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Alliance News Digest

Week of 19 March 2010

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Turkey Expands Health Insurance, Improves Care – World Bank. (3/18)
  Health coverage and quality of Turkey’s health sector lagged behind other middle-income countries
• Advice to developing countries on paying for healthcare – DFID, UK. (3/15)
  The Centre for Progressive Health Financing will help countries remove the financial barriers faced by the poor in accessing quality health services.
• Health and safety first for women and children in Sierra Leone – DFID, UK. (3/15)
  UK government is helping Sierra Leone implement a policy scheme that will provide health care to mothers and children free of charge
• AMREF’s Innovative eLearning takes off in Uganda – AMREF. (3/10)
  eLearning project is designed to rapidly and cost effectively upgrade the skills of nurses and health workers across Uganda
• ICN calls for a sound plan to ensure the new UN Women’s Agency will work for women and gender equality – ICN. (3/10)
  ICN is concerned that UN Secretary General’s proposal for the new Women’s Agency falls short of a sound plan to address women’s rights and gender equality

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• ZAMBIA: New institution to tackle medical brain drain – University World News-Africa. (3/14)
  The shortage of health professionals is attributed mostly to brain drain and deaths because of Aids.
• Makerere admits 5,000 more students – New Vision, Uganda. (3/12)
  The facility is expected to double the intake for medical courses in an attempt to address the shortage of health workers in Uganda
• New charter to boost patients’ rights – New Vision, Uganda. (3/16)
  Health ministry is set to launch the Patients’ Charter, which defines the rights and responsibilities of patients and health providers
• Money or life – which comes first in healthcare delivery? – Business Day, Nigeria. (3/12)
  It is crucial that the healthcare delivery system be transformed by government through practical analyses understandable by even those at the grassroots
• National Observatory Launched – Cameroon Tribune. (3/11)
  Cameroon faces a quantitative and qualitative shortage of human resources for health
• Eritrea: Afabet Hospital Rendering Improved Service to the Public - Shabait.com (Asmara). (3/17)
  Reports indicated that graduates from the various health colleges are playing major role in tackling the shortage of skilled manpower.
• Kano Govt, Health Workers Agree On New Salary – Daily Trust, Nigeria. (3/17)
  Health workers in the state according to the new salary scale will now receive N23,064.34 as minimum salary.
• Preventing Death During Pregnancy - Daily Champion, Nigeria. (3/16)
  . Nigeria has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Medical Exodus: A wake-up call for Nepal (Op-Ed) – República, Nepal. (3/14)
  The massive exodus of medical professionals from developing countries to industrialized nations at an alarming rate has raised serious concerns
• Nursing a foreign dream – Hindustan Times, India. (3/3)
  Health workers’ migration is increasing the shortage of nurses in the country ­­ a gap nurses coming out of nursing colleges are not able to fill quickly.
• More power to health – Hindustan Times, India. (3/17)
  The estimated shortage in India of health workers – going by WHO standards of 25 per 10,000 – is 20 per cent
• Health workers srike for security – República, Nepal. (3/11)
  Health workers will not return to work unless government guarantees their security and end extortion drives and death threats.
• New 'Play Your Part' drive aims to significantly lower maternity deaths in India– Media Global. (3/11)
  Make maternal mortality a key indicator of a functioning health system; training, recruiting and retaining more health workers…
• 2010 could be a record year for industrial action in the health sector – New Zealand Doctor. (3/16)
  "Doctors, nurses and other trained frontline health workers can easily work in other countries so why would they work in a country that is offering them no incentive to stay?”
• Controversial midwives laws pass Senate – Brisbane Times, Australia. (3/16)
  The Australian College of Midwives called on government to ensure midwives offering homebirths can be insured
• Govt promises $632m to boost GP training – Sydney Morning Herald. (3/15)
  Prime Minister Rudd wants to tackle the severe shortage in GPs and specialists, particularly in rural and regional Australia
• More country doctors needed in reform – Farm Weekly, Australia. (3/15)
  Federal Government's health reforms show promise but the dire shortage of doctors in the bush must be addressed
• WSAHS- Nurses rally Thursday 18th march – Street Corner, Australia. (3/14)
  Rally to highlight the fact that nurse numbers at WSAHS hospitals and community health services have dropped to unsafe levels

NORTH AMERICA

• CBO: $940 billion health bill would help cut deficit over 10 years– Washington Post. (3/18)
  An emerging compromise on health care between House and Senate Democrats would cost $940 billion over the next decade
• UN health agency funds urgent medical supplies in landslide-hit Uganda – UN News Service. (3/11)
  Uganda is in urgent need of emergency medical and surgical supplies, including medicines and surgical equipment
• Sask. Calls For More Heart-lung Machine Workers – Top News US. (3/13)
  The Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan revealed its concern relating critical shortages of health care professionals in the province
• House Dems work to change health workers’ conscience rights bill – Idaho Reporter. (3/16)
  The bill also allows health care workers outside of hospitals to object to dispensing certain medications, including emergency contraceptives
• African health workers impress Del Mar Rotary president – Del Mar Times, CA. (3/11)
  The best way to improve the lives of Africans is to provide them with training, equipment and educational opportunities
• Local Health Departments' Input on EHRs Sought – Occupational Health & Safety. (3/11)
  Combined with 7000 jobs cut by health departments in 2008, NACCHO estimates about 15 percent of the public health workforce has disappeared
• Nurse Scholars Program – Valley Star, CA. (3/10)
  For students interested in a nursing career, Valley College’s Nurse Scholars Program provides a way to guarantee a position in the work field
• Midwife shortage spurs safety fears – CBC News, Canada. (3/15)
  Growing demand and a short supply of licensed midwives are leading many Alberta women to seek unregistered birth assistants
• Pénurie d’infirmières:la crise se manifeste ici - Chambly Matin, Canada. (3/16)
  On estime qu’il manque au moins 2500 infirmières dans le réseau de la santé
• It will cost us (Editorial) – Western Star, Canada. (3/13)
  We will require more and more health workers in this province as our population ages

EUROPE

• Less than half of Katine women give birth in health centre – The Guardian, UK. (3/15)
  Lack of trained health workers and lack of knowledge about safety risks of giving birth at home believed to be among the reasons women shunning health centres
• Mothers and infants to get free health care in Sierra Leone – The Lancet, UK. (3/13)
  According to UNICEF, nearly 60% of women in Sierra Leone deliver without the assistance of a skilled health attendant
• Less cash and more sex leads to recession baby boom – Ipswich Evening Star, UK. (3/13)
  About 35 additional midwives will be recruited across Suffolk in the next three years
• Mobile boom fuels health work in developing countries – BBC News, UK. (3/11)
  The explosion of mobile use in developing countries is helping transform health care.
• Disinvestment in health care (Editorial) – BMJ, UK. (3/16)
  A shared vocabulary, language, and narrative of change is needed
• WHO urges east Asian countries to step up health spending – BMJ, UK. (3/5)
  WHO has called on countries to commit themselves to the goal of universal access to health care
• Double peine pour les infirmiers – L’Humanité.fr. (3/12)
  Les infirmiers spécialisés ont manifesté hier pour demander une meilleure reconnaissance de leur qualification et de leur compétence
• En 2020 habrá jubilaciones masivas – Diario Montañés, Spain. (3/5)
  La Administración sabe que, para 2020, harán falta médicos en España porque ese año será un periodo de jubilaciones masivas

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Health workers in Suriname end strike – Caribbean Net News. (3/12)
  government had stalled inclusion of public health workers into a newly introduced wage structure for the public sector
• Nace colapsado el plan de salud de Calderón – El Diario, Mexico. (3/15)
  Sector Salud a punto del colapso en Ciudad Juárez, con unidades médicas públicas saturadas, y hospitales sin quirófanos y sin personal suficiente
• Múltiples problemas en la guardia del Cullen tras tres días de paro – El Litoral, Argentina. (3/12)
  La falta de insumos y de medicamentos desde el lunes y de personal de enfermería y de admisión complicó la atención en el Servicio de Guardia del hospital Cullen
• Bolivia: Activan alerta sanitaria por dengue y Gripe A – Radio FM, Bolivia. (3/156)
  Con paros no se pueda solucionar la falta de personal, médico y paramédico para la atención de la salud en Santa Cruz
• Pacientes se suman a protestas por salud – Correo de Caroní, Venezuela. (3/17)
  Los médicos y enfermeras no son los únicos perjudicados por la crisis que agobia al sector salud
• Chiclayo: hospital de Essalud solo atiende emergencias – Perú21. (3/12)
  El gerente general aclaró que el retraso se debe a la carencia de médicos
• PASTILLA DEL DÍA SIGUIENTE VOLVERÁ SER DISTRIBUIDA EN HOSPITAL REGIONAL – AQP Soluciones, Peru. (3/12)
  En este hospital de Puno persiste la carencia de personal médico especializado, sobre todo en las áreas de pediatría, ginecología, medicina interna
• Curarse en la Argentina es una odisea para el paciente – Clarín, Argentina. (3/11)
  Graves problemas en hospitales públicos y privados. Hay seis meses de demora para pedir turno. Y de un año para operarse

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