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Alliance News Digest

Week of 7 January 2010

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• From no doctors to the “finest hospital in central Africa” - Partners in Health – (12/22)
  The Butaro Hospital represents a major milestone for quality health care not just for Rwanda but for the entire region.
• Merlin health workers shortlisted for international award – Merlin, UK – (12/29)
  The Global Health Workforce Alliance Special Recognition Awards celebrate the dedication, hard work and commitment of frontline health workers
• Children in Africa get access to computers this Christmas - DFID, UK – (12/27)
  Supported by the British Government, Digital Links has already supplied 65,000 computers and digital education materials to improve health and education in Africa
• Survey of African medical schools identifies needs - US National Institute for Health – (December 2010)
  The study and its recommendations are intended to provide a catalyst for further innovations and investment in medical education in sub-Saharan Africa
• UN Secretary-General Welcomes the New Year and New Executive Director with Visit to UNFPA – UNFPA. (1/5)
  A former Nigerian health minister has taken over the leadership of UNFPA

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Health professionals tasked on Continuing Medical Education - Vanguard, Nigeria – (12/27)
  Access to requisite information by medical health practitioners has been identified as a vital ingredient towards advancement of the Nigerian health sector
• Increasing the medical workforce - Daily Sun, Nigeria – (01/02)
  In a recent publication, the World Health Organization raised an alarm over inadequate medical workforce in Nigeria
• Health sector brain gain versus the law – Ghanaweb – (12/31)
  Ghana President recently appealed to Ghanaian health professionals in the Diaspora to come and help despite of the bureaucracies
• Resident doctors protest non-payment of teaching allowances - Nigerian Tribune – (12/30)
  Every cadre of doctor teach in at one level or the other, so they must be paid.
• Cellphone project helps mothers curb spread of HIV to babies - Business Daily Africa – (12/29)
  The phone contact is intended to ensure that mothers keep taking their antiretroviral medicines during pregnancy
• RRC to Focus On Disease Prevention in 2011 - New Times, Rwanda – (12/28)
  Improve and maintain hygiene standards as a measure to prevent diseases, main 2011 plans for youth volunteers working with Rwanda Red Cross
• SOUTH AFRICA: HIV stalls progress on MDGs - IRIN PlusNews – (01/03)
  The South African Health Review 2010 reveals the immense challenges in achieving the eight goals set by the UN in 2000
• Leading the way in mental health care (Editorial) - The National, UAE – (12/27)
  Mental health treatment is widely considered taboo in the Middle East

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Graying Japan Setting Bar High for Indonesian Nurses – The Jakarta Globe – (12/28)
  Despite the desperate need for foreign labor, navigating Japanese bureaucracy is not easy
• Shortage of doctors, hurdles to access - The Hindu – (01/02)
  The acute shortage of medical seats leads to an acute shortage of doctors, especially in rural India
• AFGHANISTAN: Unpaid volunteers prop up health system – UN IRIN – (01/03)
  Community health volunteers in Afghanistan might provide a more effective service if they were paid and had formal work contracts
• HEALTH-BANGLADESH: Equity Key to Cutting Child Mortality - IPS Asia-Pacific – (12/31)
  Bangladesh is now among the few nations that are poised to reduce its child mortality rate by two-thirds, which is the fourth MDG
• Salary jump for doctors in villages - The Telegraph, India – (01/05)
  Dispur has hiked the salaries of all doctors serving in rural areas with additional incentives
• Major review of ethical code, guidelines for doctors – Channel News Asia, Singapore – (01/04)
  Singapore Medical Council proposes changes as part of the first review of the Ethical Code and Ethical Guidelines for doctors in a decade
• Shortage of specialists hits cancer patients - New Zealand Herald – (01/04)
  Patients are being denied chemotherapy because of a shortage of doctors
• Fears the health workforce is getting too old - ABC News, AU – (12/29)
  State and Federal Governments need to provide more incentives to young health workers, to avoid future staff shortages

NORTH AMERICA

• G.O.P. Newcomers Set Out to Undo Obama Victories - The New York Times – (01/02)
  Health care is only one item on an aggressive agenda of Republicans eager to distinguish themselves quickly from the White House
• Pickups Mobilize Bolivia's Maternal Healthcare - Women’s eNews – (12/30)
  Mobile health units are rolling clinicians into remote parts of Bolivia and helping to lower one of the world's worst rates of maternal mortality
• 2011 Translates Into New Career Opportunities For Medical Interpreters - PR Newswire – (12/24)
  New standards effective in January require hospitals to provide language interpreting and translation services.
• Electronic medical records would be boon to rural health, officials say - Wisconsin State Journal – (12/25)
  Records are a major expense for small facilities, many of which say they struggle financially.
• A Doctor in Iraq, Watching a Faith Healer at Work - The New York Times – (12/27)
  Faith healers are sometimes more successful in treating the mentally ill than medically trained psychiatrists
• Should Sleepy Surgeons Disclose Fatigue to Patients? - ABC News – (12/30)
  Doctors debate need for mandatory disclosure of sleep hours and recommendations to prohibit surgery when the hours fall short
• AIDS treatment goes mobile in Kenya - UPI – (01/04)
  Medical gear is transported house to house, sometimes by camel, to reach HIV/AIDS patients and those who want to be tested
• As doctors age, small towns face critical shortage - San Francisco Chronicle – (01/02)
  In isolated places, fears are rising that as greater numbers of doctors retire, there won't be enough to take their place
• Healthcare reform - The Washington Post – (01/02)
  Healthcare reform means new goods for those Americans in healthcare professions
• Not what the doctor ordered - Stratford Gazette, CA – (01/06)
  There is a national drug shortage, and Ontario has been hit the hardest, survey says

EUROPE

• Measuring impact in the Millennium Development Goal era and beyond: a new approach to large-scale effectiveness evaluations - The Lancet, UK – (01/01)
  Traditional evaluation designs, which compare areas with and without a given programme, are no longer relevant
• The Greek economic crisis: a primary health-care perspective - The Lancet, UK – (01/01)
  Greek primary care is highly fragmented, with several different public and private providers involved, with no coordination between them and no gatekeeping system
• Midwife leader accuses GPs of discouraging home births - The Guardian, UK – (12/29)
  Some family doctors scaring mothers over comparative safety of hospital versus home deliveries
• NHS staff cuts could cost lives, says nursing chief - The Guardian, UK – (12/25)
  Patient care is being 'compromised' due to £20bn efficiency saving target, says head of Royal College of Nursing
• Cuban medics in Haiti put the world to shame - The Independent, UK – (12/26)
  Castro's doctors and nurses are the backbone of the fight against cholera
• Doctors in threat to withdraw goodwill over cuts - Herald Scotland – (12/30)
  Health service cuts will damage patient care in the long term, the leader of Scotland’s doctors warned
• Pregnant women 'face more risks overnight' - BBC News, UK – (01/01)
  More senior doctors should work overnight in hospitals, expert says.
• Junior doctor shortage problematic, says HSE - Irish Times – (12/23)
  “Immense challenge” to deliver the same levels of service provided in 2010 with net reduced funding for 2011, the executive said.
• Sida: 49 contaminations professionnelles en France depuis le début de l'épidémie – AFP – (12/24)
  Au moins 8 séroconversions et 12 infections présumées étaient évitables par le respect des précautions standards
• Doctors' exodus might threaten nurses' jobs - Prague Daily Monitor – (01/03)
  If hospitals have to merge some wards and even whole hospitals have to be closed, nurses will lose jobs

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Los Médicos piden laudo único para disimular la falta de especialistas - El País, Uruguay – (01/02)
  La tan mediática falta de anestesistas es sólo la punta de un iceberg que esconde el déficit crónico de otras especialidades
• Cobertura médica se extiende en Paraguay en 2010 - Prenda Latina, Cuba – (12/30)
  En el período se instalaron más de 500 Unidades de Salud de la Familia, duplicando las consultas de cuatro a ocho millones de personas
• Ministerio de Salud defiende a los médicos formados en Cuba - El Salvador.com – (12/30)
  La institución asegura que están capacitados para sumarse al sistema de salud pública
• Médicos reprovados - Estadão, Brazil – (01/03)
  Dos 628 médicos formados no exterior que se inscreveram para os exames de proficiência e habilitação, 626 foram reprovados
• Pacientes sofrem nos hospitais da capital - InfoNet, Brazil – (01/03)
  Falta de médicos no hospital Zona Sul e a super lotação no hospital zona norte foram registrados manhã dessa segunda-feira
• Incumple gobierno con seguridad en hospitales - El Mexicano – (01/06)
  Nuevamente médicos de Juárez amenazan con suspender labores en los hospitales públicos por no existir las condiciones para que trabajen
• HIV rapid testing and construction of new clinics on tap for 2011 - Bahama Islands Info – (12/29)
  These projects are part of a goverment initiative to provide Bahamians with greater access to healthcare and healthcare services