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Alliance News Digest

Information

WEEK OF 24 JULY 2009

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AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Funded Health Projects No Cure for Country's Ailing Systems - The East African, Kenya
  Disease-specific initiatives, commonly known as Global Health Initiatives (GHIs), have gained prominence over the past decade or so.
  

• One Nation, Too Many Strikes...At A Time - The Guardian, Nigeria
  Recently, the minister of Health Prof. Babatunde Osotemehin disclosed that government is doing everything within its power to ensure that the doctors do not embark on their planned strike.
  

• Health Research Gets £3,2 Million Grant - Business Day, SA
  Research into improving health in Africa will benefit from a £3,2m grant from the Wellcome Trust, a UK charity.
  

• South Africa: Where to Find a Million New Nurses? - IPS-Africa
  Qualified health personnel has been leaving in large numbers to work in developed countries for better pay.
  

• Orji Flags Off Medical Mission By Doctors From Abroad - The Vanguard, Nigeria
  GOVERNOR Theodore Orji of Abia state, has flagged off a medical mission embarked upon by a group of Nigerian Doctors based in the US and UK.
  

• CDI: Maximizing the benefits of a successful regional health initiative - Afrique en ligne
  Populations in developed and developing countries alike are in serious danger as governments struggle to share limited resources among competing basic needs.
  

• Health Workers At High Risk for Contract TB - Health-e, SA
  Healthcare workers in KwaZulu-Natal are almost six times more likely to contract drug resistant tuberculosis than the general population in the province.
  
  

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• 26 Pinoy nurses lose racial bias case in NY - Philippine Daily Inquirer
  The discrimination claims filed by 26 Filipino nurses and physical therapists in New York have been rejected by a US federal judge.
  

• Talks focus on Thaiworkers in Europe - Bangkok Post
  Agreement on worker movement from Thailand with the EU and the Nordic countries are expected to be wrapped up within this year.
  

• Notification of breastfeeding law sought - Dawn.com, Pakistan
  Ministry of Health, said the mobilisation of lady health workers for the promotion of breastfeeding was crucial as they were the delivery agent at the household level.
  

• $16m funding for medical centres - Weekly Times, Australia
  WESTERN Victoria will get several key new medical training facilities as a result of $16 million in federal funding announced today.
  

• Indigenous health needs to be prioritised: AMA chief - ABC Online, Australia
  The federal president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) says improving the life expectancy of Indigenous Australians should be the number one national priority.
  

• Move to allow Aboriginal health workers to give swine flu vaccinations - ABC Online, Australia
  It's hoped Aboriginal health workers in remote areas will be able to administer a swine flu vaccine when it becomes available.
  
  

NORTH AMERICA

• Illinois programs tackle Africa’s nursing shortage - Medill Chicago Northwestern Reports
  Of all world regions, Africa is one of the regions experiencing a severe nursing shortage.
  

• Mikulski Announces Affordable Health Choices Act in Historic Vote - The BayNet, MD
  Senator Barbara A. Mikulski made announcement on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s passage of The Affordable Health Choices Act.
  

• Health care gets a shot in the arm from Obama - The Examiner
  President Obama’s health care dreams received a double shot yesterday; both the Senate and the House put health care legislation on their respective floors.
  

• Hiring of Doctors Will Help Medically Underserved Rural Communities - EGP News, CA
  California’s rural and inner-city communities have long suffered from a shortage of physicians and inadequate access to healthcare.
  

• South Africa Is Seen to Lag in H.I.V. Fight - New York Times
  Young men have flocked by the thousands to this clinic for circumcisions, the only one of its kind in South Africa.
  

• Rethinking Nursing - Modern Healthcare, IL
  The IOM has convened a nursing initiative to draft a blueprint for nursing, but some say 'corporate elites' will only provide toothless recommendations.
  

• Who Will Care for the Elderly and Disabled? - Kaiser Health News
  Both long-term assistance and chronic care management often require specially trained doctors, nurses, nurses’ and physicians’ assistants, social workers, or health aides.
  

• Advocates for Health Millennium Development Goals Unite to Demand World Leaders Honor Funding Commitments - PR Newswire
  The coalition of advocates demands that world leaders make the health of men, women, and children around the world as important a priority as the health of banks, Wall Street investment firms, and auto companies.
  

• BD/PEPFAR Lab-Strengthening Initiative Marks Progress in Fight Against HIV/AIDS and TB in Sub-Saharan Africa - PR Newswire
  "The shortage of trained healthcare workers is one of the largest constraints to battling HIV/AIDS in developing countries," said Krista Thompson, Vice President and General Manager, Global Health at BD.
  

• Stimulus will give $220M for health training - The Hutchinson News
  U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Tuesday that $220 million in federal stimulus funds will be disbursed to programs across the country to train workers in health care and other high-growth industries.
  
  

EUROPE

• Branson to fund diseases unit for S Africa - The Financial Times, UK.
  Sir Richard Branson, the founder and chairman of Virgin Group, is to help South Africa tackle HIV and Aids and other epidemic diseases, by sponsoring and part-funding a multimillion-dollar disease control centre.
  

• Concerns As Start Of Medical Student Tsunami Reaches Intern Allocation, Australia - Medical News Today, UK
  The national intern allocation period commenced yesterday, amidst concerns that some states may not be able to accommodate the increased number of medical graduates, despite a national workforce shortage.
  

• European agreement on sharps signed - UNISON, UK
  Unions and hospital employers have signed a Europe-wide agreement to set minimum standards for preventing injuries to health workers caused by 'sharps', including needles.
  

• Nurse management of ART matches doctor care in South African trial - AidsMap News, UK
  Monitoring of antiretroviral treatment by nurses resulted in outcomes just as good as those seen when patients are monitored by doctors in South Africa, a large randomised trial has shown.
  

• Healthcare workers should get top priority for vaccination against A/H1N1 flu, WHO says - British Medical Journal, UK
  WHO said on Monday 13 July that healthcare workers in all countries should be vaccinated against the A/H1N1 flu virus "as a first priority".
  

• Counteracting myths about immigration and health (Editorial) - The Lancet, UK
  BNP sent campaign leaflets out to millions of UK homes, which implied that white doctors think that immigration has been detrimental to NHS.
  

• Japon : échange travailleurs contre marchandises - Eco89.fr
  15 milliards d'euros devraient être consacrés à la création de 1,5 à 2 millions d'emplois d'ici 2012, dont 300 000 dans le secteur des soins aux personnes âgées.
  

• Las enfermeras del Marañón protestaron por su precariedad - El País, Spain
  En el último año y medio, las enfermeras de pediatría del hospital Gregorio Marañón han enviado tres escritos a la dirección del centro protestando por su precariedad (carencia de personal y escasa cualificación).
  

• Faltam muitos enfermeiros no SNS - Avente, Portugal
  «O País não tem enfermeiros em excesso» foi a conclusão enunciada pelo Sindicato dos Enfermeiros Portugueses, numa conferência de imprensa, dia 10, em Faro.
  

• EDITORIAL: 'La sanidad catalana precisa enfermeras' - Periodico de Catalunya, Spain
  Eixsite un deficit de entre 15.000 y 25.000 enfermeras en la sanidad pública catalana.
  
  

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Centre of Excellence for Health Workforce Planning to Open Next Year - Jamaica Information Service
  A Centre of Excellence for Health Workforce Planning is to be opened in Jamaica by February 2010, Health Minister, the Hon. Rudyard Spencer, has announced.
  

• Ssa: Chiapas supera al Distrito Federal en número de infectados por el virus A/H1N1 - La Jornada, Mexico
  El repunte de la influenza A/H1N1 en el sureste del país empezó desde el 1º de junio y ha sido de tal magnitud la propagación de la enfermedad, que Chiapas rebasó al Distrito Federal en cuanto al número de afectados.
  

• Problemas del Clínicas debilitan la formación de médicos jóvenes - El País, Uruguay
  Completan formación de médicos en otras instituciones Bajaron las operaciones y hay menos salas A nivel mundial se exige la experiencia de entre 120 y 200 operaciones.
  

• Saúde une Estado e município no combate à nova gripe no Rio - Terra, Brazil
  Ao mesmo tempo em que tenta driblar as carências estruturais, a área de saúde pública, tanto na cidade quanto no Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
  

• Simers propõe que GHC e Clínicas assumam hospitais da Ulbra na Capital - Diário de Canoas, Brazil
  O presidente do Sindicato Médico do RS defendeu ampliação urgente da estrutura hospitalar do Estado e de médicos para dar conta da demanda da nova gripe.
  
  

News from WHO and partners

• G8 did not do enough for African health, says AMREF - AMREF
  The 2009 summit did not make any concrete commitments to improving health in Africa.
  

• Innovative Ways of Commemorating World Population Day Around the World - UNFPA
  For two million Sri Lankans, the message of UNFPA’s World Population Day arrived right in the palm of their hands.
  

• One World Conservatism: Merlin's response - Merlin, UK
  One World Conservatism, the latest green paper from the conservative party, promotes a results-based approach to aid calling for greater transparency, accountability and ownership by the UK public.
  

• Employment and sociodemographic characteristics: a study of increasing precarity in the health districts of Belo Horizonte, Brazil - Human Resources for Health Journal
  The fundamental importance of human resources for the development of health care systems is recognized the world over.
  

• Empowering health personnel for decentralized health planning in India: The Public Health Resource Network - Human Resources for Health Journal
  The Public Health Resource Network is an innovative distance-learning course in training, motivating, empowering and building a network of health personnel from government and civil society groups.
  

• Health workforce attrition in the public sector in Kenya: a look at the reasons - Human Resources for Health Journal
  Kenya, like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has been affected by shortages of health workers in the public sector.
  

• Knowledge and communication needs assessment of community health workers in a developing country: a qualitative study - Human Resources for Health Journal
  Primary health care is a set of health services that can meet the needs of the developing world. Community health workers act as a bridge between health system and community in providing this care.