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Alliance News Digest

Week of 11 June 2010

News related to/from the Global Health Workforce Alliance

• Lack of skilled birth care staff coasting lives - The Citizen, Tanzania. (6/5)
  In Africa alone, an additional 1.5 million health workers are needed, nearly doubling the current workforce of 1.6 million, according to GHWA
• Lack of skilled birth care costs 2 million lives each year – EurekAlert. (6/3)
  Report shows both mothers and newborns at risk
• 21 Kenyan women die daily at childbirth – The Standard, Kenya. (6/4)
  Countdown Report shows nearly 50 per cent of women from the 68 countries in Sub-Saharan African and South Asia still deliver at home and without the help of a trained midwife

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Women Deliver + Countdown Conferences open with promises for women + children - WHO. (6/7)
  UN Secretary-General and Mrs Gates were speaking at some of the Women Deliver Conference opening
• Consensus Forged on a Strategy to Strengthen Midwifery in Developing Countries – UNFPA. (6/7)
  Symposium participants strongly agreed that the fight for strengthened midwifery is closely linked to the fight for increased gender equality
• UNFPA and CARE Announce Partnership to Improve Maternal Health Globally – UNFPA. (6/7)
  UNFPA and CARE will enhance collaboration on maternal health programs in more than 25 countries.
• Maternal Mortality: Is It Yet Time For Sub-Saharan Africa To Celebrate? AMREF’s Position on The New Lancet Estimates – AMREF. (6/4)
  Training and maintaining adequate numbers of midwives and other health personnel essential for reducing maternal mortality.
• ICN celebrates the courage and determination of outstanding nurses who strive to offer quality care for patients with TB and MDR-TB – ICN. (5/28)
  The ICN/Lilly TB award recognises the work of these nurses

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• 21 Kenyan women die daily at childbirth – The Standard, Kenya. (6/4)
  Countdown Report shows nearly 50 per cent of women from the 68 countries in Sub-Saharan African and South Asia still deliver at home and without the help of a trained midwife
• Tuberculosis in Children Neglected – IPS-Africa. (6/3)
  It will be crucial to provide additional training to health workers to ensure they have better skills to diagnose and treat childhood TB
• Hospitals collapsing from unpaid insurance claims – Ghana Web. (6/7)
  In some hospitals, allowances due health workers have been outstanding for over eight months
• Eric Bloch:Reversing the brain drain – Zimbabwe Independent. (6/3)
  Zimbabwe desperately needs to reverse the intense brain drain that has persisted for more than a decade.
• Capping doctors’ fees will cause a headache – Money Web, SA. (6/3)
  Shortage of skilled healthcare personnel reduces the quality of care for all South Africans
• Scrap Maternity Fees, Midwives Urge Govt – The Herald, Zimbabwe. (6/8)
  According to reports, most public health institutions in the country have an 80 percent staff deficit
• Govt to recruit 1,000 health workers – New Vision, Uganda. (6/9)
  THE Government is to recruit 1,000 health workers this financial year, according to the Background to the Budget
• Deputados satisfeitos com nível de execução dos PIP em Namacunde – Angola Press. (6/10)
  Executivo local, como a problemática da distribuição de água potável, carência de médicos

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• FOCUS: Indonesia health workers master Japanese to work in Japan – Kyodo News, Japan. (6/9)
  Indonesian nurses wish to work in Japan where they receive better salaries.
• Alleged breach of Red Zone security – Daily Times, Pakistan. (6/4)
  Leady health workers demand regualrisation of services, increase in salary
• IDS funding falls likely to increase burden on care providers – Ohmy News, S. Korea. (6/8)
  Dip in funding levels for HIV and AIDS programmes will undoubtedly put paid years of progress
• No end in sight to Queensland Health wages fiasco – The Courier-Mail, Australia. (6/7)
  Many doctors are looking for new employment opportunities outside Queensland

NORTH AMERICA

• The Doctor Will See You Now. Please Log On – New York Times. (5/30)
  Telemedicine is growing into a mainstream industry.
• Bringing Doctors to the Dying Patient’s Bedside – New York Times. (6/3)
  This programme was part of an innovative new centre for humanism at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
• International Conference to Focus on Maternal, Infant Mortality – Voice of America News. (6/3)
  One country with a particularly high rate of maternal and child mortality is Afghanistan
• Anderson University moves to add nursing program – The Greenville News. (6/6)
  Hundreds of thousands of nurses will be needed as the economy recovers and society continues to age.
• Agencies warn of coming doctor shortage – Los Angeles Times. (6/7)
  Uneven distributions, in disciplines and locations, could strain the healthcare system
• How Mobile Phone Technology Can Fight Maternal Mortality – UN Dispatch. (6/8)
  Maternal mortality remains a major challenge to health systems worldwide
• How to save lives in Africa – Montreal Gazette. (6/9)
  Canada could launch a revolution in maternal, newborn and child health, NGO leaders say
• Public Sector contract talks – Montreal Gazette. (6/4)
  Health workers key to deal: union
• A model for maternal health – Toronto Sun. (6/3)
  Experts estimate millions of trained health-care workers are necessary to make it safe for women in developing countries to give birth

EUROPE

• Our aid will hit the spot – The Guardian, UK. (6/3)
  We won't cut spending that helps the developing world. But we will check where the money goes
• Region set for almost 200 NHS job losses – The Scotland Courier, UK. (6/4)
  ALMOST 200 nursing and midwifery jobs will be axed in Tayside and Fife as part of massive job losses across the health service in Scotland this year
• Melinda Gates tells the world that women matter - The Guardian, UK. (6/7)
  New grants worth $1.5 billion from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will help countries with high maternal and infant mortality over the next five years
• Gender equity is the key to maternal and child health (Editorial) – The Lancet, UK. (6/5)
  MDG 3 is not just a goal in itself but a driver for all the MDGs, and is intimately linked and causally connected to MDGs 4, 5, and 6
• Momentum, mandates, and money: achieving health MDGs – The Lancet, UK. (6/5)
  Despite repeated commitments and calls for action, no major, specific new funding has been directed at the MNCH continuum of care.
• Hold your nose – The Economist, UK. (6/3)
  Qualified financial officers, chartered accountants, statisticians, doctors, nurses, teachers, managers, forensic scientists and detectives are in short supply.
• Africa: Giving a Voice to Unpaid HIV Care Workers – Commonwealth News and Information Service, UK. (6/7)
  The crucial role of unpaid carers looking after people living with HIV/AIDS should be urgently recognised as a missing part of the treatment equation
• Gates foundation shifts aid to family health – Financial Times, UK. (6/7)
  The Gates Foundation’s funding will help support training of healthcare workers…….
• Israeli assault of flotilla highlights crippling effects of blockade on Gaza’s health care– BMJ, UK. (6/4)
  WHO has renewed its call for the unimpeded supply of medicines, equipment, and medical staff to the Gaza Strip

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Hacen falta enfermeras en el Hospital del ISSSTE:RCP – EnLineaDirecta, Mexico. (6/8)
  Se necesita más personal de salud para el ISSSTE
• Acesso a saneamento e estímulo ao uso do leite materno reduziriam mortalidade infantil, diz medico – Correio Brazilense. (6/3)
  Os índices de mortalidade infantil ainda são altos no Brasil, principalmente no Norte e Nordeste, regiões que também apresentam carência de saneamento básico
• Empossados 309 servidores – Tribuna do Brasil. (6/8)
  Serão distribuídos nas unidades de saúde, segundo a necessidade
• Governador empossa mais de 300 profissionais da Saúde – Correio Braziliense. (6/7)
  Governador Rogério Rosso (PMDB) empossou mais de 300 profissionais que irão abastecer os centros de saúde e hospitais
• Puno: Contribuyen a reducir muertes por neumonía – La República, Peru. (6/2)
  Existe carencia de especialistas en las zonas más alejadas del país

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