Latest KFF Health News Stories
Protesting Kenyans Call For Emergency Donor Conference To Raise $2B For Global Fund
“Hundreds of HIV-positive Kenyans protested outside the European Union’s Nairobi office on Monday, accusing the E.U. of causing unnecessary deaths by cutting funding to” the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, AlertNet reports. Late last year, the Global Fund announced it would not hold a new round of grants until 2014, the news service notes, adding, “The demonstrators called on the Global Fund to hold an emergency donor conference to raise $2 billion so developing countries can apply for grants this year” (Migiro, 1/30). Though no new grants will be awarded before 2014, the Global Fund “has set up what it calls a ‘transitional funding mechanism,’ which covers the continuation of essential services” of existing grants, VOA News writes (Majtenyi, 1/30).
U.N. Provides $9.1M To WHO, UNICEF To Help Fight Cholera In DRC
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last week “received $9.1 million … from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to fight off cholera, which has affected more than 22,000 people and killed 500 over the past year in the central African country,” the U.N. News Centre reports. “In a news release, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that there has been a spike in cases in recent weeks, with the majority of them occurring in eastern provinces where cholera is endemic,” according to the news service (1/27). UNICEF will receive $4.4 million and the WHO will receive $4.7 million to help fight the spread of the disease, which “has ravaged eight of the country’s 11 provinces since January 2011,” Agence France-Presse writes (1/28).
The Health Care Sector And Jobs Creation
News reports reflect significant activity within the health industry
Minn. Lawmakers Set To Resume Health Insurance Exchange Fight
Gov. Mark Dayton says his administration may be unable to build an exchange without legislative approval. But the Republican-controlled legislature is split over whether to support implementation of that provision of the health care law.
Media Outlets Continue To Publish Expert Opinion Regarding H5N1 Bird Flu Research
The PBS NewsHour blog “The Rundown” features excerpts from interviews with three experts discussing the recent debate over research conducted on the H5N1 bird flu virus. “What began as a question on whether scientific journals should publish the complete research has grown into an argument on whether to conduct these studies, and others like them, at all,” according to the blog, which features quotes from Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers; Vincent Racaniello, a microbiologist at Columbia; and Carl Zimmer, a science journalist and author (Pelcyger, 1/30).
Lawmakers in Conn., Calif. Ready Public Option, Single-Payer Bills
Lawmakers in Connecticut are considering re-introducing a bill that died last year that would establish a public health insurance option. Similarly in California, state lawmakers are pushing a single-payer bill that failed to pass last year.
The Challenge Of Crafting Public Health Messages To Combat Childhood Obesity
The Chicago Tribune reports on how reaction to a recent series of anti-obesity ads underscores the complexities of addressing this epidemic.
HHS Contraception Rule Continues To Stir Controversy
The Los Angeles Times reports that this new policy could face a difficult Supreme Court path and continues to draw outrage from Catholic clergy.
New Dartmouth Atlas Projects To Focus On Medicaid, Commercial Insurance
Modern Healthcare reports that the new studies represent a slightly new direction. Darmouth Atlas has previously focused on on Medicare data.
Nursing Homes Hope To ‘Fend Off’ Deep Medicare Cuts With New Approach
The Hill is reporting that the American Health Care Association is proposing to save at least $2 billion by making sure patients discharged from the hospital stay healthy.
Medicaid: Judge Halts Calif. Cuts
Cuts to state Medicaid programs are in the news: A federal judge on Monday stopped cuts to California’s Medicaid program, and state lawmakers in Nebraska are offering a bill to stop Medicaid cuts in their state.
Health Costs, Failure To Enact Reforms Could Lead To Ratings Downgrades
Reuters reports that Standard & Poor’s has warned of potential downgrades if nations don’t take steps to curb rising health care costs.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
State Roundup: Iowa Reconsiders Lawmakers’ Benefits
News outlets report on a variety of state health issues.
First Edition: January 31, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report about Democratic expectations regarding the soon to be unveiled GOP budget and how it might reform Medicare.
CDC Models Show Scaling Up ART For HIV Treatment Can Save Money Over Time
During a webinar Thursday hosted by the Health Global Access Project, AVAC, and amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research), John Blandford, chief of CDC’s Division of Global HIV/AIDS Health Economics, Systems and Integration Branch, presented findings showing “that scaling up antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention in the developing world not only saves lives, but saves money too,” the Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog reports. According to the blog, “[Blandford] and his team of colleagues have found that cost savings from averted negative outcomes offset a major portion of the cost of treatment over time.” The blog quotes Blandford saying, “Based on [WHO] standards, ART should be considered highly cost-effective in almost every country in sub-Saharan Africa” (Mazzotta, 1/27).
Fears Of Cholera Outbreak Arise In Zimbabwe After More Than 800 Cases Of Typhoid Reported
“Doctors in Zimbabwe said more than 800 cases of typhoid have been reported in Harare, the capital, in an outbreak of the bacterial disease,” GlobalPost reports (Conway-Smith, 1/29). “Health services director Dr. Prosper Chonzi raised fears of a cholera outbreak given the health conditions that gave birth to typhoid,” Xinhua writes (1/28). Chonzi “said … a clean-up and awareness campaign is underway,” according to GlobalPost (1/29).
President Obama Addresses Research And Innovation In SOTU
In this post on the Global Health Technologies Coalition’s (GHTC) “Breakthroughs” blog, “Ashley Bennett, senior policy associate at the GHTC, offered her take on President Obama’s State of the Union address, including his emphasis on research and innovation.” She writes, “While the President was not as focused on using science to help the United States out-innovate the rest of the world as he was during last year’s State of the Union address, he did re-commit his administration to harnessing the strength of innovation to create an ‘America built to last,'” adding, “He also urged Congress not to cut parts of the budget that will hurt the promise of science and technology” (Bennett, 1/27).
UNICEF Appeals For $1.28B To Provide Humanitarian Assistance For Children In 25 Nations
UNICEF on Friday “appealed … for $1.28 billion to provide humanitarian assistance to children in over 25 countries this year, with nearly one-third of the total amount earmarked for the crisis in the Horn of Africa,” the U.N. News Centre reports (1/27). The agency also released its annual “Humanitarian Action for Children 2012” report, which “decried the rising levels of starvation and malnutrition among children under the age of five in many of the world’s troubled regions,” GlobalPost writes (1/27). UNICEF “said it was seeking nine percent less than in 2011, linked to lower needs in Pakistan and Haiti, but that its needs for fighting hunger had jumped by nearly 50 percent,” according to Agence France-Presse (1/28). The agency said more than one million children in Africa’s Sahel region are at risk of severe malnutrition, Reuters reports (1/27).
Previewing Inaugural Malaria Policy Advisory Committee Meeting
The Malaria Policy Advisory Committee, convened by the WHO Global Malaria Programme and composed of 15 malaria experts, will hold its first meeting January 31 through February 2 in Geneva, according to this article in Malaria Journal, which is a prelude to a series on the group’s policy recommendations and supporting evidence that will be published following each biannual meeting. The article also “provides the global malaria community with the background and overview of the Committee and its terms of reference,” the article summary states (D’Souza/Newman, 1/27).
