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U.K., Islamic countries pledge additional funds for famine aid in Somalia

During a visit to the Somali capital of Mogadishu, U.K. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell on Wednesday pledged an additional $41.5 million in aid to Somalia, to be distributed through UNICEF, BBC News reports.

19 Aug 2011

NCD Alliance says U.S., Canada, E.U. stalling efforts to fight NCDs

The NCD Alliance, which represents about 2,000 health organizations from around the world focused on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), "on Thursday accused the United States, Canada and Europe of harming efforts to fight cancer, diabetes, heart and other diseases because they will not agree to set United Nations targets," Reuters reports.

19 Aug 2011

New quick malaria diagnostic test may help reduce overtreatment

"Health workers often treat patients for malaria even when a test indicates a different cause of the illness," a behavior seen across sub-Saharan Africa "that worries many health experts," PRI's The World reports.

19 Aug 2011

New rules would help consumers comparison shop for health plans

The proposed regulations, issued Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services, are designed to make sure insurers and employers provide consumers with "plain English" information about health insurance coverage to empower them to make informed choices.

19 Aug 2011

Will spending cuts undo health industry's job market impact?

Even during months of stubborn unemployment, the health care industry has provided a solid underpinning, reliably adding jobs in an otherwise dismal environment.

19 Aug 2011

Isolation of HIV antibodies advances search for AIDS vaccine

A team of researchers has "identified 17 potent antibodies whose discovery opened up valuable pathways in the search for an AIDS vaccine," Agence France-Presse reports.

19 Aug 2011

Study: Medical malpractice cases common, payouts are not

The findings of new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that only one in five malpractice lawsuits results in a payout. The authors conclude that the truth behind these numbers is complicated.

19 Aug 2011

Use of insecticide-treated bednets linked to local resurgence of malaria, study says

"Insecticide-treated bednets, whose use is being widely promoted in Africa to combat malaria, may paradoxically be linked to local resurgence of the disease," according to a study published in the Lancet on Thursday, the Independent reports.

19 Aug 2011

Longer looks: Doctors advocating less care; addiction as a 'disease'

These physicians are not anti-medicine. They are not trying to save money on their copayments or deductibles. And they are not trying to rein in the nation's soaring health-care costs, which at $2.7 trillion account for fully one sixth of every dollar spent in the U.S. They are applying to their personal lives a message they have become increasingly vocal about in their roles as biomedical researchers and doctors: more health care often means worse health.

19 Aug 2011

Analysis: Did law's backers do enough to protect it?

In the wake of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision that the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate is unconstitutional, some are wondering if Democrats missed a chance to bulwark their health law against legal challenges.

19 Aug 2011

HHS announces $40M in grants to identify and enroll eligible children for Medicaid, CHIP

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced $40 million in grants for efforts to identify and enroll children eligible for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

19 Aug 2011

IOM may miss deadline for essential benefits report

In other news related to the health law's implementation, policy analysts offer their views of the challenges ahead for the creation of accountable care organizations.

19 Aug 2011

The Perry record on reform, Medicaid and HPV vaccinations

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's high-profile launch of his campaign for the GOP nomination for president means fresh scrutiny on his record and platform regarding health issues.

19 Aug 2011

'Real action' needed on NCDs

"We were deeply perturbed to learn that the negotiations for the Outcomes Document of the U.N. High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), a mere month or so away, had stalled because member states failed to reach consensus," Nalini Saligram, CEO of Arogya World, and Sandeep Kishore, an MD/PhD candidate at the Cornell/ Rockefeller/ Sloan-Kettering Institute, write in a Huffington Post opinion piece.

19 Aug 2011

Japan to fund polio vaccination efforts in Pakistan

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing approximately $65 million to Pakistan's government to provide polio vaccination campaigns in the country, "one of the most difficult fronts against the disease as global health organizations risk missing their goal of stopping polio globally the end of 2012," the Wall Street Journal reports.

19 Aug 2011

Study: U.S. health care workers often use complementary and alternative medicine

U.S. health care workers, especially doctors and nurses, use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) far more than do workers in other fields, according to a new study. CAM includes diverse therapies outside the realm of conventional medicine.

19 Aug 2011

Obama urges balanced approach by 'super committee'

As for deficit reduction, Mr. Obama suggested that he would call in his speech for the bipartisan 12-member Congressional committee that was created by his debt-reduction deal with Republicans this month to be more ambitious about deficit-reduction than its formal charge requires — including tax increases on the wealthy, which Republicans oppose.

19 Aug 2011

Actress Mandy Moore leads bipartisan congressional group to Cameroon to highlight disease prevention

"Actress, singer and humanitarian Mandy Moore recently led a bipartisan delegation of congressional staffers on a trip to Cameroon to promote foreign aid and disease prevention there," Foreign Policy's "The Cable" reports.

19 Aug 2011

State roundup: Opposition to Calif. health insurance regulation bill

Supporters of controversial legislation to give state regulators power to approve, deny or modify changes in health insurance rates have returned from their summer recess to find added opposition as they push for its passage before the session wraps up. Gov. Jerry Brown's finance officials came out against Assembly Bill 52 at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing this week, raising concerns about the costs of the rate-regulation proposal.

19 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: 'Judicial restraint' and health law; mental health parity; perspectives from JAMA and NEJM

A Supreme Court decision to throw out health-care reform on Commerce Clause grounds could open up hundreds of other federal laws to legal challenge -- starting with the Civil Rights Act. It's hard to believe that this court really wants to relitigate the second half of the 20th century, but we'll have an answer soon enough.

19 Aug 2011