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Alliance News Digest

Information

WEEK OF 11 SEPTEMBER 2009

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AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• NMA Dissociates Self from Strike - This Day, Nigeria
  Kebbi State branch of NMA has dissociated itself from the ongoing strike action embarked upon by the medical health workers in the state.
  

• Protect women, prioritise family planning services - New Vision, Uganda
  Policy makers must ensure access to high quality reproductive health services and commodities, as well as skilled health workers, particularly in rural.
  

• Bursting At The Seams: Health Or Wealth? - Ghana News
  The 2006 World Health Report estimates that Africa and Asia together lack more than 4 million health workers as a result of brain-drain.
  

• Opinion: Improving the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) - Joy Online, Ghana
  Ho Regional Hospital is not providing services to patients with NHIS cards.
  

• Course opens for Sierra Leone Health Managers - Ghana Broadcating Corporation
  Short-course is being attended by 25 participants from five districts in Sierra Leone is aimed at developing the capacity of the health workforce.
  
  

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Lady health workers to play key role in anti-polio drive - Dawn, Pakistan
  Sindh health authorities have decided to ensure maximum participation of lady health workers in routine immunisation and supplementary oral anti-polio vaccines drives.
  

• Dismissed health workers hold up traffic, demand reinstatement.Dismissed health workers hold up traffic, demand reinstatement - Express News Services, India
  Auxiliary nursing midwives protest in Ludhiana demanding reinstatement of dismissed health workers.
  

• Health worker recruitment drive on in Orange - ABC News, Australia
  Orange is launching a recruitment drive for hundreds of health workers at the city's new hospital.
  

• Health workforce HQ for SA - ABC News, Australia
  A national meeting of health ministers in Canberra has agreed to establish a Health Workforce Australia headquarters in Adelaide.
  

• Minor ailments wasting GPs' time - Pharmacy News, Australia
  “This would free up GP time, make more appropriate use of pharmacists' skills and better use of our national health workforce,” Ms Seifert said.
  
  

NORTH AMERICA

• UConn nursing program grows to match ‘critical’ need - Norwich Bulletin, Mass.
  The state’s largest nursing program is getting a $14 million boost in state-of-the-art classrooms, examination labs and other expansion features at the University of Connecticut.
  

• 10 Things I Hate About Health-Care Reform - Washington Post
  One Doctor's Orders for How To Really Fix Our System…. Reform efforts don't address our critical shortage of health-care workers.
  

• Obama should heed Kennedy, press ahead with health reform (Editorial) - Boston Globe
  Having reached a moment of opportunity, with the rocky groundwork having been laid, President Obama and the Democrats should follow Kennedy’s edict and get something done.
  

• Risk of Epidemics in LRA Ravaged South Sudan - Voice of America News
  There is a shortage of health care workers because many are among the displaced.
  

• As nation discusses health care, Texas doctor shortage expected to worsen - Marshall News Messenger
  Physician shortage worst in rural areas, but also hits the suburbs.
  

• Kolkhorst intends to seek re-election - Huntsville Item, TX
  ... for creating the Texas Nursing Shortage Reduction Program, which this year received over $30 million to address the state's shortage of health workers. ....
  

• APIC Urges Health Workers to Get Flu Shot; 60 Percent Don’t - Occupation Health & Safety
  “Immunization will be especially critical for health care personnel during the 2009-2010 flu season because we will have more than one virus circulating.
  

• Phones deliver doctor’s orders in Africa with FrontlineSMS - VentureBeat
  Lucky Gunasekara calls himself a “guerrilla” health care worker.
  

• Deaths at Birth Illuminate Tanzania's Health Challenges - Online NewsHour
  Giving birth holds deadly risks for mothers in Tanzania, where on average one woman and six infants die each hour from preventable, birth-related complications.
  
  

EUROPE

• SAUDI ARABIA: 25-year plan for higher education - University World News, UK
  The 25-year plan is intended to improve higher education opportunities for women, boost scientific research and tackle the country's shortage of scientists in critical fields.
  

• Traumatología de Magdalena de las Salinas, en el abandono: trabajadores - La Jornada, Mexico
  En el área de quirófanos hay filtraciones, además de que faltan médicos en especialidades como neumología, y es insuficiente el número de enfermeras y personal de limpieza.
  

• The effects of payment by results - British Medical Journal, UK
  Cannot necessarily be predicted by theory and past experience.
  

• The health and health system of South Africa: historical roots of current public health challenges - The Lancet, UK
  The roots of a dysfunctional health system and the collision of the epidemics of communicable and non-communicable diseases in South Africa can be found in policies from periods of the country's history.
  

• Saving the lives of South Africa's mothers, babies, and children: can the health system deliver? - The Lancet, UK
  South Africa is one of only 12 countries in which mortality rates for children have increased since the baseline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 1990.
  

• Health workers to help Liverpool schools with swine flu - Liverpool Echo. UK
  LIVERPOOL health workers are helping teachers deal with the swine flu as school year opens.
  

• Como resolver o problema da falta de médicos? - Jornal de Notícias, Portuga
  A falta de médicos é reconhecida como um problema por todos os partidos, que, além de responsabilizarem os governos do passado.
  

• Las enfermeras andaluzas serán las primeras en prescribir fármacos - Semanal Digital, Spain
  Más de 96 grupos de medicamentos distintos que no requieren receta médica podrán ser "prescritos" por estas profesionales en Andalucía a partir de mediados de septiembre.
  
  

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Déficit de personal y equipo colapsan Hospital de la Mujer - FM Bolivia
  El Hospital de la Mujer tiene déficit de especialistas en neonatología para la atención de un promedio diario de 28 a 30 pacientes prematuros que requieren asistencia especializada.
  

• Traumatología de Magdalena de las Salinas, en el abandono: trabajadores - La Jornada, Mexico
  En el área de quirófanos hay filtraciones, además de que faltan médicos en especialidades como neumología, y es insuficiente el número de enfermeras y personal de limpieza .
  

• Projeto amplia o alcance de financiamento para estudantes - Agência Câmara, Brazil
  Alunos do ensino profissional técnico de nível médio poderão ter aceso ao Fies, mas a preferência continuará sendo dos universitários.
  

• Realizarán congreso de enfermería - Tiempo en Linea, Mexico
  ... muy grande para poder brindar los servicios necesarios, creo que son alrededor de 600 enfermeras las que hacen falta..
  

• Cerrados once centros de salud en San Pedro - a Prensa, Honduras
  A raíz de la crisis que atraviesa la Municipalidad, ésta se vio obligada a reducir el personal en los centros de salud que tenía su cargo.
  

• Sin anestesia - Diario Hoy, Argentina
  El Presidente de Fresprosa informó sobre la falta de enfermeras y anastesistas en todo el país.
  

• Reconoce Arango carencias en el sector salud - La Jornada de Oriente, Mexico
  El Secreario de Salud reconoce la falta de especialistas para tratar a la población.
  

• Verifica carencias en el Hospital Roosevelt - Prensa Libre, Guatemala
  denuncias sobre falta de equipo y personal, y de hacinamiento de pacientes.
  
  

News from WHO and partners

• Health Ministers commit to making health facilities safer - WHO
  Health Ministers from WHO’s 11 Member States in South-East Asia committed themselves to making health facilities more resilient by adopting the Kathmandu Declaration on Protecting Health Facilities from Disasters.
  

• Competency Gaps in Human Resource Management in the Health Sector - AMREF
  Despite rising attention to the acute shortage of health care workers, little attention has been paid to the role of those who have human resource management responsibilities.
  

• Taipei loss of medical staff - Public Services International
  Taiwan is increasingly concerned about the possible hemorrhage of its medical talent.
  

• The role of nurses and midwives in polio eradication and measles control activities: a survey in Sudan and Zambia - Human Resources for Health Journal
  Nurses and midwives are the key providers of nursing and midwifery services; in many countries, they form the major category of frontline workers who provide both preventive and curative services in the community.
  

• NGO Forum Closing Promises New Action on Women's Health and Rights - UNFPA
  At the forum’s final session, regional NGO representatives presented the five-point Berlin Call to Action to a group of attending parliamentarians.
  

• 2009 FIP Global Pharmacy Workforce Report Launch - International Pharmaceutical Federation
  Without access to and appropriate use of quality medicines, health systems lose their ability to meet health care needs.
  

• ICN Announces the Release of Version 2 of the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP®) - International Council of Nurses
  ICNP® is an international standard for nursing terminology and an integral part of the global information infrastructure.
  

• GLOBAL HEALTH PROFESSIONS URGE ACTION ON H1N1 PANDEMIC - International Council of Nurses
  A call to action to prepare for an H1N1 pandemic at a country and community level has been issued by the World Health Professions Alliance.
  

• Call for Papers: 4th AAAH Conference, Hanoi, Vietnam 23-25 November 2009 - AAAH
  The 4th AAAH Conference and The 3rd meeting of the WHO expert group on “Increasing Access to Health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention”.