Subnavigation

• Global Health Workforce Alliance
• About the Alliance
• Members & partners
• Country responses
• Knowledge centre
• Media centre
• Forums

Alliance News Digest

Information

WEEK OF 20 November 2009

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Kaduna Medical Workers Embark on Strike - This Day, Nigeria. (11/16)
  Strike is the result of the failure of about two years of negotiation between the medical workers and the state government.
  

• Professionals asked to accept postings - Peace FM Online, Ghana. (11/15)
  Professionals should help curb the brain drain because it was seriously affecting the socio-economic advancement of the country
  

• Tens of thousands of Somali women and children benefit from UN health initiative - Walta Info, Ethiopia. (11/13)
  A joint campaign reached at least 46,000 children under-five and 37,000 women of child-bearing age with critical health services
  

• MOH holds Health Summit - Ghana News Agency. (11/16)
  Inequalities in access to health services had resulted in large disparities in health outcomes across the country.
  

• Medical workers shun South African prisons - Mail & Guardian, SA. (11/18)
  The biggest challenge for the Department of Correctional Services is a lack of adequately trained nurses in primary healthcare.
  

• Allow women to give birth at Health Centres - Ghana News Agency. (11/18)
  Urged nurses heading health centers to monitor and supervise the activities of traditional birth attendants
  

• Degree move to tackle Emirati nurse shortage - The National, UAE. (11/18)
  Only eight per cent of nurses employed by the Ministry of Health are Emirati
  
  

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• 'More mid-level health workers needed for rural areas' - Times of India. (11/15)
  There is need for more mid-level health workers to meet the shortage of doctors
  

• Portal to provide health information in rural India - Indo Asian News Service. (11/9)
  The portal will carry details of health facilities both public and private in villages.
  

• Pinoy nurses can register online for UAE employment exams - GMA News TV, Philippines. (11/14)
  In UAE local nurses comprise merely 4-7 per cent.
  

• President says strong human development index necessary for economic progress - NetIndian News Network. (11/16)
  There was an acute shortage of doctors in rural areas.
  

• VIETNAM: Ethnic minorities lose out on maternal healthcare - IRIN-Asia. (11/17)
  Minorities such as the H’Mong mostly still give birth at home, and are far less likely to access healthcare.
  

• Corruption a concern in healthcare, says workshop - Viet Nam News. (11/18)
  Raising wages for health workers and increasing the role of non-State health service providers, could tackle the problem.
  

• Health workers protest pay offer - ABC News, Australia. (11/17)
  Tasmanian health workers demand improved salaries.
  

• Australia To Invest $134.4 Million In Incentives And Reforms For Rural Doctors - Australia Government. (11/15)
  Rudd Government is providing a $134.4 million, four-year package to encourage more doctors to move to the rural and remote areas
  

• South Australia needs overseas nurses to overcome shortage - Adelaide Now, Australia. (11/16)
  SA is short of about 500 nurses and that number will rise to about 5000 by 2020.
  

• Let’s shake up the debate about medical training - Crikey Health Blog, Australia. (11/10)
  Team learning should be an integral part of any health learning program
  
  

NORTH AMERICA

• Globalization and Health: Pathways, Evidence and Policy - JAMA. (11/18)
  Book Review by Book and Media Reviews Section Editor: John L. Zeller, MD, PhD, Contributing Editor.
  

• Advocates: Nursing home percentage too high - Norwich Bulletin, CT. (11/12)
  Only 24 percent of Connecticut Medicaid recipients receive home care
  

• House Health Bill Includes Cash to Help Train, Maintain New Lab Techs - Genomeweb. (11/9)
  HHS Secretary to establish a Public Health Workforce Scholarship Program.
  

• Army study: Mental health staff lacking in Afghanistan - Miami Herald. (11/13)
  There are 40 Army mental health workers in Afghanistan, and roughly 200 in Iraq.
  

• Group looks at need for physicians - Bay City Tribune, TX. (11/15)
  The analysis presents three key planning components: immediate needs, intermediate needs and future needs of the community.
  

• Mental health workers due in Afghanistan - Seattle Post Intelligencer. (11/16)
  Though the mental health specialists field is understaffed, the additional Afghan-bound personnel will be fully qualified
  

• UC San Francisco commits to advancing global health - Ethiopian Review. (11/17)
  Building the global health workforce of the future
  

• Visualize Seattle's global health connections - Seattle Times. (11/18)
  Community health workers have been vital to programs internationally, bringing medicine and information about prenatal care and disease prevention to people in rural areas
  
  

• Experts Say Infusion of Public Health Professionals Needed- WBFO News, NY. (11/18)
  It is expected that more than 250,000 public healthcare workers will be needed by 2020
  

• Public-health workers reassigned to H1N1 centres- Globe and Mail, Canada. (11/17)
  Hundreds of Toronto's public-health workers have been deployed to H1N1 vaccine clinics putting other medical needs on hold
  
  

EUROPE

• The Global Health Research and Innovation System (GHRIS) - The Lancet, UK. (11/14)
  Two major changes have expanded the spectrum of challenges to health in low-income and middle-income countries.
  

• New minister to tackle health reform in Germany - The Lancet, UK. (11/14)
  The €4.43 billion public health system, a bureaucratic megalith, covers 70 million people
  

• Bulgaria’s 2010 budget - Focus Information Agency, Bulgaria. (11/17)
  Trade unionists describe it as “a budget of panic” with worsening shortage of funds for healthcare and social policy
  

• New intercultural guide for health workers - Irish Times. (11/16)
  Guidebook will offer practical advice for healthcare workers dealing with people from diverse religions and cultures
  

• South Australia needs nurses to emigrate to Australia - Visa Bureau, UK. (11/16)
  South Australia is short of around 500 nurses, and that number will rise to around 5000 by 2020.
  

• Sceptical optimism: a new take on global health data - The Lancet, UK. (11/21)
  Accurate statistics about our most basic need—our health—remain elusive.
  

• El PCAL reclama una Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud - Gente en Burgos, Spain. (11/18)
  En Castilla y León hacen falta urgentemente 1.200 enfermeras y en los próximos 10 años harán falta alrededor de 4000 médicos.
  
  

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Al tercer día Suspenden hoy paralización por falta pago a los médicos del seguro - El Nacional, DR. (11/14)
  En los hospitales del IDSS los profesionales de la salud y las enfermeras sólo ofrecían servicios de emergencias dado a la falta de pago de salarios.
  

• Ugarte: Envío de médicos y equipos al VRAE aún está en proceso - RPP, Peru. (11/12)
  Aseguró que es prioridad para su sector cubrir las carencias de salud, por lo cual desplazarán a VRAI médicos.
  

• Preparan enfermeras bilingües - Verdad de Tamaulipas, Mexico. (11/14)
  Por carencia de enfermeras en Estados Unidos, se preparan enfermeras mexicanas para cubrir estas plazas.
  

• En hospitales de la zona Altos - Expreso Chiapas, Mexico. (11/14)
  Se pidieron mayor dotación de medicamentos, capacitación del personal médico y enfermeras etc.
  

• Unit recebe aval do MEC para ofertar Medicina - Aquiacontece.com, Brazil. (11/15)
  em Aracaju, por exemplo, sem me estender para o interior, a carência de pediatras é muito grande
  

• Nicaragua: avanza brigada cubana en estudio de discapacidad - Prensa Latina, Cuba. (11/16)
  En Masaya fueron estudiados cuatro mil 862 personas con discapacidad
  

• Falta de personal reduce la atención en dos hospitales - La Razón, Bolivia. (11/17)
  La falta de personal médico y administrativo limita la atención a pacientes en los hospitales del Niño y Obrero
  
  

News from WHO and partners

• Women Central to Efforts to Deal With Climate Change, Says New UNFPA Report - UNFPA. (11/18)
  Investments that empower women and girls—particularly education and health—bolster economic development and reduce poverty
  

• Sustainable scaling up of good quality health worker education for tuberculosis control in Indonesia: a case study - HRH Journal. (11/16)
  A structured plan for capacity building, including standardized competency based training modules and curricula, was developed
  

• France and Ireland sign Ethiopia's IHP+ Country Compact - International Health Partnership. (11/10)
  Agreement aims at speeding up and harmonizing ongoing efforts of the Ethiopian government in the health sector