Latest KFF Health News Stories
National Program In Mauritania Working To End FGM, IPS Reports
“A multi-pronged strategy to end female genital mutilation [FGM] in Mauritania is making gradual progress, though campaigners acknowledge much remains to be done in a country where more than two-thirds of girls suffer excision,” Inter Press Service reports. “The national program, supported by several development partners, includes lobbying for the adoption of a law criminalizing excision, raising awareness of a fatwa (a religious notice) forbidding excision, and the setting up of regional offices to monitor the practice,” according to the news service.
TB Survivors Speak At USAID World TB Day Event
The Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog summarizes an event hosted by USAID in late March to commemorate World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. The blog includes “brief profiles and pictures of some of the survivors featured in the event ‘Voices of TB.'” Andre Gariseb of Namibia, who was cured of TB in 2009, said at the event, “[TB] is a battle for everybody
Jakarta Globe Examines Maternal Mortality In Indonesia
The Jakarta Globe examines maternal mortality in Indonesia, writing, “Indonesia may be progressing slowly and steadily toward fulfilling its targets under the Millennium Development Goals, but the issue of maternal health continues to present many challenges.” According to the newspaper, “Government statistics show that the maternal mortality rate [has] declined,” but “a report last week by health officials in Bali has highlighted a worrying reversal, with the provincial maternal mortality rate increasing from 58 per 100,000 in 2010 to 84 last year.”
Government Of Sweden Announces Sub-Saharan Africa Strategy For HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health
The government of Sweden on Monday announced “a regional strategy for regional efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and address sexual and reproductive health” in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a press release from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. “The strategy also contains guidelines detailing how Sweden will contribute to improving sexual and reproductive health and efforts to improve human rights for homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people” in the region, the press release states. The Swedish government is allocating SEK 700 million ($104 million) for 2012 to 2013 toward the strategy, according to the press release (4/2).
After armed groups in the north of Mali “ransacked government offices, hospitals, hotels, private property as well as the offices and warehouses of aid groups” over the weekend, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) “suspended some activities in the northern and central regions of Mali,” according to a WFP spokesperson, AlertNet reports. “Tuareg-led rebels seeking to carve out an independent state in the north of Mali, and local Islamists, seized the garrison town of Gao, the ancient trading post of Timbuktu and the town of Kidal over the weekend,” the news service writes.
U.N. Reports Increase In Cholera Cases In Haiti As Rains Begin
In a monthly bulletin (.pdf) on the humanitarian response in Haiti, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that an increase of new cholera cases has been recorded in the western and northern parts of the country and “that Haitian health officials recorded 77 new cases a day for the whole country in early March, when the rains began,” the Associated Press/USA Today reports. “The new cholera cases come after a steady decline since June of last year when aid workers saw peaks of more than 1,000 cases on certain days,” the news agency writes.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that President Barak Obama went on attack against GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and the Republican budget blueprint; that a federal court judge asked for clarifications regarding Obama’s comment on judicial activism and the high court’s consideration of the health law; as well as reports that doctors are stepping into the effort to curb unnecessary medical treatments.
Obama Attacks GOP Budget On Medicare Changes, Entitlement Spending Cuts
In what has been described as a searing speech, President Barack Obama charged that the GOP budget would end Medicare “as we know it,” and included GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in his criticisms. KHN is following the news coverage of the speech.
Obama Confident The Health Law Will Be Upheld
In his first public comments about the law since last week’s Supreme Court oral arguments, President Barack Obama not only defended the measure and maintained confidence that it would not be overturned, but he also offered warnings against judicial activism.
Health Law Action At The High Court Takes A Political Toll
Findings from a new poll indicate that the public felt less favorable about both the health law and the Supreme Court after last week’s oral arguments.
FTC Blocks Ohio Hospital Merger; Kan. Mental Hospital’s ‘Poor Working Conditions’
A summary of hospital news from Kansas, California, Wisconsin and Ohio.
Norway Study Raises New U.S. Mammogram Overdiagnosis Questions
An analysis showing significant mammogram overdiagnosis in Norway has raised new questions about mammograms in the U.S., where some say the overdiagnosis problem could be more rampant because of how early most women begin getting them.
Health Care Issues Among Women Voters Fueling Obama Lead On Romney
A new poll finds that President Obama leads GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney among women in 12 swing states — a finding fueled mostly by health care, the top issue for women, according to the poll.
FTC Approval Of Express Scripts-Medco Merger Triggers New Battlegrounds
Drug stores and community pharmacists have pledged to fight on in the courts, but some consumer advocates see a silver lining in the merger.
Blues Insurers Win Antitrust Case In Mich., See Profits Increase 20% In Minn.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Michigan won a hospital pricing antitrust case. In Minnesota, nonprofit insurer UCare readies to return $8 million to the state, while Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota’s profit rose 20 percent in 2011.
The New York Times reports on how these diffences in opinion on regulatory policies have played out.
Wash. State Suspends ER-Payment Plan; Penn. ‘Slashes’ Kids From Medicaid Rolls
A selection of Medicaid news from Pennsylvania, Washington state, Colorado and California.
CMS: Medicare Advantage, Part D To Get 3 Percent Boost In 2013 Reimbursements
Also in the news, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced nearly $50 million in grants to state agencies to help seniors better understand Medicare.
New County Health Rankings Released
Researchers found distinct regional patterns: They reported that excessive drinking rates were highest in the Northern states, while rates of teen births, sexually transmitted infections and children in poverty were highest in the South.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
