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Alliance News Digest

Week of 13 August 2010

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• In rural Ethiopia, health extension workers bring care to new mothers – UNICEF. (8/6)
  UNICEF and its partners are working to set up new facilities and train new health workers across the country.
• WHO Representative Visits AMREF Headquarters – AMREF. (8/2)
  The two organisations discussed areas of further collaboration, including research and publishing to influence the global health agenda
• BMA Information Fund: applications now invited for 2010 – HIFA2015. (8/6)
  BMA Information Fund helps to provide health information to organisations in developing countries.
• Field epidemiology training programmes in Africa - where are the graduates? – HRH Journal. (8/9)
  The current shortage of human resources for health threatens the attainment of the MDGs.
• Health workforce responses to global health initiatives funding: a comparison of Malawi and Zambia – HRH Journal. (8/11)
  Shortages of health workers are obstacles to utilising global health initiative funds effectively in Africa

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• SOUTH AFRICA: Unpaid VCT counsellors threaten to walk out - IRIN PlusNews. (8/6)
  VTC counsellors are vital to government's ambitious target of testing 15 million South Africans for HIV by April 2011
• KENYA: Support groups boosting PMTCT uptake IRIN PlusNews. (8/4)
  There are two volunteers for every village, who refer cases of new pregnancies to the support groups and health centres for testing
• Ghain Projects To Impact Positively On Nigerias Health System – Nigerian Observer. (8/6)
  Improved care and treatment stemming from better trained HCWs, is one area in which the project’s impact will be felt
• Gov’t to borrow sh286b for health – Sunday Vision, Uganda. (8/8)
  Government hopes it will improve maternal and new born services, strengthen sub-systems for human resource development and maintain skilled health workers
• Health workers trained on curbing nutrition – Ghana Web. (8/9)
  GHS in the Upper East Region has trained 123 community health workers for community health education and identification of children suffering from malnutrition.
• Bribery rife at health centre say patients – The Citizen, Tanzania. (8/9)
  There is only one nurse and a medical practitioner at the health centre at Tarime district in Mara region
• Shortage of rural doctors critical – Times LIVE; SA. (8/6)
  Most posts are being filled by short-term foreigners
• Health workers call off strike in Edo – Vanguard, Nigeria. (8/10)
  Health workers representative explained that they decided on the strike action after all efforts to get the government to meet with them for discussion failed
• Lack of resources hinder HIV/AIDS response - Zimbabwe Standard. (8/12)
  It is through sacrifice by the few health workers that 247 000 people have been put on the ART programme nationwide
• UN to soon launch appeal for hundreds of millions dollars for Pakistan – Saba News, Yemen. (8/9)
  Under international law, health workers must be protected while they carry out their life-saving work.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Pakistan, NGOs move to prevent spread of diseases in flood-hit areas – Xinhua News, China. (8/8)
  The Pakistani government, international and local health groups are stepping up efforts to prevent water-borne diseases from spreading due to floods
• Woes of foreign nurses, caregivers in Japan – Philippine Daily Inquirer. (8/9)
  Rather than emphasizing the writing abilities of the nurses, the examinations should concentrate on their competence and technical abilities
• Acute shortage of doctors, paramedics in rural areas – Times of India. (8/6)
  The shortage of doctors and paramedical staff for the country's poor is assuming alarming proportions
• Shortage of vascular surgeons costs 80,000 limbs every year – Times of India. (8(10)
  India has less than 100 vascular surgeons since the establishment of the first department of vascular surgery in 1978
• Rs 408.011 Cr in 11th Five Year Plan to address Health workers shortage – Frontier India. (8/11)
  This money is expected to provide a push for the development of Manpower in Mental Health, Govt. Medical Colleges.
• Sleight of hand on hospitals: politics – The Australian. (8/7)
  In a section detailing the challenge of continuing to provide health care to a growing population, several paragraphs detailing workforce shortages were deleted

NORTH AMERICA

• Taliban kills 10 medical aid workers in northern Afghanistan– Washington Post. (8/8)
  The victims are thought to be members of a medical team working with a Christian charity group that has decades of experience in Afghanistan
• Renewed effort to lure doctors to rural areas faces obstacles – Washington Post. (8/9)
  Young doctor is a test case for the Obama administration's goal to bring primary care doctors to underserved areas -- and keep them there
• UWM School of Public Health site places program at heart of health gap – Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. (8/7)
  By one estimate, 23% of the nation's workforce in public health will be eligible to retire in the next few years
• Sierra Leone's Model for Improving Maternal Health and Women's Rights – Huffington Post. (8/6)
  Sierra Leone took the bold step of launching earlier this year it's Free Care Initiative for both maternal and child health
• Ohio will receive $2.8 million to train health-care workers – Cleveland.com. (8/6)
  A well-trained, educated and diverse workforce is critical to meeting future health-care demands
• Obama administration awards $159.1 million for training geriatric-care workers – Washington Post. (8(5)
  A 2008 report by the Council on Physician and Nurse Supply said schools would need to produce 30,000 nurses annually to offset the shortfall
• Va Gets $5.5M In Federal Health Workforce Grants – WJZ13, Virginia. (8/6)
  The grants will target programs that develop nursing jobs and provide more training for health providers on caring for the aging population
• Where Millions Need Care, Starting With One – New York Times. (8/9)
  The goal of this pilot project was to teach Sudanese hospital staffs the basics of newborn care and resuscitation.
• Libre opinion - Appel à la solidarité infirmière – Le Devoir, Canada. (8/9)
  Dans le système de santé actuel, les infirmières sont littéralement méprisées

EUROPE

• Government accused of 'promoting privatisation' of NHS– The Guardian, UK. (8/5)
  Angry response from unions after sell-off plans announced for agency providing thousands of health workers
• UN Women to spearhead new drive for gender equality – The Lancet, UK. (8/7)
  A new UN body charged with advancing gender equality for women and girls will look to kick-start what has until now been slow progress on maternal health
• HSE report shows nursing shortage in Mid-West – Limerick Leader. (8/6)
  Report shows that mental health services, services for older people, as well as acute and frontline services have been affected by the restrictions on filling vacant positions in Limerick
• Why 'break-even' medical services must be resisted – Irish Independent. (8/7)
  HSE West has been forced to reveal that a hospital closure is under medium-term consideration to save between €45m and €54m
• Tony Abbott's New Health Plan Fails On Workforce And Won't Deliver For All Australians, Says Australian Nursing Federation – Medical News Today, UK. (8/6)
  Tony Abbott's plan to fund 2,800 new public hospital beds will create a national nursing workforce
• SOUTH AFRICA: "Children are Dying Needlessly" – IPS Terra Viva-Europe. (8/12)
  Poor quality of basic services are often caused by inefficient management and use of financial and human resources
• Health workers fear cholera outbreak in Pakistan – BMJ. UK. (8/10)
  The National Disaster Management Authority in Pakistan has reported that 12 million people have been affected by the floods
• Doctor shortage and chronic underfunding spark crisis in Israel’s public hospitals – BMJ, UK. (8/9)
  Without more money, more specialists will leave Israel or abandon medicine entirely
• 10) Sanidad consigue en un año sentar las bases "para que en el futuro no falten médicos en España" – La Información, Spain. (8/6)
  En abril del año pasado el anterior ministro Bernat Soria alertaba de que en 2025 serían necesarios 25.000 facultativos

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Remodelarán a 16 ambulatorios de Distrito Sanitario número uno – El Universal, Venezuela. (8/10)
  En la remodelación de ciertos ambulatorios existen múltiples carencias incluyendo personal médico.
• Admiten falta de personal médico y albergue en Hospital de Huauchinango – E-Consulta.com, Mexico. (8/5)
  Existe carencia en el personal médico por lo que nunca se llega a cubrir a totalidad la demanda de la población
• Amplitud en la cobertura en los servicios médicos básicos que brinda DIF municipal – Jornada Aguascalientes, Mexico. (8/5)
  En lo que va del presente año se han visto beneficiadas más de 12 mil personas
• 5) Parlamento debate situación de dos colonias psiquiátricas – El Espectador, Uruguay. (8/6)
  En colonias Etchepare y Santín Carlos Rossi falta de personal sanitario y ambulancias para los traslados.
• 13% dos bebês nascidos no SUS passam por exame auditivo – R7 Notícias, Brazil. (8/4)
  Teste da orelhinha vai ser obrigatório em hospitais e clínicas do país

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