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Alliance News Digest

Information

WEEK OF 18 December 2009

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Doctors and nurses vacancy rates increasing - Politics Web, SA. (12/15)
  The massive nationwide increase in the number of nurse and doctor vacancies over the past year warrants immediate action
  

• Lack of Resources Stalls Progress - The Herald, Zimbabwe. (12/15)
  Demand for HIV testing services has been on the increase owing to increased HIV and Aids awareness, forcing health personnel to work extra hours to cope with the pressure.
  

• Carry periodical maintenance works, Musonda implores UTH management - Lusaka Times. (12/12)
  Government is addressing the human resource shortage in the country by recruiting medical personnel and upgrading nursing schools
  

• Workshop on Ghana Private Health Sector Assessment opens - PeaceFM Online, Ghana. (12/14)
  Problems in the health sector such as inadequate infrastructure, funding as well as the poor distribution of health workers and professionals
  

• Humanitarian health action in Somalia – a call for urgent support - Relief Web.Int. (12/10)
  Health services are hampered by a crumbling infrastructure.
  

• Shortage of Midwives Hits Bongo District - Public Agenda, Ghana. (12/11)
  role of a midwife was crucial to the achievement of the objectives to reduce maternal death
  

• Kampala to get four hospitals - New Vision, Uganda. (12/10)
  The ministry is trying to reduce the brain-drain in the health sector through a new strategy
  
  

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Orders of shifting midwives raise hue and cry among ayurveda practitioners - Express India. (12/13)
  Department is already facing acute shortage of staff and now the trained midwives will also be shifted
  

• Much is left to be done to eradicate polio - The News, Pakistan. (12/15)
  Lack of funds and shortage of Lady Health Workers is a major setback
  

• Govt suffers revenue loss - Himalayan Times, Nepal. (12/12)
  lack of seriousness of the authority concerned towards addressing the problems of health workers and officials
  

• Family planning programme - The News, Pakistan. (12/12)
  shows improvement in terms of coverage
  

• Concern at high maternal mortality rates in Kyrgyzstan - ReliefWeb. (12/9)
  Healthcare system under scrutiny as increasing numbers of women die in childbirth.
  

• Christmas Island gets $50 million boost - Sydney Morning Herald. (12/15)
  The federal government will spend $50 million on infrastructure on Christmas Island to help it cope with growing demands as the detention centre expands
  

• Training farce for nurses, doctors - Sydney Morning Herald. (12/14)
  AUSTRALIA needs to train 7000 more nurses and hundreds more doctors every year for the next 15 years
  
  

• Medicare changes won't boost bush doctors: RDA - ABC News, Australia. (12/14)
  Rescue package is urgently required with more incentives and support to get doctors to country areas.
  

• Staff cuts nurses take the slack - Coffs Coast Advocate, Australia (12/10)
  3800 hours per week had been trimmed from the health workforce across the NCAHS
  

• Health care should become the big battleline - The Australian. (12/11)
  The reality is that you can't run hospitals without nurses or doctors, no matter how good the technology
  
  

NORTH AMERICA

• HANYS Releases 2009 Physician Advocacy Survey Results HANYS, NY. (12/9)
  New York’s physician shortage is not diminishing and is likely to worsen
  

• Shortage of health care workers a growing concern - S. Diego News Network, CA. (12/9.
  Does the U.S. have enough doctors and health care professionals as more Baby Boomer-doctors retire?
  

• Worse Than the Public Option - American Spectator. (12/9)
  The agreement would expand Medicare to Americans over the age of 55
  

• HIV and AIDS in 2009 - World Press Review. (12/14)
  Rapid uptake of AIDS treatment occurred in countries with massive health system challenges, decimated health workforce
  

• Addressing the Primary Care Workforce Crisis for the Underserved - Annals of Internal Medicine. (12/14)
  US is facing a serious shortage of primary care physicians, due to a deficient primary care pipeline.
  

• Norwich, Windham Tech nursing programs suspended as deficits widen - Norwich Bulletin, CT. (12/12)
  Suspension of the program will worsen a growing shortage of health care workers.
  

• Health Reform Needs Enforceable National Workforce Strategy - PR Newswire. (12/14)
  AAHC Urges Congress to Ensure Health Workforce Recommendations are Implemented
  

• Laid-off health workers to get help - Chicago Tribune. (12/16)
  In October, more than 600 vacant posts and 335 filled spots were eliminated from the health care system
  
  

• Painful cuts - JLWorld.com. (12/16)
  At the time the nation is facing a shortage of nurses and other trained medical personnel, the medical center is reducing its number of graduates…
  

• Libérations syndicales à la tonne - Journal de Montréal. (12/8)
  Il manque d'infirmières et de personnel un peu partout dans le réseau de la santé
  
  

EUROPE

• Removing user fees? Engage the health workforce - The Lancet, UK. (12/12)
  A projected US$5.3 billion in new health financing was announced at a meeting of the Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems
  

• Health workers support pay compromise - Public Finance, UK. (12/14)
  Health unions have indicated that they are open to the idea of NHS workers being given job guarantees in exchange for lower pay deals
  

• Extra work for Winchester maternity unit - Hampshire Chronicle, UK. (12/9)
  Women will not be able to give birth at the Andover Birth Centre until the New Year because of a shortage of midwives
  

• Comments on the implementation of the EU Health Strategy - European Public Health Alliance. (12/14)
  An integrated approach to healthcare and health workforce planning.
  

• Universal health coverage: access to what? (Editorial) - The Lancet, UK. (12/12)
  54 Commonwealth countries committed themselves to achieve universal coverage of health services free at the point of use
  

• EU seeks to define its role in global health strategies - British Medical Journal, UK (12/9)
  EU must take account the views and values of low and medium income countries in any future strategies it might develop on global health
  

• Doubling investment in maternal health would "transform the future of developing nations" - British Medical Journal, UK. (12/3)
  Over half a million maternal deaths and 3.5 million newborn deaths occur each year in developing countries and many of these are preventable
  

• «Los médicos rurales somos expertos en nada y aprendices de todo» - ABC, Spain. (12/8)
  ¿Qué pasa, que ahora falta vocación para ejercer de ser médico rural?
  

• Ambroise Paré, pénurie de soignants à tous les étages - L’Humanité, France (12/4)
  Le manque de soignants fait courir un risque aux malades
  

• Ministério revela que faltam entre 300 e 400 médicos de família e em 2013 poderá ser pior - Público, Portugal. (12/16)
  Afinal, há ou não há falta de médicos em Portugal?
  
  

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• $7.4m backpay for SWRHA workers - Trinidad & Tobago Express. (12/16)
  Health workers can expect to begin receiving money owed to them from the 2005 to 2008 collective agreement,
  

• Inauguran Cruz Verde en Santa Lucía - Informador, Mexico. (12/15)
  Para consolidar el sistema de atención a urgencias se requieren otras dos unidades
  

• Diálogo con médicos del Victorino se rige por transparencia y la ética - Entorno Inteligente, Venezuela. (12/10)
  La prioridad es dotar de recursos humanos a la Emergencia médica
  

• El lunes comenzará la inscripción para la Tecnicatura en Enfermería - Auténtica Defensa, Argentina. (12/13)
  Es parte del trabajo que viene realizando el municipio desde el 2007 para resolver la falta de enfermeras en el Hospital
  

• Sigue la emergencia por la falta de enfermeros en los hospitales - Quilmes presente, Argentina. (12/6).
  En la Provincia, el déficit es de por lo menos 4 mil. Apuestan a un programa de capacitación
  
  

• Falta de médicos agrava situação de hospitais - Globo.com, Brazil. (12/3)
  Nos hospitais de emergência do estado, a situação é grave.
  

• Mais da metade dos alunos de Medicina é reprovada - Estadao, Brazil. (12/15)
  Pior desempenho está em clínica médica, área essencial do atendimento
  

• Hospital Oncológico en crisis por falta de recursos - El Mundo, Bolivia. (12/17)
  El hospital Oncológico está en crisis, desde hace varios meses por falta de recursos humanos-
  
  

News from WHO and partners

• Tragic Mogadishu attack a blow to the health system in Somalia - WHO. (12/4)
  This attack serves only to reinforce WHO's commitment to the alleviating the country's health crisis
  

• There is a shortage of health workers across the globe today - Public Services International. (12/18)
  PSI campaign for migrants workers’ rights.
  

• In memory of Somalia’s lost medical graduates . Merlin, UK. (12/8)
  Few countries need skilled health staff more than Somalia.