Latest KFF Health News Stories
Sugar Poses Significant Health Risks, Should Be Regulated Like Alcohol, U.S. Researchers Say
“Sugar poses enough health risks that it should be considered a controlled substance just like alcohol and tobacco, contend a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF),” in an opinion piece called “The Toxic Truth About Sugar,” published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, TIME’s “Healthland” blog reports (Rochman, 2/2). “While acknowledging that food, unlike alcohol and tobacco, is required for survival, [authors Robert Lustig, Laura Schmidt and Claire Brindis] say taxes, zoning ordinances and even age limits for purchasing certain sugar-laden products are all appropriate remedies for what they see as a not-so-sweet problem,” the Wall Street Journal’s “Health” blog writes (Hobson, 2/2).
Panel Discussion Shows Heated Controversy Over H5N1 Research
“The controversy over research about potentially dangerous H5N1 viruses heated up [Thursday night] in a New York City debate that featured some of the leading voices exchanging blunt comments on the alleged risks and benefits of publishing or withholding the full details of the studies,” CIDRAP News reports. “The debate, sponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences, involved two members of the biosecurity advisory board that called for ‘redacting’ the two studies in question to delete details, along with scientists who want the full studies published and representatives of Science and Nature, the two journals involved,” the news service adds (Roos, 2/3).
Supporting Scientific Evidence Under PEPFAR To End AIDS
On Wednesday, several HIV experts spoke at a Capitol Hill briefing “supporting the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program’s reliance on scientific evidence to drive its work to end AIDS,” the Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog reports. The speakers, including Diane Havlir of the University of California, San Francisco, RJ Simonds of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Renee Ridzon of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Chris Beyrer of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, talked about using antiretroviral treatment as a prevention method, the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, voluntary medical male circumcision, and preventing HIV among marginalized populations at high risk of infection (Mazzotta, 2/3).
Chances Dim For Live Broadcast Of High Arguments
In other news related to the Supreme Court’s consideration of legal challenges to the health law, the parties involved differ not only on questions related to the overhaul, but also on the allocation of time for different aspects of the overhaul.
Santorum And Gingrich Continue Attacks On ‘Romneycare’
As the GOP presidential hopefuls continue sparring on the campaign trail, The Associated Press takes a look at the “influence game” and tracks how big donors pursue their policy desires. Meanwhile, House Democrats are betting that Medicare will be the issue that wins them control of their chamber.
WHO Disputes Study’s Claims That Global Malaria Deaths Are Double Current Estimates
The WHO has disputed a study published last week in the Lancet “that claims nearly twice as many people are dying of malaria than current estimates,” VOA News reports. The WHO “says both its estimates of malaria deaths and those of the Lancet study are statistically the same for all groups in all regions,” with one exception, VOA writes, noting, “WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl says there’s a notable statistical difference in regard to children over five and adults in Africa.”
Dispute Over Malaria Figures Highlights Lack Of Certainty In Data In Age Of ‘Information Overload’
In this post in TIME World’s “Global Spin” blog, TIME’s Africa bureau chief Alex Perry examines questions surrounding an Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) study published in the Lancet on Friday that suggests “malaria kills almost twice as many people a year as previously believed,” writing, “If correct, at a stroke that overturns medical consensus, makes a nonsense of decades of World Health Organization (WHO) statistics — the official malaria numbers — and plunges the current multibillion-dollars anti-malaria campaign, and the push to reach a 2015 deadline for achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals, into grave doubt.”
“The rise of emerging economies in Latin America is an opportunity to improve strategies for fighting neglected illnesses and increase the region’s contribution to the global struggle against them, says” Eric Stobbaerts, the Latin America director of the independent Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Inter Press Service reports. “Our region is going through a major transformation in economic and social terms,” Stobbaerts told IPS after a meeting on “Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases” (NTDs) held in London on January 30, “mentioning the progress that has been made in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Mexico,” IPS writes.
Closing The ‘Cancer Divide’ Between Developing And Developed Countries
Noting “there is a huge ‘cancer divide’ between rich and poor,” with more than half of new cancer cases and almost two-thirds of all cancer deaths occurring in developing countries, this year’s World Cancer Day theme, “Together It Is Possible,” “calls on all individuals, organizations and governments to do their part to reduce premature deaths from cancers by 25 percent by 2025,” Felicia Knaul, secretariat for the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries, and Jonathan Quick, president of Management Sciences for Health, write in a Huffington Post opinion piece. “But there have been four myths that have held back cancer care and control in developing countries,” they write.
U.N. Supporting Yellow Fever Vaccination Campaigns In Cameroon, Ghana
Following an outbreak of the mosquito-borne yellow fever virus in Cameroon that has infected at least 23 people and killed at least seven people, U.N. and local officials are working to vaccinate “1.2 million people considered at high risk of contracting yellow fever, which has no cure,” the U.N. News Centre reports. “The U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the International Coordinating Group on Yellow Fever Provision (YF-ICG) — which includes WHO and the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) — and the public-private partnership known as the GAVI Alliance are funding the vaccination campaign,” the news service writes. In Ghana, YF-ICG is working with the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) to plan a vaccination campaign after at least three cases of yellow fever have been reported in the north of the country, the U.N. News Centre notes (2/3).
Establishing Clean Water, Sanitation In Liberia
In this Guardian analysis, journalist and author Rose George describes a recent trip to Liberia with the organization WaterAid, during which she discussed sanitation with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and visited two towns with the aim of learning more about their access to clean water and sanitation. George describes the country’s history, how some non-governmental organizations are working to improve sanitation in the country, and the challenges to doing so. She quotes Sirleaf as saying, “People say they want health clinics, … but they don’t ask for sanitation. They say their children get malaria or dysentery, but they don’t ask for sanitation. We have to bring to their consciousness that sanitation is linked to health” (2/3).
Komen Works To Regain Balance After Planned Parenthood Funding Flap
News outlets parse different angles of this story — which broke last week — including how the Web and social media affected it and how Komen is working to rebuild its donor list.
Here is today’s health policy haiku.
State Roundup: Legislatures, Govs Juggling Costs And Health Programs
A selection of health policy stories from around the U.S.
Viewpoints: Religious Freedom And Insurance Coverage For Contraception
Many news outlets offered opinions about the Obama administration’s rules for health care coverage and contraception.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health policy issues from around the country.
Minnesota Medical Board Comes Under Scrutiny
A Minneapolis Star Tribune series looks at gaps in information available to consumers on doctor quality and whether the state medical board is responsible to do more.
How ‘Observation Care’ Status Can Drive Up Patients’ Hospital Bills
News outlets report that this kind of status is leading some Medicare beneficiaries to be surprised by the size of hospital bills because, ultimately, the services they received were not classified as inpatient care.
Dust-Up Continues Over Obama Administration’s Contraception Rule
Although administration officials defend the rule and some political strategists see limited political damage, the Catholic Church continues a counterattack.
Mental Health System Changes Readied In La., Iowa, Texas
Louisiana, Iowa and Texas are facing major changes to their mental health systems. In other news, college students and inmates often face obstacles in getting mental health treatment.
