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Alliance News Digest

Week of 12 November 2010

News related to/from the Global Health Workforce Alliance

• The challenge of scaling up human resources for health – Global Health Council. (11/5)
  Interactive blog from the Global Health Council’s Policy, Research and Advocacy team

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Bridging the gap in South Africa – WHO – (November 2010)
  Government hopes its proposed NHI scheme will provide universal access to health care “based on need rather than ability to pay”
• New tuberculosis e-course from ICN will help build global capacity – ICN. (11/10)
  Care, prevention and management of tuberculosis provides practical online tools to nurses and those involved in caring for patients
• Distance Learning for Health: Potential and Problems Explored at Workshop – AMREF. (11/22)
  The benefits and drawbacks of open and distance learning for the health community working in developing countries
• UNFPA Helps Prevent Cholera Among Pregnant Women and People Living with HIV and AIDS in Haiti – UNFPA. (11/11)
  As part of efforts to prevent spread of the cholera in Haiti, UNFPA has distributed nearly 7,000 hygiene-cholera kits

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• African countries struggle with MDGs - The Standard, Zimbabwe – (11/06)
  Apart from the shortage of funds, African countries “still need to do more” in order to meet the targets, said health experts in Harare’s Conference
• Kenya: Need to Reduce HIV Risk Among Health Workers - IRIN PlusNews – (11/08)
  An estimated 2.5 percent of new HIV infections annually are health-facility related
• Online Doctor in Healthy Business - Daily Nation, Kenya – (11/08)
  Kenyandoctor.com, a platform for online medical consultation with a team of over 100 local doctors.
• Doctors Threaten Strike - Modern Ghana – (11/08)
  Medical doctors in state-owned hospitals have called on the government to solve the numerous challenges in the health sector
• Africa's poor state of mind - Times Live, SA – (11/10)
  Studies indicate that one in six patients has at least one mental, neurological or behavioural disorder
• Lagos Doctors Strike: Please End This Strike Now! – SERAC. (11/9)
  SERAC requests government to review demands of striking doctors to assure they work under dignified, safe and healthy working conditions.
• Doctors despise patients - Ennahar Online, Algeria – (11/09)
  The first results of the survey conducted by a team from the Ministry of Health showed gaps recorded at hospitals.
• UAE joins research study to improve nursing care - The Gulf Today – (11/08)
  The study seeks to identify factors that contribute to nursing recruitment and retention as well as the quality of nursing care in hospitals
• Many expatriate graduates unable to practise medicine – Gulfnews – (11/10)
  Limited positions in local clinics for UAE-educated expat medical graduates
• Two-thirds of hospitals in Abu Dhabi fail inspections - The National, UAE – (11/02)
  Most hospitals and clinics in the emirate failed initial inspections, mainly because of poor hygiene

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• The wellness of the world – Indian Express. (11/11)
  Last year, high-level India-US Health Dialogue was launched to advance cooperation and establish common goals in the health sector
• Foreign doctors, BeGH render free surgery to poor - Manila Bulletin – (11/06)
  Free reconstructive surgery and operations are being conducted by surgeons and anesthesiologists from Australia and New Zealand to indigents patients
• Himachal only state to provide special allowance to doctors – PunjabNewsline, India – (11/09)
  The special allowances encourage the doctors serving in difficult and interior regions of the State.
• Rampant sexual harassment of female doctors in Karachi by male staffers - Sify, India – (11/06)
  Newly appointed female doctors feel insecure while performing long hours duties
• Taiwan health chiefs plan medical tourism zone - The China Post – (11/05)
  According to a survey, the number of medical tourists receiving treatment in Asia is creating an industry worth about US$4 billion by 2012.
• PAKISTAN: Pneumonia Season Takes Toll on Poor Children – Inter Press Service. (11/10)
  In Pakistan, access to quality health care is inadequate
• Give us a break, say exhausted doctors - The Sidney Morning Herald – (11/08)
  Junior doctors work more than 100 hours a week
• $1.5b for doctors, nurses and beds - The Herald Sun, Australia – (11/09)
  Labor's plan promise to hire thousands of extra doctors and nurses.

NORTH AMERICA

• G-20 summit shouldn't overlook the poorest countries - The Washington Post – (11/10)
  Helping the poorest of the poor can contribute to the global rebalancing and growth we seek
• Gates At MHealth Summit: Global Health Is Key – RTT News – (11/11)
  Global health is the key to solving virtually every challenge facing the planet, Bill Gates said at 2010 mHealth Summit
• How Medicare Killed the Family Doctor - The Wall Street Journal – (11/06)
  Low government payment rates became the private-sector benchmark, resulting in fragmented care.
• At Duke University, an experiment in community health care - The Washington Post – (11/06)
  The project's aim is simple: reduce chronic illnesses in uninsured to keep them from making expensive visits to hospital emergency rooms
• Researchers: Doctors must work on trust with Muslim patients – USA Today – (11/09)
  U.S. doctors must become more attuned to Islamic beliefs and values that could affect the physician-patient relationship, a recent study reveals.
• When the Doctor Has a Boss - The Wall Street Journal – (11/08)
  More physicians are going to work for Hospitals rather than hanging a shingle
• Sticking with meds better in HIV patients in Kenya who got text messages: study - Winnipeg Free Press, Canada – (11/09)
  Technology-based approaches represent only one of many effective means that should be considered to improve adherence to antiretrovirals
• Doctors set up cholera centers in Haiti's capital – Washington Post. (11/10)
  Physicians with Doctors Without Borders reported seeing more than 200 city residents with severe symptoms at their facilities over the last three days
• We can't afford to turn away talented doctors - The Vancouver Sun – (11/09)
  The idea of foreign-trained doctors being unable to work in their professions in Canada perplexes most of people.

EUROPE

• UK health, science, and overseas aid: not what they seem (Editorial) - The Lancet, UK – (10/30)
  Taken at face value, the stay of execution granted to medicine, science, and development aid should be reassuring. But perhaps judgment should be reserved.
• Indian Medical Association tries to stall rural health course – British Medical Journal – (11/01)
  The Indian Medical Association thinks the course would lead to two standards of healthcare in the country
• After 2015, we need a new set of millennium development goals that apply to all countries.- The Guardian, UK – (11/03)
  A renewed set of MDGs should apply to all countries, not just so-called "developing countries"
• Membership exams overseas in light of new global code of practice - The Lancet, UK – (11/06)
  Postgraduate examinations, training, and continuing medical education are all areas in which partners in the UK and overseas can see mutual benefit
• Family physicians in Iran: success despite challenges - The Lancet, UK – (11/06)
  Although the problems of being a family physician in Iran, the current achievements of the Family Physician Project should not be overlooked
• Mobile phone kits to diagnose STDs - The Guardian, UK – (11/05)
  Plan aims to cut UK's rate of infection among young
• Academic medicine must take its global role: the M8 Alliance of Academic Health Centers and Medical Universities - The Lancet, UK – (11/06)
  True medical advances only arise from collaboration and mutual understanding between academia and health-care and social systems.
• L'Assemblée restreint l'aide médicale aux sans-papiers - Le Monde – (11/02)
  Une somme de 30 euros pour l'accès à l'AME des adultes étrangers sans papiers, a été adopté par l'Assemblée nationale..
• 'Govt must reconsider further health cuts' – IrishHealth – (11/05)
  The Government must consider the long-term effects that further budget cuts will have, doctors have warned.
• NHS will see more doctors retiring early and working abroad as result of squeeze, BMA head says – BMJ, UK – (11/11)
  Three leading NHS unions have questioned the wisdom of the government’s obligatory £15bn-20bn efficiency savings

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Contratan a médicos especialistas jubilados - El Universal, Mexico – (11/10)
  La medida está dando un respiro a especialidades en las que se carece de médicos
• 14 niños mueren diariamente por problemas hospitalarios - El Nacional, Venezuela – (11/10)
  Las razones de las muertes fueron todas prevenibles o controlables.
• Colegiatura voluntaria para los médicos - Primera Hora, Puerto Rico – (11/11)
  Con la oposicion del Colegio de Medicos, se elimina la colegiación obligatoria.
• Enfermeras suspenden paro, tras firma de acuerdo - La Tribuna, Honduras – (11/10)
  Con la firma del acuerdo, consensuado en diez de los once puntos en conflicto, se pone fin a las medidas de presión que se venían desarrollando
• Médicos reclamam: agressões fazem parte da rotina nos postos de saúde - Midiamaxnews, Brazil – (11/10)
  Existem muitos casos que não chegam a ser registrados, como as ameaças. Os profissionais de saúde estão sendo agredidos há tanto tempo que acabam achando isso normal.
• Profesionales de la salud marcharon para exigir mejoras salariales – El impulso, Venezuela – (11/11)
  Tomarán las calles hasta que se decida el aumento salarial y la discusión de la convención colectiva.
• Câmara de Rio Grande convoca secretário de Saúde – Diário do Grande ABC, Brazil. (11/11)
  A Prefeitura tenta contratar médicos para atender no regime de plantão

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