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Alliance News Digest

Information

WEEK OF 11 December 2009

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Home-based HIV care strategy as effective as clinical-based therapy - Daily Monitor, Uganda. (12/3)
  Providing home-based ARV care in low-income settings can be as effective as facility-based interventions
  

• Shortage of health workers in rural areas - East Coast Radio, SA. (12/3)
  KZN Health is busy trying to find ways of attracting professionals to clinics in rural areas.
  

• GLOBAL: Integrated health systems "boost the fight against HIV" - PlusNews-Africa. (12/7)
  Healthcare performance must be based on health outcomes rather than short-term achievements.
  

• Maternal Health - Where Do We Stand? - The Herald, Zimbabwe. (12/7)
  Traditional midwives are overwhelmed resulting in many women delivering without assistance by trained health personnel
  

• Somalia: Rise in Mental Health Disorders Worries Somaliland Officials - UN IRIN. (12/7)
  WHO would hold a three-month training programme in Hargeisa for health workers dealing with mental health issues.
  

• Eritrea: First Commencement of Doctors - Landmark Achievement and a Promise for More to Come - Shabait.com (Asmara). (12/8)
  Eritrea has been able to graduate for the first time 39 doctors trained in the country's own Orota School of Medicine
  

• Jos Varsity Hospital Workers Suspend Strike - Vanguard, Nigeria. (12/8)
  Health workers from JUTH were on strike to demand their salaries and emoluments.
  

• Global challenges: Need to prioritise women's health care – AME Info. UAE. (12/8)
  A key factor in maternal deaths is the lack of skilled carers, who are needed to assess and treat complications of pregnancy
  
  

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• view: The unseen trauma of war —Rafia Zakaria - Daily Times, Pakistan. (12/5)
  90 percent of the internally displaced people are living in host communities with few life-saving healthcare facilities
  

• Failure to breastfeed killing 90% of babies - Manila Times. (12/5)
  lack of breastfeeding-benefits awareness and shortage of skilled health workers and other professionals who could provide post-natal care
  

• Hong Kong: LCQ10: Care workers imported under Supplementary Labour Scheme - Web Newswire. (12/9)
  Workers imported under SLS are required to be paid at a level no less than the median monthly wages of local workers in comparable positions
  

• Health workers' services terminated - Central Chronicle, India. (12/8)
  More than 5,000 health women workers employed under the National Rural Health Mission in Madhya Pradesh were not informed the tenure of their services had terminated three months back
  

• Anna Bligh out to unite states in health fix - News.com. Australia. (12/6)
  The health workforce will need to rise from 7.3 per cent to 20 per cent of the total workforce just to maintain services
  

• FCGP raises alarm - Fiji Times. (12/7)
  Rising numbers of migrating health workers is a serious cause of alarm.
  

• Health Campus Aims To Cure Health Worker Shortage - Voxy, New Zealand. (12/3)
  The objective of the initiative is to build on existing education and research strengths and also foster new centres of excellence.
  
  

NORTH AMERICA

• Nursing gets break in shortage - Idaho Business Review. (12/7)
  Demand for nurses remains strong in some segments, such as senior care and home care.
  

• Inaugural 'Health Worker Leadership Award' Honors Kenyan Midwife, IntraHealth Senior Leader - PR Newswire. (12/3)
  IntraHealth seeks to recognize health workers who dedicate their careers to supporting primary providers in underserved regions of the world.
  

• Pacific launches public forums as it emerges from its shell - Stockton Record, CA. (12/6)
  The Valley suffers a chronic shortage of health care professionals. Pacific could graduate more.
  

• Cleveland's University Hospitals to add more than 550 jobs, restructure management - Cleveland.com. (12/8)
  Physician recruitment is a vital part of the system's growth strategy.
  

• Canadians aren't sure about health care priorities: study - CTV Edmondton, Canada. (12/8)
  "With the current shortage of health-care professionals in Canada, it's not at all surprising that the majority of Canadians are concerned about hospital wait times," said Agfa HealthCare, Canada
  

• Sept-Îles doctors under investigation - CBC News, Canada. (12/7)
  Population is worried about the loss of additional doctors in a region already facing a shortage of health-care workers.
  

• Les délégués aux aguets - Radio-Canada. (12/4)
  Le manque de professionnels se fait aussi sentir dans le réseau de la santé
  
  

EUROPE

• Inquest on baby who died in 'unsafe' hospital - The Independent, UK. (12/7)
  A national inquiry into England's maternity services involving all 150 maternity units revealed a critical shortage of midwives, obstetricians absent from wards…
  

• Health Reform Too Important For Further Delays, Australia - Medical News Today, UK. (12/7)
  Urgent action is needed to build health workforce, especially medical workforce, to meet growing need from an ageing population.
  

• Worthing doctor slams unregulated doulas - The Argus, UK. (12/2)
  A hospital doctor has criticised the growing trend among pregnant women to hire birth partners to help them when they go into labour
  

• Bid To Help Solve Midlands Behaviour Problems - PRLog, UK. (12/8)
  A chronic shortage of trained therapists in the Midlands who can help others cope with the stresses and strains of 21st Century life is being addressed.
  

• Poor nations turn to innovative healthcare financing to scale up access - British Medical Journal, UK. (11/26)
  Poor nations are turning to innovative finance mechanisms to get more value out of outlays in health care.
  

• My day with the mental health professionals - The Guardian, UK. (12/9)
  Deborah Orr spends a day with the mental health workers who routinely face the most challenging of decisions: when should a patient be sectioned?
  

• China’s health challenge - Financial Times, UK. (12/8)
  Cities absorb around 70 per cent of health expenditure and quality medical services are available only in medium and large hospitals in urban areas.
  

• Doctors had warned of understaffing at Baby P hospital, inquiry finds - British Medical Journal, UK. (12/9)
  Investigation looked into concerns about poor administration and overworked doctors
  

• La reposición de las jubilaciones no frenará el futuro déficit de médicos en Andalucía - La Información, Spain. (12/7)
  Se sufrirá en Andalucía la carencia de profesionales de la salud debido a la jubilación de ahora a quince años.
  

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Buen comienzo del plan de vacunación - Primera Hora, Puerto Rico. (12/8)
  La falta de enfermeras provocó que no se suministraran vacunas en 22 escuelas de Aguadilla.
  

• Falta de médicos y enfermeras limita servicios salud en EU - Listín Diario, DR. (12/7)
  Muchos de los profesionales de la salud ejerciendo, son extranjeros.
  

• La salud, al borde del colapso - El País, Colombia. (12/7)
  En Cali, los pacientes se mueren por falta de médicos e insumos.
  

• La sala de emergencia del Huapa está en “terapia intensiva” - El Tiempo, Venezuela. (12/5)
  En los actuales momentos solamente hay seis médicos para atender un promedio de 60 pacientes
  

• Se debe invertir el 30% del PBI en salud, pero, en el Perú, solo se invierte el 4% - Panorama Cajamarquino, Peru (12/6)
  En Cajamarca se requieren los servicios profesionales de más de trescientos médicos, más de seiscientas enfermeras, más de seiscientas obstetrices
  

• Cremerj alerta para possível crise nos hospitais de emergência no final do ano - SRZD, Brazil. (12/4)
  Com relação aos clínicos gerais, o governo reconhece que existe carência, mas seriam de 21 profissionais e não de 60.
  

• En todo el país - El Día, Argentina. (12/6)
  En todo el país trabaja la mitad de los enfermeros que hacen falta.
  

• Sigue la emergencia por la falta de enfermeros en los hospitales - Quilmes Presente, Argentina. (12/6)
  En la Provincia, el déficit es de por lo menos 4 mil. Apuestan a un programa de capacitación
  

• Están las ambulancias, pero faltan los médicos - El Patagónico, Argentina. (12/8)
  En Tres Semanas De Convocatoria Nacional Solo Se Inscribieron 13 Profesionales Para Incorporarse Al Sistema Sanitario Chubutense
  
  

News from WHO and partners

• PSI statement on World AIDS Day, 1 December 2009 - Public Services International. (12/1)
  The 7 million health care workers in 156 countries represented by PSI, are keenly aware of the human impact of the AIDS epidemic
  

• Canada Increases its Support to Victims of Hurricane Ida in El Salvador - CIDA. (12/4)
  With Canada's additional contribution, PAHO's intervention will ensure health care services are maintained.
  

• Ireland deepens engagement in Sierra Leone - Irish Aid. (12/2)
  The funding will support emergency healthcare for pregnant women and fund feeding centres
  

• Arming Clinical Officers to Fight Southern Sudan’s Biggest Enemy - AMREF. (12/2)
  A total of 93 clinical officers and 42 community midwives graduate from the Maridi National Health Training Institute
  

• 120 COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS NEEDED TO SAVE LIVES THIS CHRISTMAS - Merlin, UK. (December)
  Merlin urgently needs £30,000 to train 120 new community health workers to fight the spread of cholera in Zimbabwe