Latest KFF Health News Stories
As States Approach New Budget Years, Many Will Be Cutting Medicaid
States have taken a variety of trims, from stopping payments for circumcisions in Colorado to reducing payments for rehabilitation services in Kansas to increased co-payments in California.
Viewpoints: Sebelius Defends IPAB; Wash Post On Debt Talks And Entitlements
A small selection of opinions and editorials.
Supreme Court Sides With Drug Makers In Two Decisions
One would shield pharmaceutical companies from most lawsuits filed by people injured by taking generic drugs. The other strikes down a Vermont law that banned some commercial uses – “data mining” – of prescription data.
N.J. Assembly Approves Changes To State Workers’ Benefits
Gov. Chris Christie is expected to sign the landmark legislation into law quickly. It will require state workers to pay more for health and pension benefits.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how the Supreme Court sided with drug makers in two decisions.
Gender-Based Sex Selection Harms Women’s Health In Asia, U.N. Report Says
“Gender biased sex selection, widespread in many parts of Asia, has serious and profoundly debilitating effects on the mental and physical health of women, says a report by five United Nations agencies,” BMJ reports.
Find A Better Way To Incorporate Evidence Into Health Policy
“Research evidence has undoubtedly been crucial in formulating countless global health policies which have saved many millions of lives,” but “at the same time, we believe there are several common fallacies about its ‘real world’ application,” Gavin Yamey and Richard Feachem of the Evidence to Policy initiative write in an Evidence-Based Medicine perspective.
Nature News Examines Controversy Surrounding Indian HPV Vaccine Trial
After four teenage girls involved in a clinical trial in India testing vaccines for human papillomavirus (HPV) died last year, the study “threatens to have a dual legacy: inflaming unfounded fears about a lifesaving vaccine and raising new questions about the management of medical research in the country,” Nature News reports.
New York Times Examines Very Rare E. Coli Strain Responsible For German Outbreak
The New York Times examines the E. coli strain responsible for the recent outbreak in Germany, saying the bacteria “have a highly unusual combination of two traits and that may be what made the outbreak among the deadliest in recent history, scientists there are reporting.”
Groups Join Forces To Research New Diarrheal Therapies
The Center for World Health and Medicine, the University of Missouri-St. Louis Medicinal Chemistry Group, and the Institute for One World Health have joined forces “to develop safe and effective anti-diarrhea drugs
Researchers Develop Inexpensive Saliva Test For Dengue
An inexpensive, non-invasive cheek swab saliva test for dengue has been developed by researchers in Singapore and is undergoing multi-center evaluation, SciDev.Net reports.
Furthering Progress On Childhood Vaccines
In a Huffington Post opinion piece, Gro Brundtland, a member of the U.N. Foundation board of directors, former WHO director general and former prime minister of Norway, discusses global progress on childhood vaccines. Brundtland discusses the upcoming launch of the U.N. Foundation’s global vaccines campaign aimed at inspiring Americans “to provide children in the developing world with immunizations against deadly diseases.”
Congo’s Cholera Outbreak Spreads To Crowded Capital City
Three cases of cholera have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital of Kinshasa, “home to at least 9 million people, many of whom live in cramped, unsanitary conditions,” Reuters reports.
Governments Should Consider Social Impacts Of Austerity Measures, U.N. Report Says
In the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis, many country’s governments could be undermining economic recovery by implementing austerity measures such as cuts in spending on health, education and other social programs, which “threaten to turn back decades of social progress, block new job creation and derail efforts to eradicate poverty” in both developed and developing nations, according to a United Nations report (.pdf) published Wednesday, Reuters reports (Evans, 6/22).
Up To 5M Pakistanis At Risk From Floods This Year, U.N. Says
“Up to five million people in Pakistan are at risk from floods this year, partly due to poor reconstruction and the inadequate rehabilitation of survivors who are still reeling from last year’s epic deluge, the U.N. said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports.
Breast Milk Is An Incredible Low-Tech Solution For Infant Malnutrition
In his latest New York Times column, Nicholas Kristof discusses the health benefits of breast milk for preventing childhood malnutrition.
