Early Warning Systems Helping Aid Agencies Respond To Potential ‘Food Crisis’ In Sahel Region
December 13, 2011
Morning Briefing
Africa’s Sahel region is facing a potential “food crisis,” “[b]ut the good news is that the world’s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) is giving West African countries and donor nations a period of time to prepare, says the aid group Oxfam,” the Christian Science Monitor reports. “Early reports suggest that as many as six million people in Niger and 2.9 million people in Mali live in vulnerable areas, where low rainfall, falling groundwater levels, poor harvests, lack of pastureland, rising food prices, and a drop in remittances from family members living abroad are starting to take their toll,” according to the newspaper.
Today’s headlines – July 19, 2011
By Stephanie Stapleton
July 19, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Good morning! It’s hot here in Washington, and it’s not just the debt negotiations. Here’s what we’re reading to try to stay cool. Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including updates on the deficit talks, new public opinion polls and health law implementation issues. The Washington Post: Debt-Ceiling Crisis Still Eludes Compromise […]
GAO: Oversight Needed On Program That Gives Safety Net Providers Drug Discounts
September 26, 2011
Morning Briefing
Under this program, known as the 340 B program, drugmakers provide discounts to community health centers and other health care providers that treat vulnerable populations in exchange for having their drugs covered by Medicaid.
Sounding Off On Medicaid’s ‘Big Difference’ In Quality Of Life
By Andrew Villegas
July 7, 2011
KFF Health News Original
How is quality of life affected by getting health insurance? Positively, both financially and mentally, a new study says. A group of researchers — led by economists from MIT and Harvard –sought to answer that question when they studied how getting health insurance coverage through Medicaid affected the health and well-being of low-income Oregon residents in a […]
Scaling Up Communication And Coordination Biggest Challenge In GAVI’s $1B Vaccine Initiative
September 28, 2011
Morning Briefing
In this post in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog, Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University, responds to the GAVI Alliance’s announcement on Tuesday that it will supply more than $1 billion in childhood vaccines to 37 of the world’s poorest countries, writing, “As the Alliance takes perhaps the most significant step ever toward increasing access to lifesaving immunization with this new and exciting round of country approvals, the challenge will be to ensure that every piece of the puzzle is in place to deliver on GAVI’s tremendous promise.”
Today’s Headlines – June 29, 2011
By Stephanie Stapleton
June 29, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Good morning! Here’s what we’re reading early this Wednesday: Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations include reports about a new plan offered by two senators to cut Medicare spending — but some top Democrats are lined up against it. The Washington Post: Top Democrats Reject New Plan To Cut Medicare Spending Leading […]
Who Pays For Unintended Pregnancies?
By Julie Rovner, NPR News
May 19, 2011
KFF Health News Original
The cost of unintended pregnancies is large, and much of the bill – about $11 billion per year – is ultimately picked up by the government, a new study finds.
Increased Access To PMTCT Needed To End Pediatric AIDS, Build An ‘AIDS-Free Generation’
November 14, 2011
Morning Briefing
In this post in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog, Charles Lyons, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, responds to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech at the NIH last week in which she called for an “AIDS-free generation,” writing, “As Secretary Clinton pointed out, we’ve never before had as many tools to get ahead of the disease as we do now,” such as male circumcision and treatment as prevention, “[b]ut one of the cornerstones of her strategy to create an AIDS-free generation is a tool we’ve actually had in our arsenal for a long time: the ability to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.”
World Bank Pledges $1.88B To Address Drought In Horn Of Africa; Additional Funding Announced At U.N. Meeting, By U.S.
September 26, 2011
Morning Briefing
“The World Bank said on Saturday it was more than tripling funding to $1.88 billion for a worsening drought in Horn of Africa countries affecting more than 13 million people,” Reuters reports. “World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the financing would help fill a $1 billion funding gap needed to tackle drought and a food crisis engulfing parts of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Uganda,” the news agency writes, noting the bank initially had pledged $500 million in July. Zoellick said the majority of the funding was to go toward long-term solutions to drought relief, with $288 million reserved for humanitarian aid through June 2012, according to Reuters (9/25).
GOP Proposals On Medicare Could Shift Costs To Beneficiaries
By Mary Agnes Carey
April 3, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Despite the political risks of changing the popular program, Republicans – including Budget Comm. Chairman Paul Ryan – will offer overhaul plans soon.
Health Workers Key To ‘Effective Health Care Delivery’
September 26, 2011
Morning Briefing
In addition to “essential money,” “the right policies, government commitment and citizen accountability” are needed to decrease child mortality and improve other global health indicators, “[b]ut the sine qua non for effective health care delivery is health workers. Whether it’s prevention, treatment or care, it’s all about health workers,” Jonathan Glennie, a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, writes in a post on the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog.”
Researchers Closer To Developing Meningitis B Vaccine
July 18, 2011
Morning Briefing
“New research may bring scientists one step closer to developing a vaccine that protects against hundreds of strains of meningococcus B, the most common cause of bacterial meningitis,” according to research published last week in Science Translational Medicine, HealthDay News reports. Researchers used methods that allowed them to identify the most effective vaccine candidate, technology that could be used to develop vaccines for malaria and AIDS, the news service notes (7/15).
Small Phase I Trial Shows HIV Vaccine Candidate Is Most Powerful To Date
September 29, 2011
Morning Briefing
Researchers at the Spanish Superior Scientific Research Council (CSIC) have successfully completed a small Phase I human clinical trial of an HIV vaccine candidate that granted 90 percent of 30 study participants an immunological response against the virus, Gizmag reports. “The MVA-B vaccine draws on the natural capabilities of the human immune system and ‘has proven to be as powerful as any other vaccine currently being studied, or even more,’ says Mariano Esteban, head researcher from CSIC’s National Biotech Centre,” the magazine writes (Borgobello, 9/28).
Americans Like Their Health Care, But Think The System Stinks
By Scott Hensley, NPR News
April 12, 2011
KFF Health News Original
A majority of Americans give the country’s health system barely passing grades. Most people choose a hospital based on someone’s personal experience than looking at quality ratings. Yet when it comes to surgeons, people are evenly split on whether experience or data is the best guide.
First Edition: July 15, 2011
July 15, 2011
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that the debt-ceiling strategy appears to moving toward a “plan B.”
Guyana Coast At Risk Of Malaria Resurgence As Climate Change Brings Warmer Temperatures, More Rainfall
September 7, 2011
Morning Briefing
“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.
Berwick Says Obama’s Plan To Trigger Medicare Cuts Won’t Be Necessary
By Susan Jaffe
April 15, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Current plans to improve quality and reduce waste should avoid the need for the Independent Payment Review Board to step in and order cuts, Medicare chief says.
Plan B Gaining Traction In Debt-Ceiling Strategy
July 15, 2011
Morning Briefing
A proposal offered earlier this week by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is emerging as a means to resolve the current stalemate in negotiations to raise the nation’s debt limit. But even as this approach continues to gain momentum, it will face considerable political and procedural hurdles.
Vaccination Must Be Part Of Response To Cholera Outbreak In Haiti
September 23, 2011
Morning Briefing
Though “[c]holera vaccines are not a magic bullet and are not available in adequate numbers” to vaccinate everyone in Haiti, where at least 10 people die each day in an outbreak that began in October 2010, “there are compelling reasons to add vaccinations to the arsenal of public health weapons that has been deployed against cholera in Haiti,” a Washington Post editorial states. Efforts to improve access to clean water, educate the public about cholera transmission and treat those infected are ongoing, “[b]ut those efforts should be supplemented with an ambitious vaccination program starting as soon as practicable,” the editorial writes.
U.N. Increases Humanitarian Aid Need To $7.9B For 2011
July 21, 2011
Morning Briefing
The U.N. on Wednesday said during a donor meeting in Geneva that “it needs $7.9 billion this year, $500 million more than it had originally sought, to fund relief operations in the face of spreading humanitarian crises in Africa and Asia,” Reuters reports (7/20).
