Author: admin
Highlights A hantavirus outbreak linked to a Dutch cruise ship in early May was followed by false health claims that mirror patterns documented in previous outbreaks, including unsupported claims that ivermectin is an effective treatment, that the outbreak was planned in advance, and that it was caused by COVID-19 vaccines. The Monitor also examines a new analysis of Americans’ relationship with health and wellness influencers, finding that most who get health information and advice from them express skepticism about what they hear. What We’re Watching As Hantavirus Cases Emerged, So Did Familiar False Claims About Causes and Cures False health…
James Mu had braced for the call that came in late January. A patient from his rural Northern California county had measles, a disease so rare there that many physicians have never treated a case. While California has some of the strictest vaccine laws in the country, conservative Shasta County’s approach during the covid pandemic stood in stark contrast with the state’s guidance. Its local leaders opposed masking and vaccine mandates, and they ousted the county public health officer, who had sought to enforce those state policies and other safety measures. A potential measles outbreak had “always been in my…
May 28 Jackie Fortiér [FOR-tee-ay] reads this week’s news: Suicide prevention experts argue that improving Americans’ financial well-being could save lives. Plus, the Trump administration proposes looser artificial intelligence safeguards to speed innovation in healthcare. The KFF Health News Minute is available every Thursday via direct download or the RSS feed. Audio,MultimediaAudio,Multimedia#Listen #Latest #KFF #Health #News #Minute1779961021
Members of the Red Cross bury people who have died of Ebola in Rwampara in the DRC, guarded by military personnel after attacks on a treatment facility for Ebola patients. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director General has called for an immediate ceasefire in the eastern DRC to enable officials to address the outbreak of a particularly deadly strain of Ebola, warning that stopping transmission “depends entirely on humanitarian access”. The DRC’s Ituri province, the heart of the Ebola Bundibugyo virus outbreak, is facing “a catastrophic collision of disease and conflict”, Tedros warned on Wednesday. The DRC army and the…
Temperature projections from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warn that temperatures will rise further in the next five years. Global average temperatures are likely to reach record levels in the coming five years, the latest report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns, released amid news that the UK recorded its hottest day in May ever earlier this week. Temperatures in the Arctic region are expected to continue to be higher than the global mean, according to the report produced by the United Kingdom’s Met Office and released on Thursday. A record-breaking heatwave is sweeping across Europe, causing misery and…
Afrigen CEO Prof Petro Terblanche. Afrigen Biologics, the South African facility that developed an mRNA vaccine from scratch during COVID-19, has become the first African facility to be certified to manufacture investigational biological products for Phase I and II clinical trials. The facility celebrated receiving its Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification for its mRNA facility in Cape Town from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) on Wednesday. This means that Afrigen now meets internationally recognised pharmaceutical manufacturing standards. “Failure was never an option,” said Afrigen CEO Professor Petro Terblanche, while paying tribute to her team, the World Health…
After nearly 40 years shaping the national health policy landscape and leading it through pivotal debates, KFF announced today that Dr. Drew Altman will retire from his role as Founding President and Chief Executive Officer on December 31. KFF’s Board of Trustees has appointed Larry Levitt and Dr. Mollyann Brodie as the new leadership team. Beginning in 2027, Levitt and Dr. Brodie will assume the leadership positions of CEO and President, respectively. Since Dr. Altman founded the modern-day KFF, coming to California in 1990 to establish it from what once was the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the organization has…
Commonwealth leaders, global health experts, and diplomats gather at the inaugural Health Coordination Forum in Geneva to accelerate cervical cancer elimination. The Commonwealth’s new strategic framework accelerates the elimination of cervical cancer, a highly preventable disease that claims hundreds of thousands of lives yearly. However, shifting global funding and major prevention gaps threaten to derail progress, forcing states to double down on shared digital resources, regional cooperation, and community engagement. Inside the wood-panelled executive boardroom at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, delegates gathered ahead of the 79th World Health Assembly to discuss strategies on cervical cancer elimination…
The 2025 reconciliation law requires states to condition Medicaid eligibility for adults in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion group and enrollees in partial expansion waiver programs (Georgia and Wisconsin) on meeting work requirements starting January 1, 2027 or sooner at state option. The law specifies mandatory exemptions, including individuals who are “medically frail.” To ease the burden on individuals, the law directs states to use available information “where possible” to verify compliance with Medicaid work activities or exemption status, without requiring additional documentation from individuals. Given the abbreviated implementation timeline, states are moving forward with key decisions over how to implement the medical frailty…
This brief draws on data from various sources. Data on income and savings of Medicare beneficiaries, including the share of beneficiaries who relied on Social Security for at 75% or 90% or more of their total per capita income and the number of Medicare beneficiaries who spent more than 10% of their annual per capita income on Part B premiums, are drawn from the Urban Institute’s Dynamic Simulation of Income Model (DYNASIM4). See Methods of KFF, “Income and Assets of Medicare Beneficiaries in 2024” (August 2025) for more details. Data on out-of-pocket health care spending are from the Centers for…
LISTEN: After a guilty verdict for negligent homicide, a former nurse has found receptive audiences on the speaking circuit. She says she hopes her story can help shed light on problems in the healthcare industry. When RaDonda Vaught got her first speaking request, it had been a year since that day in a Nashville courtroom, when she listened as a jury read her guilty verdict for negligent homicide and neglect of an impaired adult. That was in 2022. Vaught was sentenced to three years of probation for administering the wrong medication and killing a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center…
Montana plans to be one of the first states to enforce President Donald Trump’s work mandate for Medicaid enrollees, adding another challenge for state health officials trying to plug a massive budget hole. Clinicians and patient advocates say the incoming changes will deliver a twofold blow: They expect the work requirements to kick more patients off Medicaid, meaning fewer can afford care, while the health department’s budget problems make it harder for doctors to serve those who keep the coverage. It’s a tumultuous time for state health departments. Additional federal changes are forcing states to perform more checks on who…
Letters to the Editor is a periodic feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We edit for length and clarity and require full names. On the Road To Find Out Your article “Efforts To Understand the Nation’s Drugged Driving Problem Stall Under Trump” (May 19) missed the mark. There is a real lack of data on drug-impaired driving across the country, but it’s not due to federal policy. The fact is, science has not yet found a simple, accurate way to measure if someone is too high to drive. And many local police departments just lack the resources to test…
In 2024, over 61 million adults in the U.S. experienced a mental illness and deaths due to suicide, gun violence, and drug overdose remained high. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic and necessary public health responses exacerbated an already existing mental health and substance use crises. At the same time, many people experience difficulties affording mental health treatment or finding providers. Among insured adults who described their mental health as fair or poor, 43% reported at least one time in the past year when they needed mental health services or medication but did not receive them; some groups – including communities of…
Professor Mohammad Abul Faiz (Bangladesh) accepting the Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health in May 2026. Snake bites are neglected even amongst neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), said Bangladesh’s Professor Mohammad Abul Faiz, who was awarded the prestigious Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize at an event on the sidelines of last week’s World Health Assembly (WHA). The prize is for individuals, institutions, and governmental or nongovernmental organisations whose contributions to public health have gone beyond the call of duty. Faiz, who was honoured for his work on NTDs, including snakebites, is an authority on infectious and tropical diseases, including…
From left to right: Suerie Moon (GHC), Viroj Tangcharoensathien (IGWG), Matthias Seiche (Germany), and Maria Van Kerkhove (WHO) discuss pandemic preparedness. WHO emergency funds are running low, and global health leaders are concerned about a systemic paralysis in pandemic preparedness. In high-level discussions in Geneva, experts explored the geopolitical rifts, pitting the Global South’s demand to treat pandemic tools as legally binding “public goods” against a European push for market-driven surge financing. As a severe Ebola outbreak spreads among vulnerable populations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the financial gridlock in global pandemic preparedness funding is taking…