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Aid agencies appeal for additional funding to address food insecurity in African Sahel

A coalition of "aid agencies said on Monday they are facing a multi-million dollar funding shortage to deal with a food crisis in the Sahel," News24 reports.

26 Apr 2012

'Global Pulse' summarizes event launching USAID child survival social media campaign

At an event on Monday launching USAID's "Every Child Deserves a Fifth Birthday" social media campaign, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah described how $30 worth of materials contained in a backpack he carried onto stage, including zinc to prevent diarrhea and vaccines to prevent pneumococcal diseases, "can lead to a massive reduction in preventable child death in the developing world," GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog reports.

26 Apr 2012

GOP budget focuses on cutting health law funds rather than trimming Medicare, Medicaid

House Republican lawmakers propose big spending cuts to health care, labor and foreign aid programs. Meanwhile, progress on Food and Drug Administration user fee legislation could stall over "key differences" on proposed amendments.

26 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Fixes to Medicare should improve seniors' access to care; Lifestyle changes could help fix budget

Medicare, which according to a new assessment will go bankrupt by 2024, is in dire need of reform. But there are right ways and wrong ways to go about it. The right reform would save money while giving seniors better access to care. ... The hard truth is that that's impossible. Both Republicans and Democrats recognize the need for change. Unfortunately, their proposals have come up short.

26 Apr 2012

South Africa's science minister urges African researchers to become more involved in solving continent's health problems

"South Africa's science minister, Naledi Pandor, has called for increased efforts by African nations to build both a greater ability to carry out research relevant to their specific health challenges, and the capacity to put such research to use," SciDev.Net reports.

26 Apr 2012

Scientists identify linchpin of fat metabolism

Humans are built to hunger for fat, packing it on during times of feast and burning it during periods of famine. But when deluged by foods rich in fat and sugar, the modern waistline often far exceeds the need to store energy for lean times, and the result has been an epidemic of diabetes, heart disease and other obesity-related problems.

26 Apr 2012

Allowing countries to use PEPFAR funding for voluntary contraception for women aligns with GHI's 'women-centered' approach

"PEPFAR has said it will use" nearly $1.5 billion in unspent aid "to invest in commodities (condoms, HIV rapid test kits and voluntary medical male circumcision kits), systems and institutions, and program strengthening," Suzanne Ehlers, president of Population Action International, writes in this post in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

26 Apr 2012

Commonwealth Fund Commission unveils community-based health plan

Noting the "unprecedented opportunity" provided under the Affordable Care Act, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and other recently enacted federal laws, the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System today unveiled a community-based plan to enhance health and reduce spending by improving care for chronically ill patients and targeting quality improvement efforts to conditions that can yield the greatest benefit in a relatively short time.

26 Apr 2012

Hand sanitizers provide key benefits when properly used

With cases of intentional misuse of alcohol-based hand sanitizers being widely reported, the American Cleaning Institute (ACI, formerly The Soap and Detergent Association) offered reminders that the products provide key benefits when properly used.

26 Apr 2012

Political cartoon: 'Kiss of Death (Panel)?'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Kiss of Death (Panel)?" by Lisa Benson.

26 Apr 2012

Health system 'sticker shock' and other critiques

NPR reports on how one cancer specialist diagnoses the health system's ills, while The Associated Press reports on how the costs for a common operation to remove the appendix ranged from $1,500 to $180,000 in one state.

25 Apr 2012

First Edition: April 25, 2012

Today's headlines include reports that Medicare is proposing a change in how it decides hospital reimbursements and the latest on the GOP Capitol Hill budget strategy.

25 Apr 2012

Fights over abortion legislation in N.H., Wisconsin

The New Hampshire Senate is expected to weigh a half dozen abortion bills later this week, including one that would cut off taxpayer funding to clinics and others that perform elective abortions, according to media reports. In Wisconsin, meanwhile, some women's groups and doctors oppose a law that prompted Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to suspend nonsurgical abortions.

25 Apr 2012

State Medicaid programs scrutinized for fraud

With the federal government trying to cut costs and crack down on fraud, a congressional panel this week will set its sights on the Medicaid program, which last year paid out nearly $22 billion in error or fraudulent claims. The April 25 hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is just the latest in a series that Congress has held recently targeting federal program that have high "error rates" in payments, such as Medicaid.

25 Apr 2012

Costs, quality pose challenges in caring for aging patients

NPR reports on on the difficulties involved in planning for the costs associated with caring for aging parents. Meanwhile, Kaiser Health News reports on a new poll that finds doctors fall short in caring for seniors.

25 Apr 2012

Providers can and should work toward 'sustainable anesthesia'

Anesthesia providers can and should begin taking steps toward practicing "sustainable anesthesia," according to the May special issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society.

25 Apr 2012

Report examines efforts to move to universal health coverage

The Council on Foreign Relations recently released a new report titled, "The New Global Health Agenda: Universal Health Coverage," in which "authors Oren Ahoobim, Daniel Altman, Laurie Garrett, Vicky Hausman, and Yanzhong Huang discuss a rise in support for universal health coverage and the financial benefits that may be reaped by implementing such schemes, and provide examples of models used to date by countries in establishing universal health coverage," according to the report summary.

25 Apr 2012