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Alliance News Digest

Information

WEEK OF 21 August 2009

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AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Tackling health - Sowetan News, SA
  SKILLING, recruiting and retaining health workers is a critical problem in providing health services to rural areas, Deputy Health Minister Molefi Sefularo said
  

• No law to regulate health sector in Nigeria – Senator - The Vanguard, Nigeria
  Since independence (in 1960), we have not had a law to regulate the health sector in Nigeria.
  

• Why Reproductive Health Systems Don't Work - The Monitor, Uganda
  Corruption, nepotism, tribalism and the government's policy of recruiting civil servants have been cited as the factors responsible for the current mess in the reproductive health system across the country.
  

• Health workers still not safe from Swine Flu - Swazi Observer, Swaziland
  THERE is nothing that has been put in place to ensure that frontline health workers are safe from Swine Flu
  

• 12 800 health workers struck off register - Independent Online, SA
  The Healthcare Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has erased over 12 800 health care practitioners from its register for failing to pay their annual fees.
  

• Zimbabwe: Beyond Cholera—Beyond the Crisis? - MSF, Zimbabwe
  Things have been improving over the last couple of months. The multi-donor retention scheme (in which several donors contribute to a system that pays all health workers in the country a minimum monthly income) has helped to bring some health workers back to hospitals and clinics.
  

• Medical Aid schemes becoming a big con - The Sowetan, SA
  They are expensive, with decreasing benefits, yet members are paying increasingly out of their own pockets for less healthcare.
  

• Upgrading tertiary hospitals to quality care centres - Financial Standard, Nigeria
  Upgrading of these tertiary hospitals will reduce the spate at which some Nigerians travel out of the country for medical services as well as improve training and research in the country.
  

• Health workers dissatisfied - Daily Times, Malawi
  One of the causes of dissatisfaction among CHAM health workers was delayed salary payment.
  
  

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• AFGHANISTAN: Midwives defy tradition and save lives - IRIN-Asia
  Conservative traditions in Afghanistan have restricted women’s and girls’ access to education, work, healthcare and other social activities across the country, albeit in varying degrees.
  

• Nurses Call For Less Rhetoric - Scoop, New Zealand
  Nurses Call For Less Rhetoric, Proper Debate and Careful Consideration Before Any Action is Taken on the Latest Report
  

• Government determined to maxim ise health dollar - TV New Zealand
  The New Zealand health sector is in for a shake up if a group of experts get their way. The health minister told TVNZ's Q+A programme that a restructure would mean more money to spend on doctors and nurses
  

• Health workers clash with police in Birgunj - Republicia, Nepal
  Agitating health workers clashed with the police at the National Medical College in Birgunj on Sunday morning
  

• Jobs set to go from SA Health - ABC News, Australia
  Up to 275 jobs are expected to be cut from South Australia's public health sector over the next two years
  

• Basilan needs more health workers after clash - Inquirer, Philippines
  More health workers will be deployed in Basilan to assist some 3,000 people displaced by the August 12 clashes
  

• Healthcare Workers Don Masks to Prevent H1N1 - Khaleej Times, UAE
  Many hospitals, clinics and pharmacies in the UAE have started providing masks to their staff in an attempt to protect healthcare workers from the threat of H1N1 infection
  

NORTH AMERICA

• Clinton Presents Plan to Fight Sexual Violence in Congo - New York Times
  She announced that the American government would train doctors, supply rape victims with video cameras to document violence, send American military engineers to help build facilities and train Congolese police officers.
  

• Lack of effectivecommunication between communities and hospitals in Uganda: a qualitative exploration of missing links - 7th Space Interactive
  Community members are stakeholders in hospitals and have a right to participate in the improvement of quality of services rendered to them.
  

• Health care reform bill President Obama town hall part 8 - The Examiner
  So as a consequence, you don't have enough professors to teach nursing, which means that's part of the reason why you've got such a shortage of nurses.
  

• Oncology Nurses Can Shine as Number of PCPs, Oncologists Run Low - Oncology Nursing News
  The United States is experiencing a primary care shortage the likes of which we have not seen.”
  

• Alberta flu plan looks to retired workers - Calgary Herald
  Alberta is preparing a wide-ranging pandemic plan that could see elective surgery postponed and retired doctors and nurses called in for help should the H1N1 influenza outbreak sicken large numbers of people.
  

• Recession forestalls anticipated nursing shortage - The Miami Herald
  An anticipated nursing shortage has been delayed by nurses wary of the recession, but experts say a crisis is still on the horizon.
  

• Alberta to pull paramedics from ERs - Calgary Herald
  Alberta Health Services has cancelled a program that saw paramedics stationed in emergency rooms to receive incoming patients, prompting some to suggest the days of ambulance shortages could return.
  

• For Outsiders, Opening Doors to Health Care - The New York Times
  Health care may be a costly drag on the economy, but it’s still a great place to find a job.
  
  

EUROPE

• Health support workers 'undervalued' - South Wales Argus, UK
  HEALTHCARE support worker Natalie Rowles is on a mission - raising awareness, and banishing misconceptions, of the key role she and a growing army of colleagues perform on the NHS frontline
  

• PSPSV denuncia una falta de planificación en sustituciones médicas de verano - ABC, Spain
  Según los datos que ha obtenido, indica en un comunicado, en asistencia especializada "apenas se sustituye el 10 por ciento de los médicos
  

• UGT denuncia la falta de personal en la UCI de Pediatría del Hospital Clínico - Granada Hoy
  La relación existente entre camas y médicos en Granada es la "peor" de toda Andalucía
  

• Enfermeras se unen a la huelga de médicos en Zimbabue - ADN, Spain
  Las enfermeras del principal hospital de Harare se han unido a la huelga que mantienen los médicos de los centros públicos de Zimbabue desde hace tres semanas
  

• Sick leave costs NHS £1.7bn a year - The Guardian, UK
  NHS staff take more time off than other workers, frequently because of anxiety and depression
  

• NHS staff sickness figures twisted claims union - Mirror.co, UK
  Health worker unions yesterday angrily hit back at a report into sickness rates, claiming the findings were being "twisted" into an attack on NHS staff
  

• La Junta de Extremadura oferta 175 plazas de formación sanitaria especializada para 2010, la "más alta" de su historia - Europa Press, Spain
  En rueda de prensa indicó que el sistema que forma a los especialistas es un tema "absolutamente clave" puesto que tiene una "incidencia directa con la calidad de la atención sanitaria que reciben los extremeños".
  

• Ministério anuncia contratação de 44 médicos cubanos - Diàrio Digital, Portugal
  O Ministério da Saúde anunciou hoje a contratação de 44 médicos cubanos que, durante três anos, vão exercer em nove centros de Saúde do Alentejo, cinco do Algarve e um da região de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo
  
  

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Colegio Médico y Ministerio buscan financiar más médicos en Urgencias - La Discusión, Chile
  Sólo en el hospital CLÍNI CO Herminda Martín se llevan a cabo al año unos 160 mil procedimientos médicos
  

• Salud en Miranda pierde calidad - El Universal, Venezuela
  Un solo especialista se rota por las emergencias de tres subregiones.
  

• Hamamoto recebe diretores da Saúde do Estado e discute soluções - Jornal A Semana, Brazil
  Aumento da demanda, qualidade do atendimento, compra de equipamentos e ambulâncias, bem como a ampliação de recursos humanos foram questionados pelo prefeito Hamamoto
  

• Argentina’s Impoverished North Battles Ferocious Dengue Epidemic - La Herald Tribune, Argenina
  With over 50,000 so far infected with Dengue -- and atleast the same amount infected with swine flu -- Argentina's overburdened health service is feverishly working to avoid further escalation
  
  

News from WHO and partners

• Where do students in the health professions want to work? - Human Resources for Health Journal
  Students showed a preference for working in large urban centres within one year, but would consider moving to a more rural location later in life.
  

• Agreement between physicians and non-physician clinicians in starting antiretroviral therapy in rural Uganda - Human Resources for Health Journal
  Pilot study from Uganda assessing agreement between non-physician clinicians (nurses and clinical officers) and physicians in their decisions as to whether to start therapy.
  

• Comprehensive web site on TB diagnosis now live - Stop TB Partnership
  A new web site, Evidence-Based Tuberculosis Diagnosis, has been developed and launched .