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Alliance News Digest

Week of 8 April 2011

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• A technical framework for costing health workforce retention schemes in remote and rural areas – HRH Journal – (4/06)
  Despite the effectiveness of policies to improve health workforce retention is gaining impetus, there is still a significant lack of knowledge about the associated costs.
• World Health Day 2011 – WHO – (4/06)
  Drug resistance is becoming more severe and many infections are no longer easily cured, warns the WHO on World Health Day
• US global health leaders open 20th Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board meeting - Stop TB Partnership – (4/01)
  The participants expressed the longstanding commitment of the American people to global health
• Thousands of Ivory Coast refugees enter Liberia: Merlin’s response - The Merlin, UK – (4/05)
  Merlin is concerned about the refugees’ many health needs and urgently working to meet them.
• Mother's Day 2011: Helping mothers and newborns survive and thrive - DFID, UK – (3/31)
  UK's aid efforts will help at least two million women to deliver their babies safely with skilled midwives, nurses and doctors.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Cuba to train 250 Ghanaian doctors –Mahama - The Chronicle, Ghana – (4/04)
  Students will be selected from deprived communities of the country, where they will return after training to work .
• The Invisible People - Inter Press Service – (4/04)
  Since psychiatric care was decentralised last year in South Africa, many of society's most vulnerable walk the streets like invisible people.
• Putting Knowledge Into Practice in Childbirth - Inter Press Service – (3/30)
  A decade of applying research to midwifery practice in one Malawi district demonstrates that PPH is quite easy to prevent.
• Locals Nod Mobile Clinics - Times of Zambia – (4/04)
  A cross section of the Zambian society has praised President for launching mobile hospitals, saying they will help save lives of people in the country.
• 'Cash And Carry' Still With Us - Public Agenda, Ghana – (4/01)
  The cash and carry system, the country was supposed to have gotten rid of since 2004, still exists in in many subtle forms.
• Bring caring back into nursing, urges Zuma - Times Live, SA – (4/05)
  President Jacob Zuma and Health Minister pleaded with nurses to restore their profession to its former glory
• Health Workers Trained in Emergency Treatment for Children - The New Times, Rwanda – (4/04)
  The plan is to ultimately have local health workers who are qualified to train others, for long-term sustainability.
• 'Backdoor' Medical Practices a Concern - New Era, Namibia – (3/31)
  The mushrooming of backdoor clinical practices mostly by foreign doctors is a growing concern that needs regulation.
• Israeli doctors declare warning strike for first time in decade - Haaretz, Israel – (4/04)
  As part of the strike, all state-run general public hospitals geriatric, psychiatric medical centers will be operating at reduced capacity.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• In Cambodia, Women Fear Death at Childbirth - Inter Press Service – (4/02)
  Limited numbers of midwives and skilled birth attendants in the hospitals and health centres has contributed to maternal mortality.
• In reform mode, MCI considers national exam for doctors - Indian Express – (4/04)
  At present, India does not have a common licentiate examination for doctors after completing their undergraduate degrees.
• Indonesia's Investors Urged to Help Heal Health System - Jakarta Globe – (4/02)
  The small health-care budget has resulted in insufficient medical facilities and a severe shortage of qualified doctors, expert says.
• Government preparing strategic plan - The Himalayan Times, Nepal – (4/02)
  The plan is addressing to cope with the big gap between number of health workers and country’s population.
• Is the nurses’ petition still a passport to work abroad? - Inquirer, Philippines – (4/03)
  The migration history of Filipino nurses goes way back.
• Bill promotes doctors in remote areas - The Jakarta Post – (4/06)
  The Health Ministry is proposing financial incentives and civil servant posts to doctors who are willing to settle in remote areas.
• Doctors in Punjab call off strike - The Express Tribune, Pakistan – (4/07)
  The Young Doctor Association on Thursday decided to call off its 39-day strike after having talks with Punjab Chief Minister
• Doctors from overseas are being wasted - The Sydney Morning Herald – (4/07)
  There's a reason why over-qualified foreign medics are driving taxis.
• A man's world? - ABC News, AU – (4/04
  The Australian College of Midwives estimates that less than one per cent of midwives are men.

NORTH AMERICA

• Doctors Go Far Afield to Battle Epidemics - The New York Times – (4/02)
  Surging interest of young Americans in combating the deadly epidemics ravaging the world’s poorest countries..
• The Rise of Desktop Medicine - The New York Times – (3/31)
  Health care has become increasingly reliant on computer-based syntheses of clinical findings and measurements.
• Medical schools scrambling - The Washington Post – (4/03)
  Medical schools are undergoing rapid expansion, scrambling to meet an increasing demand for new clinicians.
• More doctors reject long hours that once defined the job - The Seattle Times – (4/05)
  Many young doctors are increasingly taking salaried jobs, working fewer hours and choosing specialties based on lifestyle reasons.
• High-end medical option prompts Medicare worries - Wall Street Journal – (4/03)
  The spread of "concierge medicine" where doctors limit their practice to patients who pay a fee, could drive a wedge among the insured.
• The Top 10 Challenges Facing Healthcare Workers - Becker’s Hospital Review – (4/05)
  List of most important difficulties facing healthcare workers according to Chicago-based Career Builder survey..
• Most Americans Think Health Care System Needs Major Surgery - US News & World Report – (4/06)
  Commonwealth Fund survey unearths concerns about access, rising costs.
• Médecins résidents en colère - Le Journal de Montreal – (4/01)
  Les médecins résidents dénoncent l'attitude du gouvernement, qu'ils accusent de ne pas négocier sérieusement.
• Could family health teams save family medicine? – Edmonton CTV, CA – (4/03)
  The family health team model involves family doctors working in groups at clinics, and having a variety of health specialists on site.

EUROPE

• Mitch Besser—helping mothers with HIV become mentors - The Lancet, UK – (4/02)
  Mothers2mothers operates in nine countries and has 1747 women with HIV working as Mentor Mothers to help other women infected with HIV
• Japan: the aftermath - The Lancet, UK– (3/26)
  Health and aid workers in Japan face multiple challenges in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that have devastated the country's northeast coast
• Why America steals doctors from poorer countries - The Guardian, UK – (4/04)
  The US higher education system is said to be the best in the world, so why is it not able to train the doctors the country needs?
• Midwives can cut deaths in childbirth, but there aren't enough of them - The Guardian, UK – (4/01)
  The world needs 350,000 more midwives, says Save the Children
• Bulgarian Doctors Invited to Work Abroad – Standart News, Bulgaria – (4/04)
  “Foreign clinics offer us much better conditions for professional realization” young doctors explained.
• Generation of Scots doctors could be risk to patients - The Scotsman, Scotland – (3/30)
  Scotland is at risk of creating a generation of poorly-trained doctors, putting patient care in danger, medics have warned.
• Switzerland faces a lack of new GPs - Swissinfo.ch – (4/02)
  Only ten per cent of medicine students plan on careers as family doctors.
• Migration of doctors and the “fitness to practise” process - British Medical Journal – (4/05)
  Do international medical graduates offer the same quality of care as doctors who train and practise in destination countries?
• Déserts médicaux: le gouvernement veut mobiliser les médecins retraités - Les Echos, France – (3/31)
  Le gouvernement veut inciter les médecins retraités à poursuivre leur activité, en particulier dans les zones qui manquent de médecins.
• Médicos y patronal alertan de que el daño a la sanidad será irreversible - El Periódico de Catalunya, Spain – (4/06)
  La supresión de servicios para ajustarse a los recortes supondrá la «desintegración» del sistema sanitario público, advierten las instituciones médicas catalanas.

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Paran los médicos de la Ciudad ante la falta de la Metropolitana - El Argentino.com – (4/06)
  Los profesionales realizan una huelga en centros de salud en reclamo de vigilancia policial.
• IMSS, con déficit de médicos - El Economista, Mexico – (4/03)
  Según datos de la OCDE en el país hay dos médicos por cada 1,000 habitantes.
• Utilizan mensajes de texto para recordar citas médicas en África - El Universal, Venezuela – (4/03)
  Cerca de 10.000 portadores del VIH sudafricanos han elegido recibir alertas por SMS para no olvidar las citas médicas
• Improvisación y falta de previsión - ABC Color, Paraguay – (4/04)
  Critican la actuación del MSP en la prevención de la epidemia de dengue.
• Cremerj alerta para falta de médicos no Rio, em meio ao aumento de casos de dengue - Estadão, Brazil – (4/05)
  Fim do convênio da prefeitura com a Fundação Oswaldo Cruz poderá tirar mais 400 profissionais da rede municipal de saúde.
• 32% de médicos orenses ejercen fuera del país - Diario Opinión, Ecuador – (4/06)
  El desempleo ocasionado por la falta de oportunidades y la exigüidad de las remuneraciones son las principales razones del éxodo
• Prevención en modelos de atención en salud a guatemaltecos - Prensa Libre, Cuba – (3/31)
  En 2007 existían 66 Centros de Atención Permanente (24 horas) en los municipios y a la fecha llegan a 179