Latest KFF Health News Stories
U.N. Women Report Examines Women’s Access To Justice Worldwide
“More than half of working women in the world, 600 million, are trapped in insecure jobs without legal protection, according to the first flagship report of the new agency U.N. Women. A similar number do not have even basic protection against domestic violence, it finds, while sexual assault has become a hallmark of modern conflict,” the Guardian reports.
British Company Designing Genetically Modified Mosquito To Fight Dengue
NPR’s All Things Considered on Tuesday examined the efforts of the British company Oxitec to develop a genetically modified mosquito meant to wipe out wild populations of the insects, which carry potentially lethal diseases such as dengue.
Puerto Rico Reports First Cholera Case Linked To Outbreak In Dominican Republic
Puerto Rico has reported its first case of cholera imported by a recent traveler to the island of Hispaniola, where a cholera outbreak began in October, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.
Malaria-Carrying Mosquitoes Becoming Increasingly Resistant To Pyrethroid Insecticides
Mosquitoes that carry malaria are increasingly becoming resistant to pyrethroid insecticides, which are the only insecticides approved by WHO to treat bed nets and are the most effective and cost efficient for indoor spraying, Nature News reports.
Sen. Rubio Defends Foreign Aid In Video Response To Constituent Letter
“Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is becoming an increasingly critical and hawkish voice on the Obama administration’s foreign policy, but he is actually a supporter of U.S. foreign assistance programs and made the case for maintaining this funding to his constituents last week,” Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” blog writes.
Global Food Production Needs To Double By 2050 To Achieve Food Security, Survey Shows
Global food production will have to increase 70 to 100 percent by 2050 to feed the world’s predicted 9 billion people, and that increase is only possible if more sustainable farming methods are used, according to the U.N.’s annual World Economic and Social Survey released on Tuesday, VOA News reports (7/5).
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how budget pressures and the deficit reduction negotiations are having an impact on Medicare and Medicaid.
Administration Advances Health Care Cuts
Obama administration officials say the funds would come from payments to hospitals and other facilities without directly imposing new costs on beneficiaries or making radical changes to the Medicare program.
CMS Issues Proposed Medicare Payment Rules
The measure would increase hospital outpatient rates, dramatically cut physician payments and link surgical center payment to quality.
The Essential Role Of Midwives
Mary Ellen Stanton, a senior maternal health advisor at USAID, and Chris Thomas, global health communications and policy advisor at USAID, outline the agency’s work to promote better health outcomes for women and children in the developing world on GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog.
Faith Communities Play A Key Role In Global AIDS Fight
“One of the great lessons of this fight is that the single fastest way to mobilize at the grassroots level around the world is through local congregations. Nothing comes close to the size and scope of this pool of compassionate volunteers,” Rick Warren, founder and pastor of the Saddleback Church, writes in a CNN opinion piece reflecting on his involvement in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
AIDS Vaccine May Be Far Off, But Path To It Is Getting Clearer
In his latest Washington Post opinion piece, columnist Michael Gerson highlights scientific efforts to create an AIDS vaccine, noting the work of researchers at the Vaccine Research Center.
New Tools Can Significantly Reduce HIV/AIDS Worldwide
“We are entering a new era in HIV prevention. PEPFAR promoted a ‘combination prevention’ strategy from the beginning. But the tools were limited. Scientific advances could give individuals the ability to determine the prevention intervention that works best for them. Preliminary mathematical models suggest that combining a full range of prevention interventions is additive
Drug Companies’ Desires To Maintain Status Quo Are ‘Lethal’
In the second of a two-part Al Jazeera opinion-piece series “examining the methods by which multinational drug corporations inflate their expenses and justify their pricing strategies,” Khadija Sharife, a journalist and visiting scholar at the Center for Civil Society, looks at U.S. tax laws, lax oversight of international clinical trials, the cost of research on new pharmaceutical compounds, and vaccine manufacturing.
Washington Post Examines Increase In Number Of USAID Contract Suspensions
“The U.S. Agency for International Development, as it cracks down on vendor impropriety, has more than doubled the number of companies and nonprofit groups it has suspended or debarred from receiving new contracts,” the Washington Post reports in an article focusing on the agency’s suspension of government grants in March to the Washington-based nonprofit Academy for Educational Development (AED).
Germany To Restore Half Of Global Fund Donation Withheld Earlier This Year
“Germany is unblocking half of the funding it withheld from” the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria “following revelations of corruption earlier this year,” the Associated Press reports.
New Report Suggests Only Small Risk Of Mobile Phones Causing Cancer
“A committee of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection has concluded after a comprehensive review that there is little cause for concern about the suggested link between mobile phone use and brain tumors,” BMJ reports (Watts, 7/4).
