Latest KFF Health News Stories
Race And The Personalized Medicine Debate
The Washington Post reports on how race is emerging as an important issue in the discussion surrounding personalized medicine.
What Will The Health Law Look Like In The Future?
News outlets report on a range of issues related to the health law, from efforts to repeal the measure’s tax on insurance policies to competing claims about its costs.
Bipartisan Support For NIH Funding Eroding
CQ HealthBeat reports on how there is increasing skepticism, especially from members of the GOP, that the National Institutes of Health should be protected from budget cuts.
Field Trials Of Rapid, Inexpensive And Portable HIV Test Show Success, Researchers Report
“The first field trial for a ‘lab on a chip’ accurately detected both HIV and syphilis among a Rwandan population, researchers reported Sunday” in an online report published by Nature Medicine, the Washington Post reports (Torres, 7/31).
New York Times Examines Maternal Mortality In Uganda
“Half of the 340,000 deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes each year occur in Africa, almost all in anonymity,” the New York Times writes in an article profiling several cases of women who have died during childbirth in Ugandan hospitals.
Development Assistance Committee Review Suggests More Coordination In U.S. Foreign Aid Program
“The U.S. should improve coordination among its more than two dozen government departments to promote coherence in its multibillion-dollar foreign aid program and avoid duplication,” according to a peer review from the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Guardian reports.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how the politics and policies involved of the debt-ceiling deal are taking shape.
Possible Medicare Cuts In (Very) Tentative Debt Deal
From the morning talk shows throughout Sunday afternoon, a debt-limit deal appeared to be in the works.
Medicare, Medicaid Payments Part Of Default Scenarios
News outlets are covering the possible fallout for the health care system if no debt-ceiling deal is reached.
Nursing Homes Attack Medicare’s Payment Cuts
Medicare announced a change in nursing home payments Friday, according to news coverage.
Political, Economic Tensions In Malawi Threaten New HIV/AIDS Strategy
In a guest post on the GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog, Janet Fleischman, a senior associate at the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, describes the Malawian government’s “plans to launch a ‘test and treat’ program in which all HIV-infected pregnant women will immediately be put on antiretroviral treatment (ART) drugs for life.” But she adds that “[t]he growing political and economic crisis in Malawi, highlighted by the government’s use of force against peaceful demonstrators last week, could also imperil the groundbreaking expansion of Malawi’s national HIV/AIDS program.”
Opinion Pieces Address Drought, Famine In Horn Of Africa
The following opinion pieces address the drought and famine situation in the Horn of Africa:
Ghana Declares Eradication Of Guinea Worm
Ghana on Thursday declared the eradication of Guinea worm in the country, after a 23-year fight against the disease, the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports.
Economist Examines Cholera, Possible Solutions To Mitigate Disease
The Economist in its current issue examines cholera, including the disease’s history, current outbreaks, and research into vaccines and sanitation. “Not all human waste has the deadly bacterium; but all of it is dangerous and better disposal of feces would go a huge way to stopping cholera and other deadly intestinal diseases,” the magazine writes (7/30).
Demonstrators In Swaziland Express Concern Over Possible Antiretroviral Shortages
More than 3,000 demonstrators gathered across Swaziland on Thursday for a second day of protests over the king’s handling of an economic crisis that they say is causing a shortage of medical supplies, including antiretroviral therapy (ART), the Associated Press/Washington Post reports (7/28).
Clinton Praises Innovators For Their Work To Help Mothers And Children
Speaking at the Saving Lives at Birth Development Exchange at the State Department on Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton “prais[ed] innovators from around the globe for their work to protect the health and lives of mothers and children at birth, particularly in rural areas of the developing world,” IPP Digital reports (Babb, 7/28).
U.N. Says Crisis In Southern Somalia Will Worsen Through 2011
The “crisis in southern Somalia is expected to continue to worsen through 2011, with all areas of the south slipping into famine,” according to a U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report for countries sending aid to the region, Reuters reports.
U.S. Investment In Polio Eradication Must Be Protected
“Spying is a messy business that necessarily involves deceit, and U.S. intelligence operatives need latitude to do their work. In this case, however, the planners and approvers of the CIA [vaccine] operation didn’t appropriately calculate the possible consequences of their actions on an agenda that is as important to the world as fighting al-Qaeda,” a Bloomberg editorial states.
Gates Foundation Partners With Soccer Team For Polio Eradication, Vaccine Awareness Campaign
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday announced a three-year partnership with the soccer team FC Barcelona aimed at promoting polio eradication and highlighting the importance of vaccines, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s “Seattle Big Blog” reports (Sunde, 7/28).
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
