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Food insecurity in Africa's Sahel

Isobel Coleman, senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and director of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative, examines the "massive food crisis ... brewing in Africa's Sahel" in this post on CFR's "Democracy in Development" blog.

6 Jul 2012

New study maps global zoonotic disease 'hotspots'

"A global study mapping human diseases that come from animals like tuberculosis, AIDS, bird flu or Rift Valley fever has found that just 13 such diseases are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths a year," Reuters reports.

6 Jul 2012

First Edition: July 6, 2012

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including President Barack Obama's defense of the health law on the campaign trail and an examination of how Mitt Romney viewed the Massachusetts requirement for health insurance.

6 Jul 2012

FDA approves at-home HIV test, available in Oct.

The FDA has approved an at-home HIV test that gives results in under 40 minutes. The tests should be available in stores in October.

6 Jul 2012

Employers eye defined contribution health coverage

In other news on health care marketplace issues, TriWest loses its challenge to the Pentagon's new contract for military health care, and researchers find prices increasing for children's care.

6 Jul 2012

Doctor groups sue Aetna, insurer says it's retaliation

In their lawsuit, California physicians claim Aetna is unfair to patients getting care outside of preferred-provider networks. The company says the suit is payback for Aetna's own suit alleging corruption earlier this year.

6 Jul 2012

Examining teenage pregnancy, maternal mortality in Africa

In this audio report in PRI's "The World," PRI anchor "Aaron Schachter talks to Agnes Odhiambo, a researcher on women's rights in Africa for New York-based Human Rights Watch, about the terrible toll of teenage pregnancy and childbirth in Africa."

6 Jul 2012

After court ruling, public opinion still divided on health law

A fresh wave of public opinion polls has been released in the last few days, measuring Americans' views of the Supreme Court and its decision to uphold most of the health care law. The surveys found Americans divided over the ruling, as they have been over the law since its enactment in 2010.

6 Jul 2012

It's not over: More legal challenges loom over health law

Legal challenges on the health law's contraception mandate and a new Medicare panel could make for more health law fireworks.

6 Jul 2012

GlobalPost examines adult male circumcision campaign in Swaziland

Noting "the United States wants to accelerate the pace of male circumcisions to support 4.7 million procedures in the developing world by the end of next year, up from one million at the beginning of this year," GlobalPost, as part of its AIDS Turning Point special report, examines the adult male circumcision campaign in Swaziland.

6 Jul 2012

Cholera outbreak in Cuba kills three, sickens more than 50 people

A cholera outbreak in eastern Cuba has killed three elderly people and sickened more than 50 others, "130 years after the last known case of the disease was reported on the island," Agence France-Presse reports.

6 Jul 2012

A look at how health policy positions can be politically sold, accurate or not

Marketing experts tackle health policy messaging, as the president campaigns for an ally and news organizations fact-check political claims.

6 Jul 2012

Audit finds wrong part of Medicare was used to pay for hospice patients' drugs

The Medicare program could be paying multiple times for prescription drugs for hospice beneficiaries, a new federal report suggests.

6 Jul 2012

Roche receives FDA approval for CMV viral load test

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first DNA test to help health care professionals gauge the progress of anti-viral treatment in solid organ transplant patients undergoing cytomegalovirus (CMV) antiviral therapy.

6 Jul 2012

Experts at U.K. conference discuss new approaches to maternal mortality in Africa

"Earlier this week the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge, U.K. hosted a conference called New Approaches to Maternal Mortality in Africa," Paul Simpson, the associate editor at PLoS Medicine, reports in the PLoS "Speaking of Medicine" blog.

6 Jul 2012

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Goosby discusses PEPFAR on NPR's 'All Things Considered'

NPR's "All Things Considered" on Tuesday featured an interview of U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby by host Robert Siegel. Goosby discussed PEPFAR's success at treating people living with HIV/AIDS in other countries, including Haiti, Rwanda, and Botswana, as well as the cost of treatment.

6 Jul 2012

NPR's 'All Things Considered' examines progress in treating AIDS in developing countries

NPR's "All Things Considered" examines HIV/AIDS treatment progress in developing countries, where the high cost of the "triple-drug regimens that were routinely saving the lives of patients in wealthier countries," and logistical issues, such as ensuring patients would take their medication on time, led some experts to say HIV treatment was "impossible" in the earlier years of the epidemic.

6 Jul 2012

Court ruling could let states cut Medicaid rolls; More states weigh opting out of expansion

The Supreme Court decision overturning the requirement that states expand their Medicaid programs is whipping up strong emotions in some state capitals.

6 Jul 2012

Paralympic medicine: challenges and rewards

In the second Series paper, Paralympic medicine, Nick Webborn of the British Paralympic Association and Peter Van de Vliet of the International Paralympic Committee Medical and Scientific Department, outline some of the issues that arise for health-care professionals when maintaining health in elite athletes with a variety of impairments.

6 Jul 2012

Viewpoints: The Medicaid expansion 'dilemma;' Mandate not the only health tax the GOP backed

Full-time employment is a major reason that able-bodied adults would have incomes above 133 percent of the federal poverty level. If carried out, this expansion is expected to reduce full-time employment among able-bodied adults, because they would no longer need to be employed full time to obtain health insurance.

6 Jul 2012