The health effects of the debt deal and a famine we knew was coming
It was an eventful weekend in the news. Today's Daily Briefing will help you catch up on health in the debt deal, learn surprising facts about clinical trials abroad and violence in hospitals, and connect with tough-but-important stories about famine and homelessness.
Hunger in East Africa: We were warned of an impending famine months ago. Here's one USAID paper from November (PDF). So why can't the United States and other donors help Somalis in need? Oxfam calls it "willful neglect." NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that there are millions of people whom aid workers just can't reach because of conflict.
Debt Deal: Ezra Klein at the Washington Post explains it well with updates. Jaan Sidorov at the Disease Management Care Blog explains why Treasury ratings matter to health insurers. Steve Baragona explains why budget fights could threaten food security around the world.
Dangerous Working Conditions: Here's a surprising fact:
Nearly 40% of employees in California emergency rooms said they had been assaulted on the job in the previous year, according to a survey by UC San Francisco and other researchers in 2007. More than one in 10 emergency room nurses surveyed in 2010 said they had been attacked in the previous week, according the Emergency Nurses Assn., which represents 40,000 emergency room nurses nationally.
Jessica Garrison and Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports on violence against hospital workers in the Los Angeles Times.
Free Birth Control: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a new rule that insurers must pay for many preventive services for women, including emergency contraception. Jenny Gold at Kaiser Health News reports.
Addicition: InvisiblePeople.tv interviews Cameron in Alberta, Canada. Mark Horvath, who has been interviewing homeless people since 2008, writes, "This may be the most candid and honest interview about addictions so far."
More to Watch: Al Jazeera's Fault Lines traveled to India to see firsthand how clinical trials abroad are conducted. Zeina Awad reports.
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(Photo by Oxfam East Africa, July 25, 2011 in a Dadaab camp, via Flickr Creative Commons)