Latest KFF Health News Stories
Abortions In Africa Increased During ‘Global Gag Rule,’ Stanford University Study Shows
“In the first study to examine” the effects of a U.S. policy prohibiting foreign aid from going to any organization that performs abortions or provides information about or referral for the procedure as a method of family planning (often called the “Global Gag Rule” or “Mexico City Policy”), Stanford researchers Eran Bendavid and Grant Miller found that “the number of abortions increased in African countries where U.S. support for NGOs was cut the most,” according to a Stanford University news release (Gorlick, 9/28).
Time To Increase Efforts Against HIV/AIDS, TB
In a Huffington Post opinion piece, Kolleen Bouchane, director of ACTION, asks whether President Barack Obama will “heed Archbishop [Desmond] Tutu’s call to action” in a recent Washington Post opinion piece “and do his part to end AIDS.” She says, “While campaigning, President Obama promised to expand PEPFAR ‘by $1 billion a year in new money over the next five years’ and provide $50 billion by 2013 to fight HIV/AIDS worldwide. We are not on track to see even those promises become reality. We are not on track for the leadership to change the course of HIV and AIDS that Tutu has called for.”
In this Washington Times opinion piece, Chai Ling, president of the non-profit group All Girls Allowed and author of “A Heart for Freedom,” examines the issue of abortions performed on single women in China in relation to the country’s family planning policy, which in most provinces requires couples to be married to obtain a birth permit, without which they are not permitted to have a child. She writes, “Though the problem of skyrocketing abortion rates among single Chinese women has been highlighted by the media and attributed to a lack of sex education, no one has connected the problem to this tragic equation: no marriage certificate, no birth permit. No birth permit, no baby. Millions of unmarried women in China get pregnant, but none is allowed to give birth to her baby.”
Both Sides In Health Law Legal Clashes Seek Fast Action
News outlets examine the latest developments related to the challenges to the health law and handicap some of the possible outcomes.
Five Reasons To Support The Global Fund
Based on a report released last week by a high-level independent review panel on fiduciary controls and oversight mechanisms at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, “[t]he changes needed at the Fund are clearly substantial,” according to a Lancet editorial. “However, as the report notes, there is ‘nothing that cannot be fixed by appropriate reform.’ Whether governments in this era of austerity will stick by the Fund as it evolves is now a major concern. But there are good reasons for donors to keep funding the Global Fund,” the editorial states.
Funding For Health Law Is Again On GOP Chopping Block
House Republicans released a draft 2012 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill on Thursday. The measure, which is currently deadlocked in committee, would block funds necessary to continue implementing the 2010 health law.
Nearly half of patients diagnosed with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) at a Chinese hospital had not had the disease before, showing “‘substantial’ transmission of the deadly superbug,” according to a study conducted by researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, Bloomberg reports.
In a meeting at the presidential villa on Thursday, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan told Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “that he was determined to eradicate polio within two years after the crippling disease re-emerged earlier this year,” Agence France-Presse reports. “Some 36 powerful Nigerian state governors Thursday signed a statement re-confirming their February 2009 commitment to … reach at least 90 percent of children with polio vaccine with the goal of wiping out polio from the country,” the news agency writes. According to AFP, Gates, who on Thursday completed a three-day trip to the country, “expressed confidence that polio can be stopped in Nigeria and commended the country’s leaders for redoubling their resolve to help finish polio once and for all, the foundation said in a statement” (9/29).
Dengue Fever Outbreak Overwhelms Northeastern Kenyan Town; WHO Sends Essential Drugs
“An outbreak of dengue fever in Mandera, northeastern Kenya, is spreading fast, with at least 5,000 people infected within weeks, due to limited health facilities, a shortage of medical personnel and poor sanitation, officials told IRIN.” The news service writes, “A statement by the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation on 26 September said four deaths from the disease had been confirmed but, according to Mandera residents, at least 10 people have died since early September when the outbreak started.”
Ghana’s First Lady Launches International Campaign Against Maternal Mortality In Eastern Region
Ghana’s First Lady Ernestina Naadu Mills on Thursday launched the Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality (CARMMA), an international campaign aimed at fighting maternal mortality, in Koforidua in the Eastern Region of the country, the Ghana News Agency reports. “She said all stakeholders have a role to play to ensure that expectant mothers get to health facilities early enough to have a skilled delivery,” efforts that would help the nation meet the millennium development goals (MDGs) for maternal and child mortality, the news agency writes (9/30). According to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Mills said the nation’s maternal mortality rate is 451 per 100,000 (9/29).
Research Roundup: What Older Patients Really Prize; DOD And The ACA
This week’s reports come from the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Archives of Internal Medicine, the Institute of Medicine, the RAND Corporation, The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Government Accountability Office.
Texas Data Breach Affects Medical Records Of 4.9 Million Patients
The breach, which involved the personal and medical records of military patients and their families, happened when backup tapes from an electronic health care record were stolen from a data contractor’s car.
State Highlights: Many States Moving Workers’ Children To CHIP Plans
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
AP: Military Retirees To Experience Higher Health Premium Costs
Beginning Saturday, military retirees will pay more for their health coverage, and more cost increases are on the way.
Hospitals Confront Budget Strains, Debt, Market Pressure
News outlets offer a variety of reports on how hospitals are faring in the health care marketplace. The outlook is full of challenges.
Gingrich Unveils New ‘Contract With America’
The updated “Contract” makes priorities out of repealing the federal health care law and replacing it with a market-based program that includes tax breaks for those who purchase insurance. Meanwhile, the health care records of GOP presidential hopefuls Rick Perry and Mitt Romney draw a new round of barbs – from each other and the White House.
Calif. Medicaid Case Pits Top Democrats Against Obama Administration
The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday on the case, which originated in California, and raises a central question: Do individuals have the right to sue a state for its administration of the Medicaid program?
CLASS Act Optimism; Essential Benefits Report Anticipation
News outlets report on these health law implementation topics, including news that some advocates say the Obama administration’s upcoming releasde of an analysis of the CLASS program is a positive sign. Meanwhile, the Institute of Medicine is expected to unveil its recommendations for medical coverage standards next week.
Hospital, Physician Groups Advance Interests In Deficit Reduction Debate
Hospital executives will lobby Congress next week to raise the eligibility age for Medicare instead of reducing payments to hospitals. Doctors are ginning up their grass-roots efforts to pressure the ‘super committee’ to repeal Medicare’s sustainable growth rate formula.
