Archives: Morning Breakouts

The politically charged vote will mark the first step for Republicans in their effort to use a variety of legislative tools to undo the new federal health law.

Russia's HIV/AIDS epidemic "has defied worldwide trends, expanding more rapidly year by year than almost anywhere else," the New York Times writes in an article that examines how the country has become a symbol of "one of the world's low points in the effort to fight the spread of HIV," in large part due to the government's failure to reach out to injecting drug users (IDUs) and sex workers

The Guardian reports, as part of an online feature about health care workforces worldwide done in association with the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA), that "Africa is desperately short of doctors and nurses. So is much of Asia. In 57 countries, the situation is deemed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be at crisis point ... But in contrast to some other developing world problems, this is an issue that really does affect all of us. The world needs an estimated 4.2 million more health workers."

A review of existing studies on breastfeeding, published Thursday online in BMJ (British Medical Journal), suggests some findings that contradict the WHO's 2001 recommendation that mothers "exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of their infants' lives," Nature News reports (Gilbert, 1/14). Researchers who conducted the most recent review "said babies fed only breast milk could suffer iron deficiency and may be more prone to allergies" and they said mothers could stop breastfeeding as early as four months, Agence France-Presse writes.

With the health law repeal front and center this week, Democrats will attempt to refine their message on the measure's merits. The battle on the House floor could be a fresh opportunity to sell the sweeping legislation. To this end, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will issue a report today that quantifies the number of Americans who have preexisting conditions and would benefit from the law's protections.

A new Associated Press-GfK poll shows the strong emotions against President Obama's health overhaul may be subsiding. Meanwhile, even as the industry's trade groups remain somewhat neutral on the law's future, pre-repeal groups are stepping up lobbying efforts.

In this case, which was brought by a conservative law center, the plaintiff is seeking to overturn a lower court decision that found the health overhaul to be constitutional.

A new poll indicates that the public is evenly split about the health law. Meanwhile, members of Congress appeared on Sunday talk shows to discuss this week's House vote on repeal.

"This week's independence referendum in southern Sudan marks an apparent victory for U.S. foreign policy in east Africa

A new report from the Worldwatch Institute, a research organization, recommends focusing on new approaches to address world hunger, Nature's blog "The Great Beyond" reports. According to the report, "previous approaches to feeding the world's population have 'not really worked' since around 925 million people globally still go hungry everyday," the blog reports (Gilbert, 1/13). The State of the World 2011 report said, "[a]griculture as we know it today is in trouble," Agence France-Presse writes, adding that it "said there had to be a revolution in investment in food and water to reverse a 'frightening' long-term depletion of stocks."