Latest KFF Health News Stories
Cholera Outbreaks Reported In The DRC, Central African Republic
“There has been an increase in the number of cholera cases and deaths in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo where an outbreak has been ongoing since March, say humanitarian agencies,” IRIN reports. “At least 6,910 cases and 384 deaths had been reported as of 3 October, according to a report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), compared with a total of 3,896 cases and some 265 deaths by 20 July 2011,” the news service writes.
The WHO “is calling on governments to increase services for people suffering from mental, neurological and substance use disorders,” VOA News reports. The WHO’s “Mental Health Atlas 2011,” “released to coincide with World Mental Health Day, which falls on October 10, finds countries all over the world spend very little on the treatment of mental illness,” according to VOA (Schlein, 10/9). According to the report, “One in four people will require mental health care at some point in their lives but in many countries only two percent of all health sector resources are invested in mental health services,” a WHO press release states (10/7).
WHO Reports Several Large Measles Outbreaks In Europe, Africa
The WHO reported on Friday “that several large measles outbreaks have continued to spread in the past six months in Europe and Africa, and to a lesser degree in the Americas,” the U.N. Media Centre reports, adding, “So far, 40 European countries have recorded 26,025 cases between them since the start of the year. France has been the most affected, with 14,025 cases, and the Government has responded by modifying its vaccination schedule as well as offering vaccines in schools free of charge.”
Speaking at the event “Innovative Approaches to Expanding Health Care Services” at the Africare House in Washington, D.C. on September 21, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health, Muhammad Ali Pate, “presented a sweeping panorama of Nigeria’s current health status and what it must do if it is to make progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015,” Global Health Impact reports. Nigeria’s “bold public health vision” to save one million lives, and improve the quality of care includes “expanded provision of primary health care services; emphasis on healthy living and disease prevention; improved quality of care at health facilities; and, finally, reviving the health sector through increased private and public investment,” the magazine writes (Kusha, 10/7).
Effects Of U.S. Cuts To Foreign Aid Would Be ‘Hugely Damaging’ To American Foreign Policy
In this New York Times editorial, Carol Giacomo, journalist and member of the newspaper’s editorial board, reports on a decline in U.S. foreign aid, writing, “There is a lot of public misunderstanding about foreign aid,” adding, “For the sake of national security, this country cannot afford to retreat from the world. Its investment in the State Department and foreign aid helps advance peace and stability by feeding starving people, providing access to doctors and medicines, opening new markets, promoting democracy, curbing nuclear arms and strengthening allies with military and economic assistance.”
Momentum Builds For Reform In U.S. Foreign Aid, One Of Our ‘Most Effective’ Investments
In this Global Health Magazine opinion piece, Aaron Emmel, senior policy advisor at PATH, examines a momentum for reform in foreign aid that “has been mounting in both Congress and the Administration,” writing, “Now we face one of the most austere budget environments in our nation’s history, making the need for an efficient, accountable, transparent, effective, and strategic foreign assistance policy all the more important. Clearly, foreign aid needs to be reformed so that it can do the job it was originally intended for: assisting the people who need it most in the most efficient and effective way possible.”
96% Campaign Asks Obama To ‘Pay Attention To Science’ And Scale Up Global Access To ARVs
In this RH Reality Check opinion piece, Matthew Kavanagh, director of U.S. advocacy at Health GAP (Global Access Project), and Dazon Dixon Diallo, founder and president of SisterLove, Incorporated, write, “With proof that treatment is prevention, and with this basket of broader prevention options, scientists and economists have finally been able to show what few could before: models of how we end the AIDS crisis.”
Researchers Issue Warning Of Health Crisis In Greece Amid Country’s Financial Crisis
“Economically vulnerable Greeks are losing health care access amid dwindling budgets, facing higher risks of HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases, and in some cases, even dying, according to a study released online Monday by The Lancet,” the Associated Press/ABC News reports (Torchia, 10/10). “There were about 40 percent cuts in hospital budgets, understaffing, reported occasional shortage of medical supplies, and bribes given to medical staff to jump queues in overstretched hospitals,” the authors wrote, according to BBC News. “At the same time there was a 24 percent increase in public hospital admissions, partly fuelled by fewer patients using private hospitals,” BBC writes (Gallagher, 10/9).
Food Crises Jeopardizing Efforts To Meet MDG Of Halving Global Malnutrition, Report Says
“Food crises are jeopardizing efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015, United Nations (U.N.) food experts warned” on Monday, according to the Guardian. “In an annual report on world hunger, U.N. food agencies said food price volatility is likely to continue and possibly increase, making poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity,” the news service writes.
Spain’s Queen Sofia Tours Haiti Reconstruction Projects Amid Ongoing Cholera Epidemic
Spain’s Queen Sofia spent two days in Haiti “touring reconstruction projects that the Spanish government and her own foundation hope will improve housing, education, sanitation and health in Haiti,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. Her tour included a water sanitation plant that Haitian president Michel Martelly called “a key way for us to solve the cholera” epidempic, which “has killed more than 6,200 people and sickened almost 440,000 others since it surfaced last year, according to Haitian health officials,” AP writes (10/7). “[C]holera is still rife in Haiti and far from under control,” Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reports, adding, “Since the first cases were confirmed in October 2010, MSF has treated almost 160,000 patients” and has seen the number of patients admitted jump from 300 to more than 850 in the past month (10/7).
Rwandan Government, UNFPA Step Up Campaign To End Obstetric Fistula
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Food Program and Engender Health have partnered with Rwanda’s Ministry of Health in “a campaign to treat and end obstetric fistula in women in Rwanda,” the New Times/AllAfrica.com reports. Through the campaign, “at least 50 women are expected to be treated by Issa Labou, a urologist from Senegal, assisted by a team of Rwandan physicians during an exercise to be held at Kibogora Hospital, Nyamasheke District, Western Province from 10-21 October 2011,” according to Anicet Nzabonimpa, the family planning and HIV integration coordinator in Rwanda’s Ministry of Health, the newspaper writes. “We commit to supporting government’s efforts to fully integrate services that are permanent for on-going, continuous and holistic care of obstetric fistula cases until we entirely end this preventable and treatable condition,’ she said,” according to the New Times (10/9).
WHO Facing Shortage Of Funds As It Works To Scale Up Humanitarian Response To Pakistan Flooding
WHO representative Guido Sabatinelli has assured Pakistan health officials that the organization “will be scaling [up] its humanitarian response in all the flood-affected areas of Sindh to resolve health issues faced by the displaced people,” News International reports. WHO officials say Norway, the U.S., the U.K. and Spain are “the only donor countries which have pledged funds
Themes, Deadlocks Take Shape In Deficit Panel Developments
USA Today reports on the strategies interest groups are employing to reach the “super committee’s” members. Also, Reuters reports the Medigap plans are one of the items being considered by the panel for cuts.
The Health Law’s Future: Prose On Politics And Policies
Politico reports on how the elections of 2012 will dictate the future of the health law. Also, other news outlets report on states’ efforts to figure out what to do if the individual mandate is struck down, the essential benefits package, the development of health exchanges and where things stand with accountable care organizations.
State Roundup: Calif. Autism Bill, Kids’ Tanning Bed Ban Become Law
In other state news, Wisconsin last month began scrutinizing health insurance rate increases, Los Angeles County steps in ahead of health law’s mandated coverage expansions and a Georgia report notes the state’s progress in providing services for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities.
Georgia Hospitals Present Varying Financial Pictures
One hospital run by Children’s Healthcare Of Atlanta had its best financial results of the decade in 2010, but many of the state’s independent hospitals are facing hard times. Medical staff issues and attempted aquisitions are also in the news.
Feds Approve Parts Of Arizona’s Plan To Reduce State’s Medicaid Burden
In Florida, a class-action lawsuit alleges that state officials did not adequately market its Medicaid program.
Viewpoints: Obama Fighting Back; Putting A Price On Compassion; Questions For GOP Candidates
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
For Hospitals Attempting To Cut Costs, What Measures Matter Most?
Modern Healthcare reports on what it has termed to be health care’s “Moneyball.”
Health Insurance Mandate Haunts Romney
The parallels between the federal health law and the Massachusetts health overhaul that GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney signed into law when governor continue to cause some Republicans to doubt him as a their primary pick.
