Latest KFF Health News Stories
Communications Engineers Join Fight Against AIDS In Africa Through Wireless Printer Program
The Associated Press/Huffington Post reports on how communications engineers are joining the fight against AIDS in Africa, highlighting a project in Mozambique that brings wireless printers equipped with cell phone technology to remote villages. “Getting AIDS test results from labs to remote villages once took weeks in Mozambique, with the information sent by courier along the impoverished country’s terrible roads. The delay could mean death,” the news agency writes, adding, “Now, communications engineers have adapted office printers and cell-phone technology to wirelessly and immediately relay test results.”
Santorum — Who Propelled Criticism Of Romney’s Health Law Record — Suspends Race
The former Pennsylvania senator didn’t immediately endorse his opponent. Meanwhile, Politico details Newt Gingrich’s latest comments comparing health care and makeup.
Global Review Offers Vote Of Confidence For Dental Therapists
A report released Tuesday suggests that, based on a worldwide review, dental therapists could help the U.S. address some of its difficulties with access to dental care.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
The White House Reacts To Claim That Health Law Would Add To Deficit
The White House criticized the findings of a report by a conservative economist who serves as a trustee overseeing Medicare and Social Security finances, saying they represented a partisan analysis.
IOM Report: Tax Medical Care, Double Public Health Spending
An Institute of Medicine panel recommended a new tax on medical care to generate more funding for public health initiatives to help prevent disease.
Families USA: Ryan Budget Health Cuts Would Tally $3 Trillion
The Families USA report tallied the state-by-state costs of the GOP budget plan. However, the analysis did not include the controversial Medicare overhaul that is included in the Republican fiscal blueprint.
Hospitals Step Up Efforts To Control Spending
Hospitals are expecting that, regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, the health law’s Medicare cost control provisions will stay in place. As a result, they are taking steps to reduce costs and control spending.
State Roundup: Calif. Essential Benefits Bill Progresses; Where Are The Doc Waits
A selection of health policy news from California, Arizona, New York, Iowa, Florida and Minnesota.
Shinseki: VA Pushing To Improve Vets’ Access To Care
Appearing in New Hampshire, US Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said a major problem for the VA continues to be the backlog of benefit claims.
Berwick: Six Categories Represent 20% Of Nation’s Health Care Expenditures
Former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick said these categories, which include fraud and abuse as well as poor care coordination, offer opportunities for cost-cutting.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the Obama administration’s latest ACO announcement as well as about a new poll exploring Americans’ expectations for the Supreme Court’s health law ruling.
Study: Health Law Would Add $340 Billion To Nation’s Deficit
Although the health overhaul is touted by the Democrats as a means to control health care costs, a study by a Republican member of the board that oversees Medicare financing contends that it will add at least $340 billion to the federal deficit.
Polls And Politics: How The High Court Is Changing Public Health Law Views
Recent polls generally indicate that last month’s oral arguments changed public views about the health law, but it is not clear in which direction. There are also surveys and analysis about the law’s under-26 coverage provision and whether people think seniors with higher incomes should pay more for Medicare.
Children Under Five At Risk Of Malnutrition, Death From Looming Sahel Famine, UNICEF Warns
The Guardian examines child malnutrition in Chad, where “[r]ising therapeutic feeding center admissions highlight the growing urgency of the situation in one of Sahel’s driest, most remote areas.” Chad’s Kanem region “is one of the worst-hit regions in the current food crisis, which UNICEF estimates is affecting approximately 15 million people in the Sahel,” the news service writes. “‘The needs are many and varied in Chad, as we are facing multiple crises,’ said Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF, during a visit to Mao,” according to the Guardian. The news service writes, “Chad has a cereal deficit of about 400,000 tons this year, and stocks of only about 40,000 tons” (Hicks, 4/10). “The United Nations has warned that at least one million children under the age of five across Africa’s Sahel region are at risk of dying from severe famine and malnutrition due to drought,” Press TV reports, adding, “UNICEF said it needs $120 million to tackle the looming crisis” (4/10).
In September 2010, “91 percent of Americans surveyed say they support the right for all women to have access to quality maternal and reproductive health care,” PSI’s “Healthy Lives” blog reports. The blog contains a Population Action International infographic depicting the data and writes, “While support is slightly stronger in some parties, the consensus is hard to ignore” (4/9).
WHO Publishes ‘Programmatic Update’ On Use Of ARVs To Treat Pregnant Women, Prevent PMTCT
The WHO “recently published a ‘Programmatic Update’ [.pdf] on the use of antiretrovirals (ARVs) to treat pregnant women and prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT),” the Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog reports. “According to the executive summary, the WHO has started a comprehensive revision of all ARV guidelines, to include ARVs for pregnant women, which it plans to release in early 2013,” the blog notes (Mazzotta, 4/9).
Support For Global Fund Helps Work Of PEPFAR
In this post on the State Department’s “DipNote” blog, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby provides an update on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, stating, “I am buoyed by the reform that is happening at the Fund under the leadership of new General Manager Gabriel Jaramillo.” He adds, “When PEPFAR and the Fund coordinate, our investments against AIDS are expanded both geographically and programmatically. Simply put, a strong PEPFAR requires a strong Global Fund.” Goosby concludes, “I am proud of the U.S. commitment to the Global Fund, in part because it is a commitment to the work of PEPFAR. We have a unique opportunity in a tight fiscal environment to support the Fund at this critical juncture” (4/9).
Access To Modern Contraceptives, Family Planning Services Is Human Right
“[I]n the developing world, an estimated 215 million women who want to delay or avoid their next pregnancy cannot exercise this right as they lack modern contraceptives, resulting in unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and more than 100,000 maternal deaths,” UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin writes in this Huffington Post “Global Motherhood” blog post. He says that “[t]he United Kingdom government of David Cameron and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced plans for a summit in London in July to raise funds for voluntary family planning” and notes that “UNFPA … fully supports and is a partner in this historic initiative on an often-overlooked human right.”
In this Huffington Post “Global Motherhood” blog post, Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, describes female genital schistosomiasis (FGS), which affects more than 100 million women and girls in Africa and “causes horrific pain and bleeding in the uterus, cervix and lower genital tract, not to mention social stigma and depression.” According to studies, women affected by FGS “have a three- to four-fold increase in the risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS,” but a low-cost drug called praziquantel may prevent FGS “and therefore also serve as a low-cost AIDS prevention strategy if it is administered annually to African girls and women beginning in their school-aged years,” he notes.
