Archives: Morning Breakouts

"Legal barriers are obstructing the fight against HIV/AIDS in the Asia, where 19 nations outlaw same-sex relations and 29 countries criminalize prostitution, United Nations experts said Wednesday," on the eve of the Global Commission of HIV and the Law meeting in Bangkok, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports (2/16).

"A rise in global funding for research into neglected diseases needs to be matched by a continued focus on delivering practical new ways to curb sickness in the developing world," according to the third annual report by the Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases (G-FINDER) released on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

As Congress considers both the FY11 and FY12 budgets, the Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report's Jaclyn Schiff spoke to Adam Wexler, a senior policy analyst for global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, about the potential implications for global health funding.

In the wake of President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2012 budget proposal and the negotiation of the fiscal year 2011 budget bill in the House of Representatives, news outlets looked at stakeholders' responses to the measures and analyzed different pieces of the bills.

Even as respondents continued to express opposition to the health reform law, a CBS News poll found that the majority of Americans disapprove of congressional Republicans' efforts to starve the health overhaul of the funds.

Gov. Deval Patrick's legislation is designed to reduce health care costs by paying doctors and hospitals in lump sums for overall patient care rather than on a procedure-by-procedure basis. In addition, bonuses would be linked to patient outcomes.

Across the Hill, oversight hearings were held to review specific provisions of the new health law and related waivers. In addition, administration officials took questions about some specifics within the president's budget blueprint. And the House Judiciary Committee approved a medical malpractice reform bill.

A Republican strategy firm urged GOP lawmakers to stand firm against the measure, and to only take action if affected industries "endorse full repeal."

In this weekly feature, we provide a selection of articles from a variety of sources. If you have seen anything you think we should include, please send us an e-mail at KHNnews@kff.org, at and please put "Worth Reading" in the subject line.

"Rising food prices pushed tens of millions of people into extreme poverty last year and are reaching 'dangerous levels' in some countries, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday as he released new data showing that the cost of grain and other staples is near a historic high," the Washington Post reports (Schneider, 2/15). About 44 million people in developing countries have been pushed into poverty because of food prices that have risen since June, according to information from the bank, which was released ahead of the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank heads, a World Bank press release states (2/15).