Latest KFF Health News Stories
Research Roundup: Kids On Medicaid Have Trouble Seeing A Specialist
This week’s sudies come from the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the University of Kansas, the Commonwealth Fund and the Government Accountability Office.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including updates about how health entitlement programs are faring in the ongoing deficit-reduction negotiations.
Wall Street Journal Examines Business Schools’ Focus On Health Care
The Wall Street Journal examines how some top business schools are tailoring their programs to students who are interested in the health care industry, “which promises to grow as populations age and those in developing countries demand access to the latest treatments.”
G20 Agriculture Ministers Should Focus On Small Farmers To Address Food Price Volatility
“When the G20 Ministers of Agriculture develop an action plan to address food price volatility and its impact on the poor, they should focus on both urgent actions and the vital role of smallholder farmers,” Shenggen Fan, director-general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, writes in an Inter Press Service opinion piece.
Civil Unrest Creates Serious Health Implications In South Sudan
BMJ reports on the health affects of civil unrest in South Sudan, which will become the world’s newest country on July 9.
U.S. To Provide Additional $7.5M In Humanitarian Aid For Cote D’Ivoire And Liberia
The U.S. will provide an additional $7.5 million in humanitarian assistance for refugees and internally displaced persons in Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia, according to a statement from the State Department on Wednesday, RTTNews reports (6/16).
MenAfriVac More Effective, Less Expensive Than Older Meningitis Vaccines, Studies Say
The meningococcal vaccine MenAfriVac, which is made by the Indian generic drug company Serum Institute, is “dramatically better” at producing a protective effect among African children in three countries than “older so-called meningococcal polysaccaride vaccines, including Mencevax from GlaxoSmithKline,” according to a paper describing two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Reuters reports.
The White House on Wednesday outlined the schedule for First Lady Michelle Obama’s upcoming trip to Africa, which will be “focused on youth leadership, education, health and wellness,” Agence France-Presse reports(6/15).
“Japan plans to ask pregnant women and children to move away from radiation ‘hotspots’ that were found far away from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the government said on Thursday, reflecting new anxieties about the spread of radioactivity,” Reuters reports.
Disaster Preparedness To Be Incorporated Into UK Development Programs, DFID Report Says
“Preparing a country for disaster will become a core part of the UK government’s development programmes around the world to ensure a faster and more efficient response to major disasters,” the Department of International Development (DFID) said on Wednesday in an official response (.pdf) to Lord Paddy Ashdown’s independent review of humanitarian disasters that was issued in March, the Guardian reports.
U.S. Food Aid Policies Must Be Streamlined To Prevent A Food Security Crisis
Feed the Future programs “will indeed address hunger at its core, offering farmers the tools and opportunity they need to feed their families. … But on the other side of town we’ve deepened our investments in policies that increase food insecurity. A string of policy disasters … have driven food price spikes and punished the billions of people who live on less than two dollars a day,” Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, writes in a piece on The Hill’s “Congress Blog.”
ASEAN Members Sign New Action Plan To Fight Dengue
Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Wednesday as part of an event marking ASEAN Dengue Day signed a new action plan aimed at fighting dengue in the region, the Jakarta Post reports.
Sarkozy Calls For G20 Agriculture Ministers To Establish Farm Database
“French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged G20 agriculture ministers to agree at talks in Paris next week on a farm database that would gather and store market-sensitive information such as food stocks,” Reuters reports. Sarkozy’s call came during a speech Thursday “to farm unions gathered at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development headquarters,” the news service writes (6/16).
Budget Talks: Ideas To Reduce Entitlement Spending Gain Traction
A report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission bolstered some of the options to squeeze billions in savings from Medicare. Meanwhile, Medicaid is facing significant cuts in the emerging budget deal.
GOP Governors Push For Medicaid Flexibility As Part Of Debt-Cutting Deal
These Republican officials argue that as federal funding has expanded, so has federal control. Their argument to include the measure in debt-ceiling legislation is raising concern among some Medicaid advocates.
Hospital Prices Up, According To Bureau Of Labor Statistics
Modern Healthcare reports that consuemr prices for hospital services increased in May and April.
