Latest KFF Health News Stories
Health Law Implementation: What’s Ahead In 2012?
Fox Business reports on what it sees as the five major health law elements in the pipeline this year. Meanwhile, other coverage focuses on the final round of health plan waivers issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, more about accountable care organizations, explanations of why private exchanges might catch on and details of the health law’s contraception policies.
VOA News Examines Maternal Mortality In Somalia
“The World Health Organization says Somalia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world,” VOA News reports, adding, “In southern Somalia, the situation is grave, and the recent famine has made the health crisis for mothers and infants even worse.” The news service says challenges facing the health care system include a lack of medical supplies and neonatal facilities, poor retention of health care workers in local hospitals, and “the Somali custom rooted in Islam that requires a man’s consent to treat female patients.”
Nutrition, Agricultural Development Programs Improving Lives Of Poor Hondurans
In this post in the Department of State’s “DipNote” blog, Ertharin Cousin, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies in Rome, examines how improved nutrition and agricultural development are helping to bring Hondurans out of poverty and hunger. Reflecting on a recent trip to the country with “five journalists from Central and South America to see the work the United States and the U.N. Food and Agriculture agencies are doing in the field,” Cousin highlights a number of projects “improving the lives of poor and hungry rural families in the region” and concludes, “All the projects we saw are making a difference. Now we must scale them up, so more people can participate and benefit, and ultimately break free of assistance” (1/6).
Fallujah Doctors Say Chemicals From U.S. Weapons To Blame For High Levels Of Birth Defects
“While the U.S. military has formally withdrawn from Iraq, doctors and residents of Fallujah are blaming weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorous used during two devastating U.S. attacks on Fallujah in 2004 for what are being described as ‘catastrophic’ levels of birth defects and abnormalities,” Al Jazeera reports. Samira Alani, a pediatric specialist at Fallujah General Hospital, “told Al Jazeera she had personally logged 677 cases of birth defects since October 2009,” the news service notes, adding, “Just eight days later when Al Jazeera visited the city on December 29, that number had already risen to 699.”
Congressional Delegation Visits Africa To Assess Impact Of U.S.-Sponsored Projects
A Congressional delegation consisting of six senators and one representative arrived in Africa on Thursday for an eight-day trip that “includes oversight of Department of Defense, Department of State, and USAID activities in Africa,” the Daily Republic reports (Lawrence, 1/8). “According to [Sen. Lindsay Graham’s (R-S.C.)] office, the delegation assessed ‘the impact of U.S. sponsored counter-terrorism programs and projects relating to health, economic development, and strengthened trade relationships with African nations,'” the ONE blog writes.
China Considering Loosening Family Planning Policy, Al Jazeera’s ‘101 East’ Reports
Al Jazeera’s “101 East” reports on how, “[a]s China faces social dilemmas such as a widening gender imbalance, it is considering loosening its [so-called] one-child policy.” According to the 25-minute video program, “China’s fertility rate is below the replacement level, providing fewer workers to support a rapidly growing elderly population,” and “with a cultural preference for boys, China faces an alarming gender imbalance with projections of 30 million more men than women by 2020” (Nettleton, 1/5).
Haiti Faces ‘Largest’ Cholera Epidemic In Modern History, PAHO Says
“Almost two years after the devastating 7.0 earthquake destroyed much of Port-au-Prince, full recovery appears to be years away,” the Miami Herald reports, noting that “[t]housands of people continue to live in makeshift shelters and tents [and] rubble from dilapidated buildings still line some streets” (Lee, 1/7). In addition, “[t]he cholera outbreak in Haiti is ‘one of the largest epidemics of the disease in modern history to affect a single country,’ the U.N. World Health Organization’s Pan-American Health Organization [PAHO] said in a news release,” according to United Press International (1/7).
Calif. Discloses Hospital Infection Rates; Kansas City Health Center Gets Facelift
Also, California Watch reports on a continuing investigation into alleged Medicare fraud.
State Governments Trying New Ways To Cope With Medicaid Costs
A selection of Medicaid news from around the country.
State Roundup: Iowa Weighs Mental Health Care Changes
News outlets provide a variety of stories about state health care issues.
The Drawbacks Of Employer-Provided Health Insurance
The Wall Street Journal details how these policies, which fall under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, are not subject to state laws.
Viewpoints: Santorum’s Record On Health Care; Forcing Care On The Mentally Ill
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
For Physicians, The Practice Of Medicine Can Pose Business Challenges
CNN reports that the difficulties physicians in private practice face in part stems from their lack of business understanding. The Miami Herald reports on how new technology might prove healthful.
GOP Presidential Debates Touch On Various Health Care Issues
News outlets offer analysis and fact-checking after the weekend’s two GOP debates. Some coverage looks ahead to South Carolina, and even further into the future.
Health IT Spending Set To Grow
The spending bill approved Dec. 17 by Congress included new investment in a joint Pentagon-Department of Veterans Affairs digital records program.
Political Turmoil In Yemen Causing Breakdown Of Social Services, Increased Threats To Child Welfare
“Yemen’s populist uprising and the political crisis that followed have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian emergency, according to the United Nations and aid agencies,” the Washington Post reports, noting that “children have been hit especially hard.” The newspaper continues, “Fresh conflicts, including a raging battle between the government and Islamist militants, have disrupted basic services; water, fuel and electricity shortages affect nearly every aspect of life, from hospital operations to trash collection. Food prices are rising, and health services have collapsed. In a nation in which half the population is younger than 18, many aid workers fear that the political crisis and the problems it has spawned will be felt beyond this generation of children” (Raghavan, 1/8). The newspaper also provides a graphic on malnourishment rates in Yemen and select other countries (1/8).
Cases Of Totally Drug-Resistant TB Reported In India
“For the first time in India, 12 people have been detected with totally drug-resistant lung tuberculosis (TDR-TB), a condition in which patients do not respond to any TB medication” and for which the mortality rate is 100 percent, the Hindustan Times reports. “Doctors treating these patients say the absolute resistance is a result of the patients being prescribed wrong antibiotics,” the newspaper reports (1/7). “While Iran first reported TDR-TB cases three years ago, India seems to be only the second country to report this deadly form of the disease,” the Times of India notes (Iyer, 1/7).
Nigerian Leaders Sign Onto Gates Immunization Challenge
“Nigeria’s 36 Executive Governors and the Federal Capital Territory have signed up to the Nigeria Immunization Challenge launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last year,” a Gates Foundation press release states. “The Nigeria Immunization Challenge sets specific objectives that need to be met during each quarter of 2012. If met, Nigeria will significantly improve its chances of stopping polio and protecting more children against vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough,” the release adds, noting, “As of December 30, 2011, 51 cases of wild poliovirus had been reported in eight Nigerian states” (1/5).
Concerns Over Using ARV Therapy As Prevention Strategy
PSI’s “Healthy Lives” blog reviews a recent Science magazine article written by James Shelton of USAID’s Bureau of Global Health in which he raises concerns about the use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) as a prevention strategy. The blog notes he especially expresses concerns over drug adherence and resistance. “Dr. Shelton does not entirely dismiss the usefulness of ARVs, but seeks to look a bit more critically at how effective they are as a prevention tool,” the blog states, noting that Shelton’s article concludes, “ARVs are no ‘magic bullet.’ But ARVs’ best potential is to contribute to the existing combination arsenal, which, well applied, can have a major impact in stemming the global HIV pandemic” (1/6).
First Edition: January 9, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the government’s health law defense and the weekend’s GOP presidential primary debates.
