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U.K. expected to cut aid payments to India in half

U.K. International Development Secretary Justine Greening on a visit to New Delhi this week is expected to "outline plans to phase out Britain's controversial aid payments to India, which are likely to come to an end after 2015," the Financial Times reports.

8 Nov 2012

President Barack Obama re-elected for second term

"Barack Obama was elected to a second presidential term Tuesday, defeating Republican Mitt Romney," the Washington Post reports (Farenthold, 11/6). Reuters writes, "President Barack Obama returns from the campaign trail on Wednesday with little time to savor victory, facing urgent economic and fiscal challenges and a still-divided Congress capable of blocking his every move" (Holland/Spetalnick, 11/7).

8 Nov 2012

GOP retains House despite Democrats' Medicare attacks

As a result, House Republicans could continue to clash with President Obama and the Senate's Democratic majority.

8 Nov 2012

Blog examines PEPFAR-funded program to improve access to HIV/AIDS treatment in Ethiopia

Writing in USAID's "IMPACTblog," Dereje Bisrat, monitoring and evaluation adviser for the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS), discusses the PEPFAR-funded program, which is administered by USAID and "works with Ethiopia's Pharmaceutical Fund and Supply Agency (PFSA), nine regional health bureaus, and more than 1,717 health facilities to improve access to HIV/AIDS treatment" in the country.

8 Nov 2012

WFP to deliver emergency aid to Cuba in response to Hurricane Sandy

"The U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) is to deliver emergency aid to the south-east of Cuba, where Hurricane Sandy wrought widespread damage," BBC News reports. "The WFP is also appealing for $20 million (£12.5) to help some 425,000 Haitians affected by the storm," the news service writes, noting, "The WFP is planning to work with the Cuban government to distribute emergency one-month aid in Santiago de Cuba, which is home to 500,000 residents."

8 Nov 2012

African leaders must do more to ensure continent meets farming potential

"Images of starving children, epitomized in news coverage from Ethiopia in the 1980s, have given Africa a reputation for famine that does an injustice to the continent's potential," Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria and a member of the Africa Progress Panel, writes in a CNN opinion piece.

8 Nov 2012

Big picture: Obama claims victory - but what comes next?

Even before President Barack Obama's second term officially begins it is clear that he will be facing signficicant challenges and a very divided Congress. The challenges ahead include the fiscal cliff and efforts to trim back the nation's entitlement programs.

8 Nov 2012

With votes counted, the 'fiscal cliff' looms large

News outlets report that with the election in the rear-view mirror, President Barack Obama and congressional lawmakers must pivot to high-stakes negotiations over expiring income tax rates, massive scheduled cuts to Pentagon spending and entitlement reform. Also on the to-do list: the Medicare doc-fix.

8 Nov 2012

Several key governors races too close to call, outcome crucial to health law implementation

A Republican wins the gubernatorial election in N.C. while N.H. picks a woman to lead the state. Meanwhile, KHN examines how the state-level results will affect the implementation of the health law.

8 Nov 2012

Dems retain control of the Senate; Rape, abortion comments dash GOP chances in Indiana, Missouri

Victories in high-profile races -- including those in Virginia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and New Mexico -- helped Democrats keep control of the upper chamber. At the same time, the GOP maintained its majority in the House.

8 Nov 2012

Growing number of dengue cases in India increases risk of disease spreading worldwide, experts warn

"An epidemic of dengue fever in India is fostering a growing sense of alarm even as government officials here have publicly refused to acknowledge the scope of a problem that experts say is threatening hundreds of millions of people, not just in India but around the world," the New York Times reports.

8 Nov 2012

Calcium intake does not increase risk of coronary artery calcification

Researchers at the Institute for Aging Research (IFAR) at Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School (HMS), have published a study that shows no evidence of a link between calcium intake and coronary artery calcification, reassuring adults who take calcium supplements for bone health that the supplements do not appear to result in the development of calcification of blood vessels.

8 Nov 2012

Study addresses cost of patient care in acute care surgical settings

An acute care surgery model led to improvement in the quality of surgical patient care and reduced the cost of emergency surgical care at Loma Linda University Medical Center, report researchers who published their findings in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

7 Nov 2012

Wall Street Journal examines program in Pakistan looking to provide health insurance for poor urban residents

The Wall Street Journal examines how "some local social entrepreneurs are coming up with new ideas to provide the poor with access to better medical services" in Pakistan, where the health care system is "split between low-cost government-funded hospitals offering basic services and expensive private-sector medical institutions ... but the majority of the country's 190 million people have little access to health care."

7 Nov 2012

Aidspan publishes new issue of 'Global Fund Observer'

Aidspan, an independent watchdog of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on Monday published Issue 201 of its "Global Fund Observer."

7 Nov 2012

What will the election's outcome mean for the health law?

The stakes are high for the health law's future with the vote either sealing the measure's implementation or becoming its undoing. However, some of the changes it includes have already been internalized by the health care marketplace.

7 Nov 2012

After Election Day, states face deadline on health exchanges

Under the health law, states are required to let the Department of Health and Human Services know by Nov. 16 if they plan to set up their own exchanges or enter into a state-federal partnership.

7 Nov 2012

IRIN examines intellectual property protection in South Africa

IRIN examines how patents and intellectual property protection in South Africa affects patients' access to medicines. "A form of intellectual property protection, patents are typically awarded to companies that can prove their product is new," IRIN writes, adding, "Not so in South Africa, say activists and researchers, who claim the country's patent system allows pharmaceutical companies to apply for new patents on existing drugs based on immaterial changes -- like adding table salt to a formulation or changing a pill's color."

7 Nov 2012

Kenya ramping up male circumcision efforts to meet 2015 goal

"With just over one year left to achieve its target of having some 1.1 million men circumcised as part of HIV prevention efforts, Kenya's government is ramping up efforts to bring more men into clinics, compensating them for their time and encouraging them to bring friends in for the procedure," IRIN reports.

7 Nov 2012

In the campaign's last minutes, Obama and Romney keep up the fight

The Washington Post reported that President Barack Obama had a slight edge in the polls, but most analysts expect the election to be extremely close. GOP challenger Mitt Romney continued to hammer his anti-Obamacare message while other news outlets predict that whoever wins will face big challenges in dealing with the deficit.

7 Nov 2012