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Alliance News Digest

Week of 18 March 2011

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Aid is still not as effective as it ought to be – WHO – (3/11)
  Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO: Opening remarks at a consultation on global health governance
• UNFPA Moves to Meet the Reproductive Health Needs of Ivorian Refugees in Liberia – UNFPA – (3/11)
  Because majority of the refugee population is comprised of women and children, the demand for reproductive health services is high.
• Transforming education to strengthen global health systems - Global Health Council – (3/11)
  The key challenge is the mismatch of skills competencies of health care professionals with the skills most needed by the market of health care users.
• News from the Japanese Nurses Association - International Council of Nurses – (3/14)
  JNA staff members are all safe, though overwhelmed by the disaster, working to help people in many ways.
• Healing Invisible Wounds in Dar es Salaam – AMREF – (3/10)
  After devastating bomb explosions in Congo, AMREF has teamed up with local partners to train counsellors on skills needed to respond to such emotional trauma.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Needing Surgery Shouldn't Be a Death Sentence – Inter Press Service – (3/12)
  The world's poorest receive only four percent of all major surgical operations worldwide.
• Challenging health conditions in Kastina - Nigerian Tribune – (3/08)
  It is apparent that surmounting the challenges of health care provision in rural state of Kastina is really going to take a political will.
• Nursing shortage to ease if colleges reopen - Business Report – (3/09)
  President Jacob Zuma announced that the government would revitalise 105 nursing colleges closed about a decade ago, due to lack of funding.
• Doctors battle amid killing and maiming – Independent Online News, SA – (3/14)
  Hundreds of doctors from across the world provide help in conflict-ridden Libya, bracing for a flood of severely injured civilians and freedom fighters
• Liberia: Medical Doctors And Volunteers Lauded - Liberia Government – (3/14)
  President lauded the work of the non-profit medical organization HEARTT, for contributing greatly to the healthcare delivery system of Liberia.
• The Plight of Health Workers - The Monitor, Uganda – (3/03)
  Research shows that Uganda's health workers are operating in some of the world's worst conditions.
• TANZANIA: New centres to boost paediatric HIV care - UN IRIN – (3/15)
  By 2013, the Mbeya and Mwanza centres are expected to care for at least 10,000 HIV-infected and affected children and their families.
• Kenya: Budget Too Small to Cover Health Needs – IPS – (3/10)
  Kenya is yet to achieve even half of the expected 15 percent allocation of the budget to the health sector agreed in the Abuja Declaration.
• Ethiopia: Hospital Births Still Unpopular - IRIN PlusNews – (3/09)
  Despite improvements in health facilities, most women in Ethiopia still prefer to have their babies at home.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• $100m injection to lift up doctors - The Standard, Hong Kong – (3/09)
  Contingency plan to stem the brain drain at public hospitals.
• Doctors oppose 'misery tax' - The Times of India – (3/13)
  Doctors say the proposed 5% service tax on healthcare will be a huge burden on the poor who are already suffering without proper healthcare
• Dispensing the right dose - The Star, Malaysia – (3/13)
  The job of a pharmacist is becoming increasingly important with greater emphasis placed on healthcare.
• The issue of absentee doctors (Editorial) - The Financial Express, Bangladesh – (3/15)
  The PM once again warned the doctors that they should give up their jobs if they do not like to stay in the rural areas.
• PAKISTAN: Unsung Heroines Bring Healthcare to Villages - IPS Terra Viva – (3/16)
  Solangi works as a lady health worker employed by the government’s National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health Care.
• China suffers short supply of kids' doctors - Shanghai Daily – (3/08)
  China has 230 million children, but in 2008 it had only around 61,700 pediatricians.
• Foreign medics get OK to come - The Japan Times – (3/17)
  The doctors who have foreign medical licenses will be able to give treatment only in disaster areas.
• Under spending in rural areas ‘creates grand canyon of healthcare’ - Wellington Times, Australia – (3/14)
  Implementing measures to boost the number of doctors and other health professionals in the bush should be top priority, The Rural Doctors’ Association says.

NORTH AMERICA

• Shortage of nurses in Libya - PRI’s The World – (3/10)
  The gender line in Libya discourages women from pursuing public professions, expert says
• Medicine on the border: Chance to create, design departments lures doctors - El Paso Times, TX – (3/13)
  Even when medical specialists are in short supply nationwide, the Texas Tech University finds highly qualified individuals who want to work in El Paso.
• Ethics Survey for Doctors - The New York Times – (3/09)
  A new study of thousands of doctors found that just 8 of 10 should put patient welfare before their own financial interests.
• Despite incentives, doctors are wary about switching to electronic health records - The Washington Post – (3/14)
  Starting in 2015, those who aren’t digital risk having their Medicare reimbursements cut.
• Swaziland nurses strike, closing public hospitals in country with highest rate of HIV in world - The Washington Post – (3/12)
  Some 185,000 of Swaziland’s 1 million people are HIV positive, and 30,000 are receiving antiretroviral drugs.
• Whether Chronic Diseases Are Diagnosed May Depend on Where You Live - US News and World Report – (3/15)
  Chronic disease diagnosis is influenced by the "intensity of health care" in a particular region, study finds
• Universities Collaborate to Create Public Health Training Center - US News and World Report – (3/16)
  Individuals with healthcare related degrees and training are expected to be in great demand over the next ten years.
• States Running Out Of Doctors - 24/7 Wall St. – (3/15)
  There are several ways to measure what many experts describe as a shortage of physicians in some parts of the United States
• Canada's MD shortage will worsen, Fraser Institute predicts - The Gazette, CA – (3/16)
  Canada has 2.6 physicians per 1,000 people —ratio that places Canada 26th of 28 developed countries that have publicly funded health care, study says

EUROPE

• Somebody's mother - The Lancet, UK – (3/12)
  How can we remind medical staff, coping with a daily burden of suffering humanity, to treat their patients tenderly?
• How maternity services could be reborn - The Guardian, UK – (3/08)
  Maternity wards need the right people in the right place at the right time.
• Universal health care in India: missing core determinants –The Lancet, UK – (3/12)
  The call to action of The Lancet Series on universal health care in India, is less comprehensive and radical than it could have been.
• Doctors call for halt to NHS reforms - The Guardian, UK – (3/15)
  Emergency meeting of British Medical Association votes for withdrawal of health and social care bill.
• Study reveals there is one doctor for every 640 people in Turkey - Today’s Zaman, Turkey – (3/14)
  “We need to seek ways to raise the number of doctors with our own resources”, researchers say
• Agency nurse row causing disruption - Irish Health – (3/14)
  Health service is experiencing difficulties as a result of the dispute over the HSE's hiring of agency nurses at reduced rates.
• Q&A: ‘Women Are Shackled During Childbirth’ - IPS Terra Viva-Europe – (3/10)
  Condition and violations faced by women in jails in Israel needs to be addressed from a gender perspective
• Que sont nos médecins devenus? - Le Monde, France – (3/15)
  Les médecins vieillissent et ne sont plus remplacés, les inégalités territoriales se creusent et les jeunes médecins abandonnent les zones rurales.
• French healthcare: the high cost of excellence – BMJ – (3/15)
  The French health system is rated as the best in the world, but paying for it is becoming increasingly difficult

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Médicos exhortaron a sus colegas a no abandonar el país - El Universal, Venezuela – (3/11)
  La Federación Médica Venezolana calcula que casi 11 mil galenos han renunciado en los hospitales.
• Existe escasez de médicos especialistas y sobran pediatrías: SSa - El Sol el Córdoba, Mexico – (3/15)
  El Secretario de Salud dijo que existe escasez de médicos especialistas, especialmente en el medio rural y en lugares señalados como violentos.
• Éste es el panorama de la crisis financiera que enfrentan los hospitales del Valle - El País, Colombia – (3/11)
  Las quejas, peticiones y reclamos de los usuarios por las deficiencias en la atención en salud, común denominador de los problemas de salud en el Valle.
• El gremio médico - Prensa Libre, Guatemala – (3/14)
  Médicos han decidido crear un nuevo proyecto de educación médica continua de tipo interactivo.
• Áreas de neonatología, vulnerables - La Hora, Ecuador – (3/13)
  Una inspección muestra que el problema de insalubridad en el área de Neonatología es a nivel de todo el país.
• Saúde, opinião do governo - Gazeta Digital, Brazil – (3/17)
  O debate do momento é sobre a terceirização ou não da gestão em um hospital do estado.
• IHSS sin camas ni cirujanos para operar - La Prensa, Honduras – (3/16)
  Por falta de camas y cirujanos más de 4,000 hondureños permanecen a la espera de una cirugía.
• Mueren 126 embarazadas sin ayuda de helicóptero en Guerrero - Terra Mexico – (3/16)
  Durante 2010, 126 mujeres indígenas con embarazo de alto riesgo murieron por la falta de atención médica en las zonas marginadas de Guerrero