Latest KFF Health News Stories
State Roundup: Mental Hospital Security; Drug Development Urged
A selection of some health care stories from around the country.
Viewpoints: Mental Health Care For Vets, Perry On Federal Spending, Cain’s Views On Abortion
A selection of opinions on health care policy from around the country.
IG Points Finger At Medicaid Prescription Drug Program Oversight
The Health and Human Services Inspector General report found that not one of 14 states recently audited have adequate controls in place.
Clinton Announces Increase In U.S. Aid To Horn Of Africa By $100M
Speaking at a World Food Programme (WFP) awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. “is increasing food aid to drought-hit and strife-torn Horn of Africa nations where millions of people are at risk of starvation and malnutrition,” Reuters reports (Allen, 10/24).
Health Law Supporters Launch Effort To Recapture The ‘Obamacare’ Brand
The campaign, which is based in Colorado, will highlight the law’s benefits.
Without CLASS, What’s Next To Help Meet Long-Term Care Needs?
The New York Times and Politico both offer analyses of what went wrong and what might happen next
Zambia’s Increasing Population May Pose Challenges
In his BBC News column, medical correspondent Fergus Walsh examines maternal health, fertility, myths surrounding contraception, and gender equality in Zambia, which “has one of the world’s fastest growing populations.” With the nation’s population expected to triple to 39 million people by 2050 and reach 100 million by 2100, “[t]he potential problem for Zambia is that the population increase is so rapid that the government may struggle to keep pace. Those under 16 need education, healthcare and homes but they are not yet contributing to the economy. Zambia can barely feed 13 million people so how will it cope in the future?” Walsh writes (10/24).
In an interview with Reuters, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said Monday “he would tell G20 leaders at a summit in France next month … it was critical that rich donors continue to fund health and agriculture projects in developing countries despite budget cuts in the United States and Europe,” the news agency reports. “He said there was ample evidence that agricultural and health programs in developing countries made a big difference in the livelihoods of the poor and boosted economic stability,” Reuters writes.
Eli Lilly To Pledge $30M To MDR-TB Partnership
Pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Co. is expected to announce on Tuesday it “is pledging $30 million to help fight multidrug-resistant tuberculosis [MDR-TB] in developing countries, a disease that kills more than 150,000 people a year,” according to the Indianapolis Star. The funds, part of the company’s eight-year-old, $165 million Lilly MDR-TB Partnership, will help to “provide training for nurses, doctors and community volunteers; conduct studies on how to combat the disease; and provide access to medicines,” the newspaper notes. The campaign will focus on China, India, Russia and South Africa, “the four countries with the highest burden of MDR-TB, Lilly said,” the Indianapolis Star writes (10/25).
First Edition: October 25, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that a group of Republcian governors communicated their concerns to the super committee.
India Polio Free For 9 Months, Raising Hopes Of Eradication, Health Experts Say
“India has not had a case of polio in nine months, raising hopes the country is on the verge of defeating the disease, health officials said Monday,” the Associated Press reports. “India remains one of only four countries in the world where polio is still endemic, and the nine months that it has been without a case is the longest since eradication efforts were launched nearly two decades ago,” the AP writes, adding, “A country is declared polio free when no cases of the disease are reported for three years, according to the World Health Organization.”
With Much At Stake, Lobbyists Stay Close To Super Committee
Politico reports that the high stakes that involve everything from the health industry to Native American tribes in the deficit panel’s deliberations have created a veritable “swarm” of lobbyists.
High Court Will Choose Among Issues, Lawsuits In Weighing Health Law’s Fate
The moving parts involved in the Supreme Court’s determination about whether to review challenges to the health law and which issues it wants to hear are quite complicated.
Challenging The View That The World’s Growing Population Represents Power, Prosperity
As the world’s population approaches seven billion — which it is expected to hit sometime in March, according to Census Bureau estimates — Joel Cohen, a mathematical biologist and the head of the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller University and Columbia University, examines the implications of “the enormous increases in households, cities, material consumption and waste” on health, agriculture, water security, the environment and poverty in this New York Times opinion piece. He writes, “For some in the West, the greatest challenge — because it is the least visible — is to shake off, at last, the view that large and growing numbers of people represent power and prosperity.”
Using Spousal Communication To Increase Family Planning In Africa
Helen Epstein, author of “The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight Against AIDS” examines the implications of the world’s growing population for Africa in this New York Times Opinion piece, writing, “Before this century ends, there could well be 10 billion of us, a billion more than previously expected. Nearly all of these extra billion people will be born in Africa, where women in some countries bear seven children each on average, and only one in 10 uses contraception. With mortality rates from disease falling, the population of some countries could increase eightfold in the next century.”
MSF Suspends Measles Vaccination Campaign In Mogadishu Area Because Of Violence
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) last week cut short a three-week measles vaccination campaign intended to reach 35,000 children in the Daynile area near the Somali capital Mogadishu, after intense fighting erupted between the militant group al-Shabab and forces of Somalia’s Transitional National Government, backed by the African Union Mission in Somalia, VOA News reports. Only 4,831 children had been reached in six days, according to the news agency.
Number Of Cholera Cases To Reach 500,000 By Year’s End, WHO Says
The WHO on Friday “said the number of cholera cases in Haiti is expected to reach 500,000 by the end of the year” if current trends continue, Agence France-Presse reports. As of October, the agency estimated 470,000 cases of the disease and 6,600 cholera deaths had occurred since the outbreak began in 2010, the news service notes. “The number of new cholera cases in Haiti halved in August, but the rainy season is once again worsening the situation, the WHO warned,” AFP writes (10/22).
Tenofovir Gel Confirmed To Be Effective Against Herpes In Lab Experiment, Study Shows
Data from lab experiments published online by the journal Cell Host and Microbes last week show that the gel form of the antiretroviral tenofovir, which is being investigated as an HIV prevention method, works to inhibit the reproduction of herpes virus in tonsil and cervical tissue, the New York Times reports.
“Scientists are warning officials negotiating a global treaty on mercury that banning the deadly chemical completely would be dangerous for public health because of the chemical’s use in vaccines,” the Associated Press reports. “The ban option is one of several proposals on the table for a [United Nations Environment Programme, or UNEP] meeting later this month in Nairobi, but a final treaty isn’t expected until 2013,” the news service writes.
