Latest KFF Health News Stories
WHO Launches Online Nutrition Information System
The WHO “has launched a web-based information system it hopes will help prevent millions of people from suffering various forms of malnutrition, ranging from undernutrition to obesity, every year,” IRIN reports.
Study Examines Private Insurance Data
Findings show medical spending is very different when comparing private insurance data with Medicare spending rates.
Outlook: The Health Law And Its Various Battles
News outlets report on how timing issues could impact whether the challenges to the health law make it to the Supreme Court in the next term, how messages regarding efforts to overhaul the health care system are playing in presidential primary states and how opposition to “Obamacare” is motivating one Republican to consider joining the presidential contest.
Analysis: Health Insurance Premium Costs Vary Widely
Premiums were generally highest in the Northeast and lower in the South and Mountain states, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
CDC Director Lauds India For TB And Tobacco Use Control Efforts, Urges Preparations To Fight NCDs
CDC Director Thomas Frieden, who currently is visiting India and who previously worked with the Indian government assisting in tuberculosis (TB) control, praised the country’s “progress in controlling tuberculosis and tobacco use” on Monday during a speech to health practitioners and policymakers, according to the Wall Street Journal’s “India Real Time” blog. Frieden also noted “India’s strides in the past decade on
More Than 9M Afghans Facing Food Insecurity, WFP Says
The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that 1.5 to 2 million more people in Afghanistan likely will be pushed into food insecurity later this year because of ongoing drought in the northern, northeastern and western parts of the country, IRIN reports. Seven million people in the country already are facing food shortages, according to the article.
Members Of U.S. Delegation To Horn Of Africa Discuss Response Efforts
The August 8 visit of a U.S. delegation to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa “was important in terms of shedding light on the important efforts that are under way and the importance of continued support from the international community,” Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Eric Schwartz said on Tuesday during a briefing on the trip, IIP Digital reports (Babb, 8/9).
Fertile Guatemala Faces Starvation As Subsistence Crops Fail
Despite its status as “the world’s fifth largest exporter of sugar, coffee and bananas,” Guatemala “has the highest rate of child malnutrition in Latin America,” with “half of all children under five” reportedly malnourished, Agence France-Presse reports. In a phenomenon being called “green hunger,” the failure of subsistence crops because of droughts and floods over the last few years has forced families to buy “their basic staples of corn and beans and rice from local markets,” according to the news agency, which also published an accompanying video.
First Edition: August 10, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s picks for the debt panel and what Americans — according to two new polls — expect the ‘super committee’ to accomplish.
Obama Urges Approach with ‘Modest’ Medicare Adjustments
As the stock market plunged, President Barack Obama said the nation’s deficit couldn’t be ignored. He recommended an approach that includes spending cuts as well as increased tax revenue and “modest adjustments” to health care programs.
The ‘Super Committee’: Who Will Be Selected? What Choices Will They Have?
News outlets report on the work ahead regarding this budget-trimming panel. First on the list – appointing its members. After that, however, the hard work of finding at least $1.2 trillion in spending cuts will begin. Medicare and Medicaid will certainly be on the table.
Obama Administration Announces Additional $105M For Humanitarian Efforts In Horn Of Africa
“President Obama has approved an additional $105 million for ‘urgent humanitarian relief efforts’ in the Horn of Africa, White House press secretary Jay Carney announced in a statement Monday afternoon,” Politico’s “Politico44” blog reports (8/8). “Carney says the money will help provide food, shelter, water, and sanitation and health services to those in need,” according to the Associated Press/Washington Post (8/8). The money will come out of the Emergency Relief and Migration Assistance Fund, Carney said, adding that the U.S. has provided about $565 million in humanitarian aid so far this year, Reuters notes (8/9).
UNICEF-Funded Study Shows Extent Of Violence Against Children In Tanzania
According to a study published Tuesday by Muhimbili University in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in collaboration with the CDC and funded by UNICEF, “nearly three out of every 10 girls and nearly three out of every 20 boys in Tanzania claim to have experienced sexual violence,” the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog” reports. The blog says it is “the first time an African country
Proportion Of New HIV Cases Increasing Among Older Population In China
The case of a Chinese man nearly 80 years old who was recently diagnosed with HIV is “shedding light on a segment of the Chinese population said to be overlooked by the country’s AIDS education efforts,” according to “a recent report from state-run media Xinhua News Agency,” the Wall Street Journal’s “China Real Time” blog reports.
HealthyCal reports that more people over age 55 are living with HIV.
Republicans Stay Quiet On Birth Control Coverage Rule
But a group of state legislators has raised concerns about the measure’s CLASS Act.
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
