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Alliance News Digest

Week of 1 April 2011

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Top 30 medicines to save mothers and children – WHO – (3/21)
  WHO's first ever list of priority medicines for maternal and child health recommends to countries which medicines are most important for saving lives.
• Invest in Health, UNFPA Executive Director Urges African Ministers – UNFPA – (3/28)
  Integrated health interventions could save hundreds of millions of dollars for the health system.
• Investment in health is an investment in economic development – UNAIDS – (3/29)
  African Ministers of Finance and Health came together for a high level panel discussion to explore new ways of investing in health
• Haitian health care: a follow-up – WHO – (March 2011)
  This story looks at a clinic and a small hospital run by Haitians who are improving the lives of fellow citizens.
• Accelerating Progress on Health Workforce Plans - Capacity Plus – (3/18)
  How can countries engage the right stakeholders to make progress on their health workforce plans?

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• ZIMBABWE: Fighting Past Fear to Treat TB – Inter Press Service – (3/25)
  Fear and stigma of TB is closely associated with AIDS in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
• WC Care Workers' Stipends Under Review - BuaNews, SA – (3/25)
  Community care workers, including TB treatment supporters, must receive better pay in recognition of their contribution to health services.
• Why South Africa's health record is poor - Mail and Guardian, SA – (3/28)
  Despite South Africa spends a higher proportion of its GDP on health, its health record compares badly against those of many poor African countries.
• Les médecins résidents envisagent de recourir à la grève illimitée - La Tribune, Algeria – (3/24)
  Plus de 600 médecins résidents ont manifesté et réclamé fermement l’abrogation pure et simple du service civil, ainsi que la révision de leur statut.
• Nursing must be overhauled: technical team - The Botswana Gazette – (3/30)
  A National Nursing Strategy that will chart the path for the development of nursing in Botswana is compelling and urgent.
• NPHCDA Trains Health Workers On Midwifery - Leadership, Nigeria – (3/29)
  Community health extension workers are being trained with a view to stop to high rate of maternal mortality prevalent in the country.
• Doctors Fed Up With Failing System – The Namibian – (3/29)
  “Lack skill and experience" were listed by doctors as one of the major problems in the sector
• Lagos Doctors Suspend Strike – Vanguard, Nigeria – (3/26)
  Chairman of Medical Guild said government had already documented the agreement, including the full implementation of CONMESS
• Rush for 'Miracle Drug' Exposes Healthcare Woes (Editorial) - Daily Nation, Kenya – (3/26)
  The Loliondo pilgrimage is not the first illustration of the poor state of affairs in the health system.
• New Criteria for Nurses Admission Is Retrogressive (Editorial) - Public Agenda, Ghana – (3/25)
  New criteria will not help the cause of nursing training and the development of health personnel in the country.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Practise in rural areas, minister tells medicos in Bangalore - Daily News & Analysis, India – (3/31)
  Various compensations and incentives have failed to motivate doctors to take up practise in rural areas, said Union minister for health
• Family medicine & medical education reform - The Hindu – (3/29)
  Discussions this week with Medical Education authorities could see far-reaching beneficial consequences for health care in India
• Government to hire 300,000 additional lady health workers - The News International, Pakistan – (3/31)
  Government will hire three hundred thousand more LHWs to provide better public healthcare to impoverished areas.
• Seeking an end to tuberculosis - Vietnam.net Bridge – (3/23)
  Health experts called to improve the medical system and strengthen community awareness activities to prevent TB in Viet Nam.
• Fate of nurses in Libya uncertain - The Daily Star, Bangladesh – (3/27)
  Bangladeshis at Choucha say medical staff detained to work
• HRCP flays manhandling of lady health workers - Daily Times, Pakistan – (3/30)
  The protesters were holding a peaceful demonstration demanding regularisation of their services.
• Cuban doctors struggle in US - Manila Bulletin – (3/30)
  For Cuban physicians in America, escaping his homeland turned out to be the easy part.
• A million put off by expense of GP visit - The Australian – (3/24)
  Over a million Australians delay seeing a GP because they can't afford it, similar number do not get their prescriptions because of the cost, study finds.
• The evidence shows that physician assistants could help improve access to healthcare - The Crikey, Australia – (3/30)
  Edith Cowan University in Perth plans to introduce a Physician-Assistants program

NORTH AMERICA

• Nurses to play a greater role in healthcare - Los Angeles Times – (3/29)
  Los Angeles County is expanding a program in which nurse practitioners serve as primary care providers as a way to cut costs.
• Med students rush to primary care programs – CNN – (3/24)
  This year family medicine residency programs saw a record 94% enrollment rate. The reason: health reform.
• Japan's other health crisis - Global Post, Boston – (3/27)
  Tens of thousands of evacuees face serious health problems and a future clouded by trauma.
• Research aids rural health - Alabama U Crimson White – (3/27)
  Rural Health Institute was born to unite communities and discuss the needs of rural Alabama.
• Is a shortage of geriatric care looming? - News Chief – (3/24)
  With the number of geriatrics physicians steadily declining -- registered nurses are stepping up to fill the need.
• As health-care reform law turns 1, some clarity on what it does and how it does it - The Washington Post – (3/21)
  On the first anniversary of Health-Care Reform, public support for the law is mixed and contradictory.
• Special Age, Special Doctor - The Wall Street Journal – (3/29)
  Only about 650 doctors nationwide, a tiny fraction of the total number, are board certified in adolescent medicine.
• Train physicians for Canada first - Telegraph Journal, CA – (3/28)
  Dalhousie University has recently decided to sell 10 seats a year in its medical program to Saudi Arabia.

EUROPE

• Medical schools in sub-Saharan Africa - The Lancet, UK – (3/26)
  This study examines the challenges, innovations, and emerging trends in medical education in the region
• Health care: an African solution (Editorial) - The Lancet, UK – (3/26)
  The foundation of MEPI and ASLM should be celebrated as efforts to provide African solutions to health care within Africa.
• One in three GPs threaten to quit before pensions change - Daily Mail, UK – (3/23)
  One in three GPs is considering early retirement to avoid changes to their gold-plated NHS pension scheme, a poll has found.
• Nurses union criticises HSE refusal to enter talks – Irish Examiner – (3/31)
  Nursing unions have recommended that agency staff should not make themselves available for work at the new lower rates.
• African countries need to allocate more of their budgets to health, says WHO - British Medical Journal – (3/30)
  WHO says that 32 African Union governments currently spend less than $33 per capita on health.
• GMC demands minimum standards for doctors across all 27 EU states - The Guardian, UK – (3/30)
  British medical regulator calls for urgent checks on differences in medical qualifications 'which could put patients at risk'
• Hospitals crisis continues with 400 people waiting on trolleys every day - Irish Examiner – (3/24)
  Hospitals are still being gripped by an emergency department crisis, with more than 400 people on trolleys every day
• Polish nurses occupy parliament for seventh day - Warsaw Business Journal – (3/23)
  The nurses are protesting an amendment to the law which would make it easier for hospitals to hire staff on temporary contracts.
• Des médecins de plus en plus agressés, surtout verbalement - Le Monde, France – (3/29)
  Les déclarations d'incidents enregistrées auprès de l'Observatoire pour la sécurité des médecins ont augmenté de 80% en 2010.
• Agresiones a médicos - El País, Spain – (3/28)
  El primer estudio de la Organización Médica Colegial registra 500 casos de violencia en 2010.

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Derecho a la salud: Honduras cuenta con 8.7 médicos por cada 10,000 habitantes - Proceso Digital, Honduras – (3/29)
  Honduras se sitúa en el último lugar de los países centroamericanos en la disponibilidad de médicos por habitante.
• Se enciende la polémica sobre paraguayos egresados de Cuba - La Nación, Paraguay – (3/28)
  El decano de la Facultad de Medicina dijo que los médicos recibidos en Cuba son comparables sólo con Lic. en Enfermería.
• El país pierde terreno en la exportación de servicios de salud - El Salvador.com – (3/27)
  Los médicos brindan servicios de salud a los extranjeros por esfuerzo propio, pero carecen del apoyo de Gobierno.
• Indígenas araonas mueren porque no tienen acceso a servicios de salud - Erbol, Bolivia – (3/28)
  El pueblo Araona vive en la pobreza y sumido en el olvido, sus habitantes mueren debido a la carencia de centros de salud.
• Preocupan las agresiones contra los médicos de hospitales públicos - El País, Colombia – (3/22)
  Los especialistas de hospitales del oriente de Cali se enfrentan a pacientes y acompañantes que les gritan, les pegan y los convierten en rehenes del quirófano
• Padilha quer revalidar diploma médico de brasileiros formados em Cuba - Amazonas Notícias, Brazil – (3/30)
  Cerca de 400 profissionais brasileiros formados na Ilha querem revalidar seus diplomas