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Alliance News Digest

Week of 24 June 2011

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• More skilled midwives needed to save women's and newborns' lives – WHO – (6/22)
  New report calls for strengthening of midwifery services to achieve health MDGs on child survival, maternal health and HIV/AIDS
• Yale convenes together senior health practitioners to build leadership and strategic problem-solving to improve health systems - (UNAIDS) – (6/05)
  Michel Sidibé stressed the transformative role that the AIDS response has played in community mobilization and strengthening health systems
• Adequate Midwifery Could Save 3.6 Million Lives, New Report Shows – UNFPA – (6/20)
  38 of 58 countries surveyed could miss their MDG5 targets without 112,000 more midwives.
• Durban Congress Highlights the Vital Role of Midwives – UNFPA – (6/20)
  State of World Midwifery examines the profession in 58 countries
• Examining the Critical Link between Health Workers and Millennium Development Goal 6 - Capacity Plus – (6/20)
  CapacityPlus participated in the side event “Can MDG 6 be achieved with the health workforce we have?” at the UN General Assembly in NY
• Into Libya - Merlin, UK – (6/21)
  Merlin is working tirelessly to treat the victims of the ongoing fighting in Libya and Tunisia.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• China to give Sh9.85bn for hospital - Daily Nation, Kenya – (6/18)
  Kenya has signed with China a concessionary loan for construction of Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital.
• Uganda needs 2,000 midwives - New Vision, Uganda – (6/20)
  The country has only 7,000 midwives and over 1,961 more midwives are needed at all health facilities nationwide.
• Second blow for sacked essential service workers - Mmegi, Botswana – (6/22)
  Fired health workers for defying order to stop striking, accuse Government of frustrating their efforts to seek another employment
• Doctors face unnecessary risks - Ahram, Egypt – (6/22)
  Doctors explain that the risk they take, especially in under equipped hospitals, is life threatening.
• A Sweet Pill in the Health Sector - The New Times, Rwanda – (6/23)
  With the enormous investments made to the health sector, Rwandan lives are changing in a dramatic way
• How Legal Gaps in New Laws Make It Difficult for Patients to Enjoy Rights - Business Daily, Kenya – (6/22)
  Failure to understand basic patient rights has led to unnecessary confrontations between the public and health workers, expert says
• Sierra Leone: Free Health Care Not Really Free - Inter Press Service – (6/20)
  Staff exhaustion leads to a poor standard of care for patients and people are still paying for a lot of drugs and a lot of services
• Toward a ‘culture of safety’ - The Jerusalem Post – (6/19)
  Ergonomics is making inroads in the medical profession, helping prevent dangerous mistakes.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• BN must keep pledge to improve healthcare - Free Malaysia Today – (6/20)
  Sarawak is in desperate need of a 'health service workforce master plan' to overcome its manpower shortage, says state opposition
• DOH sends doctors, nurses to barrios - Philippines Information Agency – (6/21)
  The DOH sends doctors to local government units that has not seen a doctor in the last two to five years, official says
• Punjab health minister to dismiss 200 doctors currently on ex-India leave - Hindustan Times – (6/21)
  The health department will recruit 200 new medical officers in place of the aforesaid doctors.
• WHO urges India to address medical needs of gay men, transgenders - The Hindu – (6/21)
  In India, around 1.5 million transgender people and around 30.5 million MSM are vulnerable to the HIV and sexually-transmitted infections.
• China vows to staff clinics with qualified general practitioners - Xinhua News – (6/23)
  The government will work to make general practitioners the backbone of China's medical system at the community level
• Dispensaries gasp for breath - The Times of India – (6/22)
  Inadequate infrastructure and staff crunch paralyses the 30-odd dispensaries in Ludhiana
• Thai doctors here for battle against dengue - Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka – (6/22)
  As Thailand has successfully tackled the dengue epidemic, medical experts are expected to share their knowledge and experience
• Punjab suffers from shortage of nurses - The Express Tribune, Pakistan – (6/24)
  In Pakistan there is only one nurse available for three practising doctors and in some areas this ratio is as low as 1:6.
• Of 42,000 midwives, just seven sign with Medicare - The Sydney Morning Herald – (6/24)
  A key plank of the federal government's maternity reforms appears to be failing.

NORTH AMERICA

• Hospitals courting primary-care doctors - The Washington Post – (6/20)
  Hospitals are competing to hire primary-care physicians, trying to lure them from their private practices to work as salaried employees.
• Doctors in demand - Boston Globe – (6/17)
  Mass. Medical Society survey found patients waiting as long as 48 days for non urgent appointments with primary care doctors.
• Emergency Medical Care: Three Myths Debunked - The Huffington Post – (6/17)
  Despite general opinion, emergency care is actually the glue that is holding together our health care system
• The Intersection of Global Health, Technology and Financing – Devex – (6/20)
  Research and technology remain key to improving health care and development around the globe.
• The Dynamics of Health and Return Migration - PLoS Medicine – (6/21)
  The health status of returning migrants reflects the accumulation of health consequences related to the conditions of the migration process
• “Mobilizing Development” - UN Dispatch – (6/22)
  New UN report explores how mobile technology can advance health, development, and humanitarian goals.

EUROPE

• South Sudan faces grim health and humanitarian situation - The Lancet, UK – (6/25)
  When South Sudan gains independence in early July, it will have to deal with some intractable difficulties to reverse the region's poor health indicators
• China's primary health-care reform – The Lancet, UK.- (6/18)
  The proposal to rebuild a good primary health-care system occupies a central role in China's health-care reform
• Graduate careers: EU changes pave way for new healthcare roles - The Guardian, UK – (6/18)
  Physicians' assistant jobs are an alternative for those interested in healthcare but who don't want to become a doctor
• Mental health services in crisis over staff shortages - The Guardian, UK – (6/20)
  Royal College of Psychiatrists warns society will be overwhelmed if ministers fail to fill gap
• Law may be changed to ease junior doctor crisis - Irish Times – (6/20)
  According to Health Minister, a change in medical law is needed to make easier for foreign doctors to work in Ireland
• Millions still die due to lack of midwives: UN – Reuters – (6/20)
  More investment in midwifery could save many of the millions of babies and hundreds of thousands of women, new UN report says
• US doctors braced for deep cuts in spending - Financial Times – (6/20)
  The cost of Medicaid has long been shared between Washington and the states, the withdrawal of this money will leave a huge financial shortfall
• Doctors’ association says 1,500 doctors could hand in their resignations - The Slovak Spectator – (6/23)
  Salaries are not the main motivation for the protest but rather the planned transformation of hospitals into joint-stock companies.
• La réforme des études de médecine au milieu du gué - La Tribune, France – (6/20)
  Dans son projet 2012, le PS propose ouvrir les études aux professions paramédicales en exercice, pour remédier aux déserts médicaux.
• Los médicos creen un ´despilfarro´ no dejarles ejercer tras la jubilación - La Provincia, Spain – (6/24)
  Los facultativos tendrán que escoger entre su pensión de la Seguridad Social y la consulta privada para evitar incompatibilidades.

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Gremio médico se movilizó para exigir mejoras salariales - El Tiempo, Venezuela – (6/17)
  Galenos marcharon ayer hacia el centro capitalino denunciando precarias condiciones hospitalarias para laborar.
• Víctima de la indiferencia de autoridades – Los Andes, Perú – (6/17)
  Los médicos y enfermeras del primer hospital de la región tienen que trabajar en condiciones precarias
• NO REABREN UN PABELLON DE INTERNACION POR FALTA DE ENFERMERAS - Terra, Argentina – (6/21)
  La sala de Neumotisiología no es reabierta en el hospital Tornú por falta de enfermeras
• La atención que enferma a los pacientes - El Colombiano – (6/21)
  Una mirada a las luchas diarias de muchos pacientes contra un sistema que se encuentra en un momento de revisión y polémica
• Los Hospitales Públicos (Editorial) - El Comercio, Ecuador – (6/22)
  Un buen sistema de salud supone una planificación adecuada y optimización de recursos, no es cuestión de demagogias ni discursos.
• Health Minister urges new doctors to begin their careers in the Family Islands - Bahama Islands – (6/22)
  HM considers the new physicians as “change agents” who can transform healthcare, to make it more accessible and affordable.
• Doctor says health of Caribbean nationals decline in US - Antigua Observer – (6/19)
  It is due to “sedentary lifestyle”, unhealthy diets, loss of major sources of social support, and “greater stress to acculturate with fewer resources.”