthropy’s global health group, a position that can influence the health of millions of people worldwide,” the Wall Street Journal reports (Guth, 9/14). “He succeeds Tadataka ‘Tachi’ Yamada, who left the foundation in June after five years as head of the global health program,” according to the Associated Press/Washington Post (9/13).
E.U. Announces Launch Of 126M Euro Program To Fight AIDS, TB In South Africa
European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs announced during a visit to South Africa on Monday that the European Union (E.U.) “will contribute 126 million euros to South Africa’s fight against AIDS and tuberculosis (TB),” money that “will be used to improve South Africa’s primary health care system, increasing access for patients,” Reuters reports (9/12).
Presidential Commission Report Calls 1940s STD Experiments In Guatemala ‘Gross Violations Of Ethics’
“Sexually transmitted disease experiments conducted by federal researchers from 1946 to 1948 in Guatemala involved ‘gross violations of ethics,'” according to a report published Tuesday by the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, USA Today’s “ScienceFair” blog reports (Vergano, 9/13).
Eli Lilly Announces $30M, Five-Year Commitment To Fight NCDs In Developing Countries
U.S.-based pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company on Tuesday announced it will spend $30 million over five years to fight the rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in developing nations, the Indianapolis Star reports (Swiatek, 9/13). According to a Lilly press release, the company is launching the Lilly NCD Partnership “to identify new models of patient care that increase treatment access and improve outcomes for underserved people” (9/13).
First Edition: September 14, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including lots of talk about the ‘super committee’ and about the new census numbers regarding the uninsured as well as the second-day analysis regarding some of the controversial comments made during Monday night’s GOP presidential primary debate.
Capsules: Squeezed States Embrace Even More Medicaid Managed Care
As of October 2010, about 66 percent of Medicaid enrollees were in managed-care plans of some type.
Capsules: Census Changes How It Estimates The Uninsured
For years, researchers have complained that the Census Bureau overestimates the number of uninsured.
Census Bureau: Americans On Medicaid Steady As Poverty Rises
In an annual report released today, Census Bureau data indicated that the number of Americans without health insurance coverage rose to 49.9 million in 2010 from 49 million in 2009.
Rwanda To Treat HIV-Positive People In Discordant Relationships As Soon As They Test Positive
After a landmark study published in May “showed major reductions in HIV transmission among discordant couples due to early treatment,” Rwanda has decided to begin treating people in discordant relationships with antiretroviral therapy as soon as they test HIV-positive “as part of a plan to boost national HIV prevention and treatment efforts,” PlusNews reports. “According to the government, an estimated 7.1 percent of cohabiting couples seeking voluntary counseling and testing services in the capital, Kigali, are HIV discordant,” and “[i]nfections within stable relationships have been identified as one of the main sources of new cases in Rwanda,” according to the news agency.
In Debate, GOP Hopefuls Clash On Health Reform, Medicare
One of the questions emerging in this primary contest is whether entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security will continue to be a political “third rail,” or if public concerns about government spending have overcome this conventional wisdom.
Number Of Global Malaria Deaths Fell By One-Fifth Over Past Decade, RBM Report Says
Worldwide, the number of malaria deaths has “fallen by a fifth over the past decade, reflecting an influx of funds to fight the disease with better drugs and mosquito nets, Roll Back Malaria (RBM) said” in a report (.pdf) released on Monday, Agence France-Presse reports. “In a press release, [RBM] claimed a 38 percent reduction in deaths over the decade, a figure based on world population growth and what would have happened if the mortality trend in 2000 had been maintained to 2009 without anti-malaria intervention,” according to the news agency (9/12).”The WHO, which helped set up the RBM partnership, has also said the world can stop malaria deaths by 2015 if massive investment is made to ramp up control measures, but this is seen by some experts as an ambitious target,” Reuters writes (Kelland, 9/12).
U.S. Support To Haiti In Wake Of Ongoing Cholera Epidemic ‘Remains Unfailing’
A VOA News editorial says U.S. support to Haiti since the early days of an outbreak of cholera, which has affected more than 439,600 people since it was first detected almost a year ago, “remains unfailing.” The editorial continues, “To date, the U.S. government has spent more than $75 million on improved water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, … has established and operated treatment centers and trained Haitian health care workers in preventing, diagnosing and treating cholera,” among other treatment, prevention and monitoring initiatives. “While some humanitarian groups are gradually reducing their operations in Haiti, the U.S. remains focused on giving the Haitian government the aid and tools needed to prevent and treat this potentially deadly disease,” the editorial says, adding, “The medical and public health response has been effective in limiting deaths associated with the disease” (9/12).
Viewpoints: Medicare Bigger Problem Than Social Security; N.Y.’s Long Term Care ‘Bad Grade’
A selection of opinions and editorials.
Real-Life Health Risks Of Outbreak Portrayed In The Movie ‘Contagion’
Two opinion pieces published on Monday examine the real-life health risks of an outbreak portrayed in “Contagion,” a movie that opened this weekend in which a mysterious airborne virus kills thousands of people.
Opinion Pieces, Editorial Address Ongoing Hunger Crisis In Horn Of Africa
Several news sources have published opinion pieces regarding the ongoing famine in Somalia and hunger situation in the Horn of Africa, some of which are summarized below:
Researchers At South Korean Lab Make Advance In Fight Against Neglected Tropical Diseases
VOA News reports on a scientific breakthrough, which researchers call a “game changer” for developing new drugs, developed at Institut Pasteur Korea [IPK], a South Korean branch of the 124-year-old French research institute that is developing new drugs to combat diseases mainly affecting developing countries, including neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). “Combining imaging technology and biotechnology, scientists are now able to witness infections as they occur, in real time,” VOA writes.
Feds Use Doctrine To Pursue Federal Food and Drug Law Violations
Use of the “responsible corporate officer doctrine” allows federal officials to hold health care executives personally and criminally responsible for corporate violations. Meanwhile, in other news related to health care fraud and abuse, a number of states have reached settlements with firms accused of defrauding the Medicaid program.
