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Flooding leaves millions in Pakistan at risk of malnutrition, disease, aid groups warn

"A feeble international response to Pakistan's second major flooding crisis in two years has left millions of people at serious risk of malnutrition and disease, aid groups warned Thursday," Agence France-Presse reports.

18 Feb 2012

Cyclone kills at least 16 in Madagascar; UNICEF responds with medicines, mosquito nets

"At least 16 people have been killed this week when a category four cyclone lashed Madagascar's eastern shores, rescue authorities said on Wednesday," Reuters reports.

18 Feb 2012

Proposed Sustainable Development Goals need greater health focus

In this SciDev.Net opinion piece, journalist Priya Shetty writes that the Sustainable Development Goals -- a successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) proposed to begin in 2015 -- "need more focus on health to continue the progress achieved with MDGs."

18 Feb 2012

State of Iowa selects MHP to provide managed Medicaid health services

Meridian Health Plan has been selected by the State of Iowa to provide managed Medicaid health services to beneficiaries through a contract with the Iowa Department of Human Services (IDHS).

18 Feb 2012

Shah says 'difficult choices' made in FY13 International Affairs budget request

In this post on USAID's "IMPACTblog," USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah says the FY 2013 International Affairs budget request "showcases President Obama's commitment to making smart, efficient investments to help those in the greatest need while helping to create economic opportunity and safeguarding American security." Despite

18 Feb 2012

CVS Caremark's integrated businesses help patients achieve better health

CVS Caremark's chief health care strategy officer today outlined how the company's integrated offerings -- retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefit management (PBM) and retail clinics -- are helping patients achieve better health by working to increase medication adherence and targeting behaviors to improve treatment for chronic diseases.

18 Feb 2012

Global Health Technologies Coalition blog responds to President's FY13 budget request

In this post in the Global Health Technologies Coalition's (GHTC) "Breakthroughs" blog, Ashley Bennett, senior policy associate at GHTC, responds to the release of President Obama's FY 2013 budget request, writing, "In his introduction to the overall budget request, Obama emphasized that research and development (R&D) programs are essential to the U.S. economy and the country's future.

18 Feb 2012

Not-for-profit company leads push for automation of Medicaid enrollment process

Venture capitalists and Wall Street have invested millions of dollars to capitalize on the health care industry's burgeoning demand for information technology. But in New York State, the push to automate the Medicaid enrollment process is being led not by a behemoth IT corporation, but by a tiny not-for-profit: the Hudson Center for Health Equity & Quality (Hudson Center). And 2012 is shaping up to be its breakout year.

18 Feb 2012

FDA to reconsider diet drug that failed to get approval in 2010

Next week, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will recommend whether the agency should approve the first new prescription diet pill in 13 years. The F.D.A. rejected the drug under review, Qnexa, in 2010, amid safety concerns, and the drug's manufacturer is now presenting additional data to argue its case.

18 Feb 2012

Provena Health and Resurrection Health Care are now joined as Presence Health

Presence Health has been chosen as the name of the new healthcare system formed by the November 2011 merger of Provena Health of Mokena, IL, and Resurrection Health Care of Chicago, IL. A formal rollout of a new logo and related branding will occur over the next several months.

18 Feb 2012

Ala. mental hospitals to close; La. hospital copes with budget cuts; D.C. gets mental health system

Alabama will shut down most of its mental health hospitals by the spring of 2013 in a sweeping plan to cut costs and change how the state's psychiatric patients receive treatment, state officials announced on Wednesday.

18 Feb 2012

Clinton holds press conference marking International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday marking the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, recognized on February 6, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "said ... that there is no cultural justification for female genital cutting, a practice that is sometimes referred to as female circumcision," and that "governments and non-governmental organizations are making progress toward ending female genital mutilation, or FGM, by reaching out to those who still practice it," VOA News reports.

18 Feb 2012

MSF warns health, living conditions of refugees in Dadaab camp deteriorating

The medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on Thursday said the conditions for hundreds of thousands of refugees living in Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp are worsening and people there "are experiencing a 'humanitarian emergency' because of the scaling back of aid work," Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports (2/16).

18 Feb 2012

WHO confirms recommendations regarding HIV, female hormonal contraceptives after review of studies

"A stakeholder consultation convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva has reviewed recent epidemiological studies related to HIV transmission and acquisition by women using hormonal contraceptives," a UNAIDS press statement reports.

18 Feb 2012

Catholic bishops call birth control compromise 'simply unworkable'

A wealthy backer of GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum apologizes for aspirin-as-birth control "joke," a day after female lawmakers stage walkout from a GOP-led committee hearing after no women were allowed to testify for the contraception mandate.

18 Feb 2012

Personalities ready for Supreme Court health law showdown

Obama's solicitor general will bring a new voice to the debate when he defends the law before the high court next month. In the meantime, an attorney challenging the law argues that if the mandate stands, the government could also force Americans to buy a car, and KHN presents the second part of an analysis of the legal arguments before the court.

18 Feb 2012

Millions of North Koreans face malnutrition despite recent food aid, relief agencies warn

"Relief agencies have warned that millions of North Koreans are malnourished, with the most vulnerable facing starvation in the coming months, despite reports that the impoverished state has received food aid from China and South Korea," the Lancet reports.

18 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: The constitution and birth control; War on Wyden

Give him points for cleverness. President Obama's birth control "accommodation" was as politically successful as it was morally meaningless. It was nothing but an accounting trick that still forces Catholic (and other religious) institutions to provide medical insurance that guarantees free birth control, tubal ligation and morning-after abortifacients - all of which violate church doctrine on the sanctity of life.

18 Feb 2012

Federal probe of FDA's treatment of whistleblowers widens

Investigators say they are broadening their efforts because of "new and troubling allegations."

18 Feb 2012

Netsmart chooses Overland Park as the location for permanent Kansas office

Netsmart, the leading provider of clinical solutions for health and human services organizations nationwide, today announced it has selected 4950 College Boulevard, Overland Park, Kan., as the location for its permanent Kansas office. Netsmart has named the office the Solutionarium.

18 Feb 2012