Latest KFF Health News Stories
Mass. Has Fewest Uninsured, Texas Has The Most, Says Poll
A survey by Gallup and Healthways finds wide variations in the number of uninsured from state to state.
U.S. Calls For ‘Unfettered’ Access To Provide Humanitarian Assistance To 4M Somalis
Nancy Lindborg, USAID’s assistant administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, writes in this post in USAID’s “IMPACTblog” that the U.S. “continue[s] to call on all parties involved to allow unfettered humanitarian access to Somalis in need.” She continues, “The unfortunate reality is that Somalia is the most difficult operating environment for humanitarians in the world today,” adding that “unless we — the international community — can get access to provide humanitarian assistance to southern Somalia, the already horrific situation will get worse. Without access, the number of people in crisis will increase, and famine will continue to spread in Somalia” (9/6).
Proposed Federal Requirement For Contraceptives Drawing Some Fire
A proposed rule that birth control be a free preventive service under the health law is drawing partisan cheers and jeers.
Rwandan Health Ministry Campaign Promotes Vasectomy For Family Planning
“Rwanda’s health ministry has launched a campaign encouraging men to undergo vasectomies, in an effort to curb population growth in Africa’s most densely populated country,” Reuters reports. The government says to compete with Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the country’s economy must continue to grow at an average seven to eight percent per year, and to do so, “the birth rate must be below three children per family,” according to the news agency.
Study Shows Household Ownership Of ITNs Associated With Lower Child Mortality In Sub-Saharan Africa
“Children who live in households that own at least one insecticide-treated bed net (ITNs) are less likely to be infected with malaria and less likely to die from the disease, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington,” published today in PLoS Medicine, according to an IHME press release (9/6).
In Releasing Economic Plans, Romney Vows To Roll Back Health Law On Inauguration Day
As part of his jobs proposals, Romney also said he would reduce Medicaid spending by $200 billion a year and convert the program into a block grant for states.
“Guyana is battling to prevent the spread of malaria as climate change brings higher temperatures and more rainfall, threatening to push the disease back into densely populated coastal regions,” AlertNet reports. The majority of malaria cases occur in the northwest of the small South American country, [b]ut recently, the mosquito-borne disease has also been found in an adjoining coastal region, as well as further inland to the east and south,” the news service writes.
Building Up Public Sector In Haiti Key To Controlling Cholera
The U.N.’s Pan-American Health Organization, the United States and the international community “should be working with the Haitian Health Ministry to wage a more aggressive and effective effort” against the cholera epidemic that hit the country last year, and those efforts “should include not only clean water and sanitation systems but more antibiotics and cholera vaccinations,” a New York Times editorial says. “Ramping up manufacturing” of the cholera vaccine — of which there are less than 400,000 doses worldwide — “could be readily done and would have global benefits,” the editorial states.
A new index (.pdf) released Tuesday by Save the Children measures the nationwide reach of health workers and ranks the best and worst countries for a child to fall sick in, with Chad and Somalia at the bottom and Switzerland and Finland at the top, according to a Save the Children press release (9/6). According to the analysis, “[c]hildren living in the 20 countries at the bottom of the index … are five times more likely to die than those further up the index, Save the Children said,” AlertNet reports (Batha, 9/6). The study also highlights countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, according to Reuters (Kelland, 9/6).
First Edition: September 7, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations includes reports on Mitt Romney’s announcement Tuesday about his plans for jobs and the health law and a new analysis of the donations made by the health care industry to members of the congressional “super committee” on the deficit.
FDA To Review Bone Drugs; CDC Reports Parasite May Be A Risk To Blood Supply
News outlets examine a variety of public health issues.
Continued Funding From All Countries Needed To Fight HIV/AIDS
“There is no doubt that” a 10 percent reduction in funding from donor governments for the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries in 2010 from the previous year’s levels “is linked to economic strain felt by countries across the globe,” a VOA News editorial says. “UNAIDS estimates that an investment of at least $22 billion will be needed by 2015 in order to avert more than seven million deaths,” the editorial states, adding, “It is clear that continued support to HIV prevention and treatment is a necessary investment, even in these difficult times.”
State governments wrestle with Medicaid issues.
DOJ Investigates Miss. Mental Health Care; N.H. Pharmacists Win Permission To Vaccinate
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
International Public Health Spending Ignores Neglected Tropical Diseases, Some Experts Argue
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism examines what some experts are calling a serious inequity in public health spending, writing that neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) “together kill more people than maternal mortality and have a higher disease burden than malaria or [tuberculosis (TB)] and nearing that of HIV/AIDS. However, despite the severity of the situation, funding for NTDs is just a fraction of that spent on other diseases.”
Ohio Man Dies From Tooth Infection After He Couldn’t Afford Medicine
Dentists said his tooth needed to be pulled but man deferred because he had no job or insurance.
Washington Woman Spearheading Drive For Suicide Prevention For Service Members
Patricia Bailey says the lack of a firm policy on whether military members could be held back in their careers for seeking counseling is an obstacle to getting care, McClatchy reports.
Mental Health Care Issues Confound Nation’s Jails
More Americans receive mental health treatment in prisons and jails than in hospitals or treatment centers, NPR reports.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe Urges Men To Take Larger Role In HIV Prevention
“Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Monday opened a national HIV and AIDS conference with a call for the nation’s men to take a larger role in the response to the deadly pandemic, not only for their own health but that of women and children,” VOA News reports (Gumbo, 9/5). Speaking at the conference, Mugabe said, “The role of men in society is unquestionable. It is for this reason that men should take their place in the HIV response, both for their own health as well as in support of women and children … and it is not just treatment, but also a fact of discipline,” Zimbabwe’s Herald writes (9/6).
Electronic Monitoring Systems, Medical Records Could Improve Quality, Save Money
The New York Times and Modern Healthcare highilght electronic medical expansions.
