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Alliance News Digest

Week of 17 June 2011

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• 'Son preference' Perpetuates Discrimination and Violations of Women’s Rights – UNFPA – (6/14)
  Gender-biased sex selection reflects and fuels a culture of discrimination and violence.
• Bold new AIDS targets set by world leaders for 2015 – UNAIDS – (6/10)
  UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS leads to new commitments, targets, and momentum in the AIDS response
• Doctors and nurses leaders call for fair trial in Bahrain - International Council of Nurses – (6/09)
  No health professional should be put on trial for looking after injured and dying people, ICN and WMA joint statement said.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• HEALTH: Lungile Ndaki, "There's no way you can stop people from moving" - UN IRIN – (6/10)
  Lungile Ndaki, nurse, tells what pushed her to move from South Africa to UK, and why she is now considering going home.
• Coast hit by lack of trained nurses - Daily Nation, Kenya – (6/09)
  Government efforts to tackle acute shortage of nurses in Coast Province failed due to lack of qualified locals.
• Ex-Health minister decries poor recruitment - New Vision, Uganda – (6/12)
  Decentralising the recruitment process has created a countrywide imbalance in the distribution of health workers, Ex-Health minister said.
• Agency deploys 3,500 midwives nationwide - Vanguard, Nigeria – (6/09)
  3,500 midwives are deployed to 1,000 rural health facilities across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
• Traditional Birth Attendants Need Proper Training - The Citizen, Tanzania – (6/13)
  Birth attendant training programmes play a vital role in reducing stillbirth and prenatal mortality rates among infants in Tanzania
• Africa: Mobile Phones Improve Health Across Continent - All Africa.com – (6/13)
  Interview to general manager of Cell-Life, non-profit organisation that uses cellphones to assist with healthcare in the HIV/Aids sector
• COTE D'IVOIRE: Free health care window highlights challenges - UN IRIN – (6/10)
  The Ivorian health system is not set up for free health services announced to help the population reeling from months of turmoil.
• A lot needed to save the health sector (Editorial) - New Vision, Uganda – (6/15)
  Negligence, selfishness, corruption, lack of integrity and a poor work ethic have all contributed to a broken down system in Uganda
• Kudos, Cuban Doctors - Modern Ghana – (6/13)
  Doctors from Cuba have been working tirelessly to extend healthcare services to the doorstep of Ghanaians.
• Gaza's hospital stock running on near empty – Al Jazeera – (6/12)
  Hospitals in Gaza are forced to cancel operations due to lack of medical supplies as the Israeli blockade continues.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Health Policies unhealthy - The Nation, Thailand – (6/13)
  Concern over lack of personnel to implement cheap medical services.
• Welcoming a medical education law - The Jakarta Post – (6/14)
  New medical education bill proposed to balance the distribution of doctors and provide equal access to healthcare for all.
• Introducing more medics - China Daily – (6/09)
  Public hospitals’ doctors and nurses in Hong Kong are leaving for private clinics in search of higher pay and less stressful work
• Health spending: Consultation talks of misplaced priorities- The Express Tribune, Pakistan
  Participants of Pakistan Medical Association meeting expressed their dissatisfaction with the national health projects.
• Shortage of nurses plagues hospital - Saipan Tribune, Mariana Islands – (6/13)
  Acting nursing chief says low morale, salary concern, immigration issue among major challenges.
• Delivering a better future - The Himalayan, Nepal – (6/15)
  Radhika is just one of the trained midwives working to make sure that the potential of each new life in Nepal is realized
• New plan to tackle Australia's nursing workforce shortage - Nursing Careers Allied Health, AU – (6/08)
  A blueprint set to combat Australia’s workforce shortage of nurses is expected to be released within months.
• Doctors warn of intensive-care chaos - The Age, AU – (6/15)
  Doctors are forcing to consider risky transfers of patients across the state.

NORTH AMERICA

• Don’t Quit This Day Job - The New York Times – (6/11)
  Since 2005 the part-time physician workforce has expanded by 62 percent with serious consequences for patients and the public.
• The Mommy Wars, Medical Edition - Psychology Today – (6/13)
  Women: less worthy of the privilege of a medical education?
• Healthcare Reform: Solving the Medical Student Debt Crisis Through Human Capital Contracts - Huffington Post – (6/10)
  Medical student debt has emerged as a barrier to students pursuing a career in primary care.
• Producing More Primary-Care Doctors - The New York Times – (6/10)
  Would hard-working residents in the non-primary specialties hold still for this forfeiture of their salaries? They might.
• How Cell Phones, Mobile Devices, iPhones Save Lives in Poor Countries - ABC News – (6/10)
  New WHO report launched in Cape Town focuses on the impact mobile devices and the Internet are having on global access to health care
• ER Docs Frustrated, Burned Out by Repeat Patients: Survey - US News & World report – (6/10)
  Fent draining of emergency resources and staff to manage chronic medical and social issues is a problem and a challenge, study reveals
• The right way to cut Medicaid costs - The Washington Post – (6/16)
  We need a better solution to Medicaid than simply “less of it.”
• How Technology Has Changed The Way We Access Health - Huffington Post – (6/10)
  Over the past decade the resources we use and rely on for health information, and how we use it, have radically changed.
• Personal Health Records: Docs Have 3 Big Doubts – InformationWeek – (6/13)
  Data management, changes to the patient relationship, and practice management issues are key barriers to implementation, study says
• Montreal teaching hospitals can't fill family medicine residency positions - Montreal Gazette – (6/11)
  It’s an absurd situation for a province where 2 million people do not have a doctor, expert says

EUROPE

• Health conditions and health-policy innovations in Brazil: the way forward - The Lancet, UK – (6/09)
  Much progress is still needed to improve basic living conditions for a large proportion of the population in Brazil
• Higher education and health care in Brazil - The Lancet, UK – (6/04)
  In 2008, a new university reform was launched in Brazil compatible with the US college system and the European Bologna model
• A blueprint for country-driven development - The Lancet, UK – (6/04)
  World leaders talk about developing countries owning and directing their health programmes. But are donors ready to do so?
• Are traditional birth attendants good for improving maternal and perinatal health? No - British Medical Journal – (6/14)
  TBA are too old and therefore too set in their ways to adapt to modern healthcare methods.
• Are traditional birth attendants good for improving maternal and perinatal health? Yes - British Medical Journal – (6/14)
  The use of TBA has generated a lot of heated debate over the decades, but the facts strongly support their use.
• Surviving childhood in Sierra Leone - BBC News – (6/12)
  Children's hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone is always short-staffed and desperately needs more skilled workers.
• NHS reformers need to care for patients – not systems - The Guardian, UK – (6/15)
  Bureaucracy too often comes before care in today's NHS
• HEALTH: A Phone Call Could Provide HIV/AIDS Treatment - IPS Terra-Viva Europe – (6/09)
  Soon chatting over a mobile phone could mean that an HIV positive person will receive ART that could prolong their life in Kenya.
• Les médecins à diplôme étranger ne veulent plus servir de "bouche-trous" des hôpitaux - L’Express. fr – (6/15)
  Précaires, sous-payés mais indispensables, les médecins étrangers se mobilisent
• Warning over quality of care for mums as midwife numbers cut - Wales online, UK – (6/09)
  The reduction in midwife numbers is the result of cost-saving recruitment freezes.

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• 130 mil personas esperan por ser operadas en el país - El Universal, Venezuela – (6/16)
  La larga lista se debe a la falta de insumos y equipos médicos, carencia de profesionales y fallas en la infraestructura hospitalaria
• Citas del IHSS, hasta para en octubre y noviembre - El Heraldo, Honduras – (6/12)
  Falta de médicos especialistas retrasa los cupos de atención en el Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social.
• Urgen médicos especialistas… la Caja limita - La República, Puerto Rico – (6/10)
  Cantidad de egresados por año no satisface las necesidades de profesionales médicos especializados
• CEREMONIA DE ENTREGA DEL PROGRAMA NACIONAL DE FORMACIÓN EN SALUD FAMILIAR Y COMUNITARIA A LAS UNIVERSIDADES PERUANAS - Ministerio de Salud, Perú – (6/10)
  Propuestas participativas sectoriales e intersectoriales como parte de la construcción de espacios para la articulación de la educación – salud
• "Está bien que critiquen a los médicos" - El País, Uruguay – (6/11)
  El decano de Medicina habla sobre la percepción de la sociedad hacia su carrera.
• Denuncian segregación en servicios médicos - Excelsior. Mexico – (6/14)
  De acuerdo con el Plan Nacional de Desarrollo, en algunas entidades la población vive diez años menos que en otras
• Médicos especialistas amenazan con huelga - La Estrella, Panamá – (6/16)
  Hasta $100 mil deben devolver los residentes que no acepten plazas al concluir estudios
• Alunos de medicina podem trabalhar em áreas pobres para pagar financiamento - Jornal do Brasil – (6/15)
  A medida vale para quem usou o Fundo de Financiamento Estudantil.
• CAPACITANDO A LOS GESTORES EN SALUD EN EL USO DE LAS HERRAMIENTAS PARA LA COMUNICACIÓN VIRTUAL Y BÚSQUEDA DE INFORMACIÓN CIENTÍFICA - Ministerio de Salud, Perú – (6/10)
  Uno de los objetivos del curso ha sido contribuir ha mejorar las capacidades en la gestión del conocimento.