Latest KFF Health News Stories
Pakistan Facing Dengue Outbreak, Humanitarian Aid Shortages For Flood Victims
“More than 12,000 have been infected and 125 people have died over the past two months in Pakistan after coming down with dengue fever, a health department spokesman said Friday,” CNN reports (Habib, 10/1). Citing the same numbers, WHO spokesperson Tarek Jasarevic said the agency is providing support for “case management, community mobilization, vector control and public awareness campaigns,” according to the U.N. News Centre. “Last year, 11,024 confirmed cases of dengue fever and 40 deaths were reported in Pakistan, but this year the number of cases has climbed to 12,466,” the news service writes (9/30).
Medicare Home-Health Firms Under Scrutiny
The Wall Street Journal reports on a Senate Finance Committee inquiry that concluded that some home-health firms tailor the care care they provide to maximize Medicare reimbursement.
Drug Shortages Lead To Rationing Of Critical Medicines
Though a number of reasons have created the shortfalls, everyone agrees that the proliferation of “gray markets” is one of the biggest factors.
Federal Officials Extend Ariz. Medicaid Program While Reviewing New Plan
In other state Medicaid news, doctors in Washington state are suing to stop a new rule that limits enrollees’ visits to the emergency department and Gov. Cuomo’s administration dismisses a proposal for N.Y. to pay for transgender surgery.
Kenya National AIDS Program Considering Mandatory HIV Testing
VOA News examines how Kenya’s National Aids Control Council and STI Control Program (NASCOP) is considering proposing mandatory HIV testing for adults and children who seek medical care for other conditions, noting that some AIDS organizations are expressing ethical concerns because of continuing stigma and discrimination. For now, “fears of mandatory testing in Kenya are premature, as Kenyan law currently bans such practices,” the news service writes (Onyiego, 9/30).
India Launches Month-Long Campaign To Promote Awareness Of Public Hygiene
India’s minister of development is promoting a campaign on public hygiene, after a UNICEF report found “that India accounts for 58 percent of the world’s population practicing open defecation,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. “Jairam Ramesh says the revelation is a source of national shame and a ‘sad commentary’ on society’s failure to address the issue through education and better sanitation,” the AP writes. According to the AP, the Indian government “says it spends $350 million a year to build rural toilets, but some 638 million still rely on fields or quiet corners” (10/2). The public awareness campaign is expected to last one month, according to Xinhua (10/2).
Chad Launches Three-Day Polio Vaccination Campaign
Chad’s President Idris Deby, alongside Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Friday launched a three-day polio vaccination campaign at the Friendship China-Chad hospital “as part of efforts to rid the central African nation of the infectious disease,” AlertNet reports. According to the WHO, “of the 401 declared cases of polio around the globe this year, 114 were in Chad, making it the world’s worst-hit nation,” the news service writes. Polio was presumed to be eradicated from Chad, which did not report any cases between June 2000 and July 2003, but the country has experienced a resurgence of the disease since 2003, AlertNet notes (Nako, 10/1).
Viewpoints: Mixing Obama And Ryan’s Plans, Cancer Rationing And Stalling Federal Aid
A selection of opinions from around the nation.
Central African Republic Declares New Cholera Outbreak
Central African Republic Health Minister Jean-Michel Mandaba on Friday declared a new outbreak of cholera in the south of the country had already killed at least 10 people, Agence France-Presse reports. “Mandaba also urged the country’s ‘bilateral and multilateral partners’ to provide financial and technical aid,” the news agency writes. Health officials two months ago warned of a possible outbreak because of cases in nearby countries, according to the news agency (10/1).
Canada Supreme Court Rules Vancouver’s Safe Drug-Injection Site Can Stay Open
“Vancouver’s Insite clinic, the only such safe-injection site for [people who use drugs] in North America, can stay open, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Friday in a landmark defeat for the federal government,” Reuters reports. “The country’s top court … ruled unanimously that closing the site would threaten the lives of drug users and therefore violate their human rights,” the news agency writes (Ljunggren, 9/30).
State Roundup: Calif. Insurer Drops Coverage Of Breast Cancer Drug
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
IOM Essential Benefits Report Expected Later This Week
The report will offer the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations regarding how the health law’s essential benefits package should be determined. In other health law news, federal regulators also must decide whether family planning should be included as a preventive care benefit. Religious groups say the “carve-out” exemption included in the draft regulations is too narrow.
Senate Republicans Doubt Prospects For ‘Grand Bargain’
Meanwhile, USA Today reports on five ways that congressional budgeters could trim Medicare.
IPS Examines The Practice Of Breast Ironing In Cameroon
Inter Press Service reports on the practice of breast ironing in Cameroon, a custom carried out by one-quarter of mothers in the country that is meant to reverse female sexual development in an effort “to avoid sexual contact between young girls and boys.” The news service writes, “An estimated one in four girls suffers from the practice in their childhood. Breast ironing is a traditional ritual in which, by using heated and flat objects, a girl’s growing breasts are pressed in order to suppress and reverse their development.”
Despite Increase In Health Care Spending In Angola, Quality Of Care Remains Low
“Angola has tripled its spending on health care since 2006, but for the vast majority of Angolans who can’t afford sparkling new private clinics — or better yet, care abroad — a trip to the hospital is still a nightmare,” Agence France-Presse reports. “Despite its oil wealth, in 2006 Angola ranked ninth from the bottom in the world on health spending, which accounted for just 2.5 percent of gross domestic product. Since then, spending per person has tripled from $64 to $204, according to World Health Organization data,” according to AFP.
First Edition: October 3, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports previewing how health policy issues will fit into the Supreme Court’s new term.
Supreme Court’s Decision On Health Law Likely To Affect 2012 Election
News outlets examine what is likely to be the high court’s biggest case of the new term, which begins Monday.
Uganda Cannot Achieve Development Without Increased Investment In Maternal Health
In this Daily Monitor opinion piece, Anthony Masake of the Uganda Law Society stresses the importance of addressing maternal mortality in Uganda and asserts that the country cannot achieve development without increased efforts to meet national maternal health targets. He places emphasis on the need to invest in midwifery and nursing services, among other strategies, writing, “Within the context of inadequate financial resources, mounting health demands, escalating health care costs, rising population, and heightened public expectations, midwifery and nursing services present a platform from which we can scale-up health interventions to assist in meeting national health targets.”
