Latest KFF Health News Stories
“In recent years, initiatives such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria have helped rein in some of the biggest scourges,” Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners in Health and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece. “Scaling up PEPFAR, alongside other health initiatives, would bring a high return,” because “as we deepen the response to specific diseases such as AIDS or TB, we can broaden access to primary health services,” which “lays the groundwork for addressing health problems of all kinds,” he continues.
New Class Of Malaria Drugs Could Be Used As Both Prevention, Treatment, Study Shows
“A group of researchers led by Novartis AG have discovered novel malaria compounds that may prove to be more efficient than currently available treatments and could be used as a prophylactic,” the Wall Street Journal reports (Mijuk, 11/17). The class of drugs, called imidazolopiperazines, attacked malaria parasites in both the blood and liver when tested in mice, according to a study published Thursday in Science, Bloomberg notes. “Researchers are hunting for new treatments against malaria amid signs the disease is becoming resistant to drugs derived from artemisinin, the basis of the most-effective medicines, jeopardizing global efforts to curb the malady,” according to the news agency (Bennett, 11/17). Researchers said early phase human trials could start at the beginning of 2012, but it would be years before any related drug would come to market, the Wall Street Journal notes (11/17).
Lancet Examines WHO Euro Health 2020 Initiative
The Lancet examines Health 2020, “a ‘process of consultation’ between WHO Euro and its 53 diverse member states” that “will build partnerships to tackle the complex determinants and drivers of health and health equity.” The Lancet writes, “With the region’s aging populations, increasing rates of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and spiraling treatment costs, the whole government must be brought in, alongside ministries of health and health systems, in a new ‘movement for public health, believes” WHO Regional Director for Europe Zsuzsanna Jakab. WHO Euro will hold a high-level meeting on Health 2020 on November 27 in Jerusalem, the Lancet notes, adding that “[t]he results of this meeting are expected to feed into WHO’s Executive Board meeting in January 2012” (Walgate, 11/19).
Millions Of Afghans Face Hunger, Disease After Drought Destroys Crops
“Up to three million people in Afghanistan are facing hunger, malnutrition and disease after a severe drought wiped out their crops and extreme winter weather risks cutting off their access to vital food aid, a group of aid agencies warned Friday,” Reuters reports. Poor rains in many parts of the country destroyed crops and food prices have nearly doubled since last year, causing many families to skip meals, move into neighboring countries, or take loans to purchase food, the groups said, according to the news agency. The U.N. made an emergency appeal for $142 million in October to help families affected by the drought, but only seven percent has been funded by international donors, Reuters notes (Bhalla, 11/18).
States Weigh Health Law’s Expected Positive And Negative Impacts
Connecticut and Minnesota consider varying reports on the positive and negative results each state may experience as a result of the health law.
Medicaid: Colo. Gov. Dismisses GOP Call For Waivers; Fla. Sanctions Docs
Medicaid news is popping up in Colorado and Florida.
Victory For Seniors: Calif. Adult Day Health Care Center Lawsuit Resolved
Senior advocates had sued the state because of Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to shut down the ADHC program to save money.
Roundup: Fla. Medicare HMO Closed; Tufts And BCBS Resume Talks
News outlets report on a variety of health policy developments around the country.
Gingrich Think Tank’s Health Industry Clients Draw Scrutiny
The Washington Post and New York Times detail the lucrative business dealings between Gingrich’s think tank, the Center for Health Transformation, and health care companies.
Insurers Charging Companies More If Workers Have Unhealthy Lifestyles
A Towers Watson survey found that the percentage of employer-sponsored policies that impose these types of financial penalities have doubled in the last two years and will likely double again in the year ahead.
AHRQ: Primary Care Experiencing ‘Diminishing Economic Margins’
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality notes in an upcomping installment of its “Facts and Stats Series” that, despite primary care’s importance to the health care system, the discipline is facing a number of challenges.
Viewpoints: Waiting For the Super Committee; TV Coverage Of Supreme Court’s Health Law Session
A selection of editorials and opinions about health policy from around the country.
Research Roundup: Doctors’ Financial Incentives When Ordering Stress Tests
This week’s studies come from The Commonwealth Fund, The Kaiser Family Foundation, The New England Journal Of Medicine, The Journal Of The American Medical Association, The Urban Institute, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Annals Of Internal Medicine.
GAVI Alliance To Fund Roll-Out Of Vaccines Against Cervical Cancer, Rubella in Developing Countries
The GAVI Alliance “has agreed to fund the roll-out of vaccines against cervical cancer in developing countries, offering protection against a disease that kills one woman every two minutes,” Reuters reports (Hirschler, 11/17). The group is continuing negotiations with pharmaceutical companies to lower the price of the vaccine, NPR’s health blog “Shots” notes. “By 2015, GAVI expects that two million girls in nine countries will have received the HPV vaccine,” but the shot will not be given to boys unless the WHO recommends they also receive the immunization, according to the blog (Husted, 11/17).
First Edition: November 18, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports indicating that the super committee continues to face difficulties and may not make its fast-approaching deadline.
Doctors, Aid Workers Warn Of Disease Threats To Displaced Persons In Somalia
Inter Press Service examines how doctors and aid workers in and around Mogadishu, Somalia, “are warning that famine victims in internally displaced camps have become vulnerable to contagious diseases like cholera and measles, as conditions here are ripe for an outbreak.” Sanitation and access to food and drinking water are the greatest concerns, IPS reports, adding that “[w]hile international aid continues to be delivered to Somalia, relief efforts at some camps have dwindled or stopped.” The news service writes, “The Somali government’s Mogadishu spokesman Mohamed Abdullahi Arig told IPS that the government needed help to prevent a possible cholera outbreak and to prevent other communicable diseases from spreading in the camps. ‘The government is more vigilant, but our capacity is too little. We need the international community’s assistance in this sector,’ Arig said” (Abokar, 11/17).
