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Alliance News Digest

Week of 11 February 2011

News related to/from the Global Health Workforce Alliance

• Progress patchy on health-worker crisis - The Lancet, UK – (2/05)
  Hundreds of health experts met in Bangkok last week for the second global conference to tackle the worldwide shortage of health workers.
• Yes, there is an international health workforce shortage. But there is also some good news… - Crikey, Australia – (2/09)
  Forum in Bangkok: While delegates heard much about the crisis in health workforce numbers, they also heard some uplifting examples of individuals making a real difference for their communities

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• From Trainee to Trainer: Dr. Sediqa Mohsena - International Medical Corps – (2/04)
  Despite the unsettled security conditions, International Medical Corps has tended to Afghan health care needs for over a quarter of a century.
• The South African nursing crisis - Global Health Council – (2/08)
  The challenges that nurses in South Africa face on a daily basis cannot be downplayed or ignored.
• Around the world in 1,825 days: The good doctor reaches Kenya - Merlin, UK – (2/04)
  Doctor at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital, and Merlin’s Campaign Ambassador, has arrived in Kenya, 13,000 kilometres into his epic solo journey around the world… all by bicycle.
• Global Nursing Leadership Institute (GNLI) - International Council of Nurses – (2/10)
  The 2011 GNLI will take place from 10-16 September and have a particular focus on effecting positive nursing and health policy.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Rural hospital helps to curb maternal deaths - The Citizen, Tanzania – (2/04)
  Training non-doctor - assistant medical officers - to do emergency obstetric care is a proven model for saving lives in rural regions of Tanzania, expert says
• Zambia: Government finally orders ARVs - Lusaka Times, Zambia – (2/05)
  The Ministry of Health has ordered Nevrapine, an anti-retroviral drug used in HIV/AIDS treatment which was in short supply.
• Minister: SA can't afford commercialised health - Mail and Guardian, SA – (2/04)
  In the private sector there were many instances where "tests are just ordered to make money".
• Uganda: Brain Drain is Not to Be Celebrated - The Monitor, Uganda – (2/08)
  State Minister for Labour recently said brain drain is not a problem in Uganda, however, according to a World Bank report, 36% of physicians trained in Uganda emigrate..
• Nurses and midwives schooled on human rights of patients - Ghana News Agency – (2/04)
  The Ghana Health Service was fraught with pertinent human rights abuses by impatient nurses who were apathetic towards the health care needs of patients, Officer said.
• Sénégal: Les tradipraticiens africains remettent un mémorandum - Afrique en ligne – (2/08)
  Dans leur document, les tradipraticiens demandent la généralisation d’un cadre juridique et réglementaire de la médecine traditionnelle
• Doctor exodus looms – Independent Online News, SA – (2/09)
  The department's plan to reduce “sessions” served by doctors at rural hospitals to 20 hours a week would see many of them quit, expert says
• Doctors stage stoppage to protest attacks on colleagues - Jordan Directions – (2/06)
  The doctors demanded that the Ministry of Health take action to protect them, raise their incomes and curb the brain drain in public hospitals..
• MKs: Psychiatric reform still held back by lack of funds - The Jerusalem Post – (2/04)
  Chairman of the Israel Family Physician Society warns: The burden will fall on family doctors.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Nursing: indispensable but not acknowledged - The Express Tribune, Pakistan – (2/05)
  Health sector faces acute shortage of nurses due to relatively low salaries and tremendous workload.
• Choose your doctor via 24/7 health line - The Telegraph, India – (2/07)
  Finding and picking the right doctor may soon become a bit easier for people across five Indian metros, including Calcutta.
• PM worried over doctors' not staying in villages - The Daily Star, Bangladesh – (2/06)
  “If all physicians stay in capital Dhaka, how the villagers would get medical services?” Prime Minister questioned
• Cause for concern: Short on beds, short on care - The Express Tribune, Pakistan – (2/09)
  “There is a scarcity of beds in the ICU, to increase it we need more funds, infrastructure, staff and equipment”, Pims Executive Director said
• Sri Lanka top in S-E Asia - Daily News, Sri Lanka – (2/09)
  Around 98.3 percent births in the country take place with the assistance of well trained doctors, nurses and midwives.
• Young doctors not choosing obstetrics: group - The China Post, Taiwan – (2/09)
  The increasingly low birth rate and the subsequent lackluster business prospects in Taiwan have seriously undermined the willingness of such students to serve as obstetricians or gynecologists
• South Asian countries facing “health crisis”: World Bank - The Hindu – (2/09)
  South Asians are becoming more vulnerable to heart disease, cancers, diabetes, and obesity, and are creating significant new pressures on health systems to treat and care for them, report says

NORTH AMERICA

• Disparities: A Growing Gender Gap in Doctors’ Pay - The New York Times – (2/04)
  Starting salaries for women who become physicians are significantly lower than men’s, and the pay gap has grown over the past decade, a study reports.
• Drug Shortages Distress Hospitals - The Wall Street Journal – (2/01)
  A shortage of injectable generic drugs for cancer and other serious diseases is putting pressure on hospitals
• Liberia Innovates to Save Lives of New Moms - Women’s enews – (2/08)
  Liberia's high rate of maternal mortality is partly due to the long distances women must travel to reach clinics. A project closes that gap by building "maternity waiting homes" near these facilities.
• Health reform's primary care recruits: the National Health Service Corps - American Medical News – (2/07)
  Paying more doctors to work in shortage areas is one plan for mending the nation's safety net before increased demand breaks it.
• Medical Examiners In America: A Dysfunctional System - The Huffington Post – (2/02)
  After spending a year looking at the nation's 2,300 coroner and medical examiner offices, study founds a deeply dysfunctional system that quite literally buries its mistakes.
• Egypt's Medical Front Lines: First Frantic, then Calm - Medpage Today – (2/03)
  While the emergency wards are packed, day-to-day medical practice in Cairo is also suffering serious dislocation
• 'Medical home' strategy aims to boost quality, cut costs with better primary health care - Oregon Live – (2/09)
  Advocates say the medical home model of care will be key to fix a system that leaves many Americans without needed care, but wastes billions of dollars a year on unnecessary treatment.
• Attirer de futurs médecins du milieu rural - Canoe, CA – (2/07)
  La FEMC demande un programme de bourses pour que les futurs étudiants qui proviennent des milieux ruraux puissent postuler dans les diverses facultés de médecine du pays.
• Lack of anesthesiologists blamed for babies' injuries, death at Victoria hospital - The Vancouver Sun – (2/08)
  The Vancouver Island Health Authority has dismissed the anesthesiology shortage problem for years and muzzled its employees, expert said.

EUROPE

• Maternal, neonatal, and child health in southeast Asia: towards greater regional collaboration - The Lancet, UK – (2/05)
  •Southeast Asia has sustained substantial reductions in maternal, neonatal, and child mortality since 1990, but this progress has been uneven.
• Universal health care in India: the time is right - The Lancet, UK – (2/05)
  We are aware that the goals are ambitious and the challenges huge, but we believe that 21st-century India can channel political commitment and resources to help realise the nation's founding vision of health for all..
• Doctors in distress - The Lancet, UK – (2/05)
  Several recent US studies have provided new insights into the effect studying and practising medicine has on the mental health of young doctors and surgeons.
• What midwives say about the NHS shakeup - The Guardian, UK – (2/04)
  General secretary of Royal College of Midwives says pregnant women will suffer as result of reforms.
• GMC urged to push through doctor assessments plans - The Guardian, UK – (2/07)
  MPs say scheme to check doctors' fitness to practise every five years must be up and running as promised by late 2012
• Midwives and doctors back maternity care consolidation - Views and News from Norway – (2/07)
  The professionals want fewer, and bigger, birthing units.
• Doctors' strike draws low turnout - Ekathimerini, Greece – (2/08)
  Health Minister called on unionists to join him for talks before radical reforms to the debt-ridden health service go to Parliament
• De nouveaux métiers de santé pour épauler les médecins - Le Figaro, France – (2/03)
  Les infirmiers les plus expérimentés pourraient devenir des «praticiens» aux compétences élargies.

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• ‘Hay que poner a funcionar a la red primaria’ - El Comercio, Ecuador – (2/06)
  El salubrista Fernando Sacoto señala que es necesario fortalecer las unidades de salud familiar y los hospitales primarios. Dice que la falta de planificación pesa.
• Rechazan a médicos extranjeros - Crítica, Panamá – (2/05)
  No se ha dialogado con los gremios médicos del país.
• Internos vuelven a labores en los hospitales - El Heraldo, Honduras – (2/08)
  Internos regresan hoy a sus funciones luego de llegar a un acuerdo.
• Hospitales cruceños están al borde del colapso ante la falta de personal - El Mundo, Bolivia – (2/10)
  La situación crítica que tienen los principales hospitales del departamento aún no llega a su fin, más al contrario la situación se ha ido agravando con el pasar de los días.
• Mueren indígenas del norte de Veracruz por falta de atención médica - Hoy Veracruz, Mexico – (2/09)
  El problema se registra porque los médicos generales y enfermeras no asisten los fines de semana a trabajar a las clínicas rurales a atender a los ciudadanos.
• Mais de 70% dos brasileiros desaprovam o SUS, diz Ipea - Estadão, Brazil – (2/10)
  Pesquisa com 2,7 mil pessoas mostra que falta de médicos e demora para marcar consulta são as principais queixas