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Alliance News Digest

Week of 14 May 2010

News related to/from the Global Health Workforce Alliance

• High-level Workshop on Human Resources Plans for Primary Health Care - PharmPro. (5/11)
  Workshop was organized by the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) and PAHO/WHO, in collaboration with the Ministries of Health of El Salvador and Brazil.

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Wanted: 2.4 million nurses, and that's just in India - WHO. (5/5)
  In India, some of the issues related to nurse retention still remain to be tackled
• Better care for newborns crucial for Millennium Development Goal on child deaths – WHO. (5/10)
  The World Health Statistics 2010 shows that globally about 40% of deaths in children under five years old occur in the first month of life
• Uganda Film Festival Provokes Maternal Health Debate – AMREF. (5/11)
  Need for psychosocial support for young people who are HIV positive
• Mitchell: Our vision for a world free from poverty – DFID, UK. (5/13)
  Andrew Mitchell has been appointed Secretary of State for DFID, the Prime Minister announced yesterday.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• MALAWI: PMTCT battles missing drugs, missing moms – IRIN/PlusNews. (5/7)
  HIV testing in Malawi is carried out by HSAs, or community health workers, which allows Malawi's scarce nurses to perform other duties.
• NAC launches mobile HIV services – Daily Mail, Zambia. (5/7)
  Services will enable people who cannot reach rural health centres to have the same quality services at their doorstep.
• Challenges Facing Nigerian Health System – Daily Independent, Nigeria. (5/6)
  In Nigeria, doctor to population ratio is 3 per 10,000 compared to United States which stands at 26 per 10,000.
• Health workers begin strike in Cross River – Next, Nigeria. (5/12)
  Health workers will not called off until Cross River State government meets their demands of improved pay and better condition of service
• Govt to Improve Nurses Working Conditions – BuaNews, SA. (5/12)
  Nurses dedicate their lives to helping others and striving to make a real difference to the wellbeing of those that they care for
• Order of Nurses in Lebanon celebrates International Nurse's Day – AMEinfo. (5/13)
  Order of Nurses aims to promote the profession at both educational and practice levels.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Fresh batch of Filipino nurses, caregivers to leave for Japan – Mainichi Daily News, Japan. (5/9)
  They will undergo a six-month Japanese language and cultural course before beginning work in Japanese health care institutions
• Motherhood at peril - The Hindu, India. (5/9)
  Are the mothers of India safe? A vast majority of them do not have access to basic health care...
• India will need 2.4m nurses by '12: WHO – Times of India. (5/12)
  According to WHO, India will need 2.4 million nurses by 2012 to achieve the government's aim of a nurse-patient ratio of one nurse per 500 population.
• Push on for more rural midwives – ABC News, Australia. (5/10)
  Shortage of midwives in rural South Australia will get worse in the next 10 years or so.
• Increase national health budget to 3 per cent: Chennai Declaration – Hindustan Times, India. (5/11)
  ICONHSS recommended strengthen health system, including strengthening human resources, health data collection and analyzes, health research and governance
• Training for rural health workers – Solomon Star. (5/11)
  Participants received training on how to improve skills that requires them to manage normal labor and childbirth
• Nurses fear US-style staffing scheme – Star Times, New Zealand. (5/9)
  A pilot programme is being funded by Health Workforce New Zealand, a government agency set up to address health workforce needs.
• Health Professionals Join Forces – Voxy.co.nz, New Zealand. (5/5)
  The three organisations will sign MOU that will result in implementation of a revised vocational training programme for GPs
• Pacific nations facing midwife shortage – Radio Australia. (5/6)
  Today is International Midwives Day.
• International Nurses Day : Reliving Florence Nightingale’s spirit – Daily Times, Pakistan. (5/13)
  Govt urged to build more nursing schools to increase number of trained nurses in the country

NORTH AMERICA

• Health worker shortage has a positive side (Op-Ed) – Gloucester County Times, NJ. (5/9)
  The new federal health care legislation may prove to be an example of the law of unintended consequences
• S.Africa, changing track on AIDS, faces challenges – Washington Post. (5/8)
  In a hospital in KwaZulu-Natal despite what government says is one of the largest initiatives to fight AIDS, nothing has changed because they don't have the time or the personnel
• Time Magazine 100 includes mHealth “thinker” – MobiHealth News. (5/5)
  Matt Berg, 32, is leading the push to track disease in Africa with 160-character text messages, or SMS
• Canadian Association of Midwives: The World Needs Midwives Now More Than Ever! – Marketwire. (5/5)
  350,000 more midwives needed worldwide to reduce unnecessary deaths and injury in childbirth
• IntraHealth Releases iPhone App: First in Global Health – PR Newswire. (5/5)
  First free Global Health iPhone App designed to deliver latest news, views and resources on public health initiatives around the world, released.
• Mothers in Afghanistan Face Dangers Greater than War – Huffington Post. (5/11)
  Community health workers with just months training can deliver key interventions that save children's lives, and trained midwives can make childbirth far safer
• Can Foreign Policy Make a Difference to Health? – PLoS Medicine. (5/11)
  Authors provide a diplomatic perspective on how foreign policy can make a difference to global health challenges
• SOUTH AFRICA: Public Sector Struggling with Shortages of 80 Drugs – IPS Terra Viva. (5/11)
  Experts blame the shortage on a number of factors, including a lack of trained pharmacists
• Study: Too many nurses leaving profession – S. Florida Business Journal. (5/12)
  More than 40 percent of Florida’s nurses are approaching retirement age within the next 10 years, and there are not enough younger nurses to replace them
• Choose evidence over emotion – Ottawa Citizen. (4/30)
  Many developing countries’ health systems face a critical shortage of trained health workers

EUROPE

• Ugandan government seeks end to decentralisation of healthcare – The Guardian, UK. (5/7)
  health minister says recentralisation of health services in Uganda would improve recruitment of doctors in rural areas
• Midwives' leader warns against 'baby factories' – The Guardian, UK. (5/4)
  The drive to centralise maternity services could create unfriendly mega-centres unable to give individual, personal care
• Maternal mortality for 181 countries, 1980—2008: a systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5 - The Lancet, UK. (5/8)
  Maternal mortality remains a major challenge to health systems worldwide
• Primary-care reform in the USA: a perfect opportunity? – The Lancet, UK. (5/8)
  Health-policy analysts agree that simply increasing the primary-care workforce will not be sufficient to improve access to care
• Maternal mortality: surprise, hope, and urgent action – The Lancet, UK. (5/8)
  Six countries account for over half of maternal deaths
• Investment in front-line female health workers vital, says charity – CAF, UK. (5/5)
  Investment in front-line female health workers could save millions of lives across the globe
• Wakefield: Health workers rewarded at gala ceremony – Yorkshire Evening Post, UK. (5/6)
  Health heroes have been saluted at a hospital trust's awards ceremony.
• Mothers in Norway, Australia have best lives, Afghanistan worst – Reuters, UK. (5/5)
  Fewer than 15 percent of births are attended by skilled health personnel in Afghanistan and Chad
• New Alliance Tackles Maryland Health Inequities And Professional Shortages – Medical News Today, UK. (5/7)
  Health and Human Services has projected the shortage of nurses could reach one million by 2020,
• Expertos en cuidados paliativos denuncian falta de profesionales para atender a los más de 200.000 enfermos terminales – Europa Press, Spain. (5/5)
  Importante mejorar la formación universitaria de los futuros especialistas en cuidados paliativos

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Enfermeras graduadas trabajan en medio de precariedades y devengan bajos salarios – El Día, DR. (5/11)
  Enfermeras enfrentan grandes precariedades su trabajo, puesto que sus condiciones laborales son difíciles, los salarios son bajos…
• Falta personal de enfermería en Ambulatorio Cumanagoto – Diario Región, Venezuela. (5/10)
  El área comunitaria necesita mínimo 5 enfermeras, mientras que el panorama empeora en el área asistencial donde deben cubrir tres turnos diarios
• Enfermeras piden más recursos y mejor capacitación – Última Hora, Paraguay. (5/12)
  Hoy se conmemora el Día Internacional de las Enfermeras con una serie de carencias en el sector a nivel local, como el déficit de recursos humanos
• Enfermeras marcharán por sus reivindicaciones – El Tiempo, Venezuela. (5/12)
  El déficit de personal de enfermería en ambulatorios y hospitales del estado Sucre es notable
• Enfermeras locales, las más solicitadas del país – Diario El Paso, Mexico. (5/12)
  UTEP implementó un programa piloto o rápido para suplir la escasez de enfermeras

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