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Alliance News Digest

Week of 26 February 2010

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Health Workers to Wear Name Tags for Accountability – Daily Trust, Nigeria. (2/16)
  Name tags would enable patients to report the quality of service rendered to them,
• Health workers told to declare HIV status – New Vision, Uganda. (2/21)
  health workers should declare their HIV status before treating patients.
• TANZANIA: Pensioners step in to plug medical gaps – IRIN PllusNews. (2/22)
  According to WHO, Tanzania has one of the worst physician-to-patient ratios in the world, with just 0.02 doctors and 0.35 nurses and midwives per 1,000 people
• "Your security will not be compromised," - Mabengba assures health workers – Business Ghana. (2/20)
  Nurses and midwives were not accepting postings in Northern Region where ratio the nurse/patient is about 1:1,360
• Gauteng puts strong focus on primary health care – BuaNews, SA. (2/23)
  In improving the quality of health care, the department will over the next three months introduce a SMS system to remind patients of their appointment dates.
• Namibia: Health Authorities Tackle Maternal Mortality – Health-e, SA. (2/23)
  When maternal mortality almost doubled in fourteen years, health leaders in Namibia decided to make maternal health a priority
• Mugabe legacy: Ruining Africa’s jewel – Zim Online. (2/19)
  Skilled workers in the education and health sectors have fled Zimbabwe to search for better paying jobs in the region and in Britain, United States and Australia.
• EAST AFRICA: Improving Local Access to Family Planning – IPS-Africa. (2/22)
  Severe shortage of highly-trained medical personnel is one of the many challenges to providing health care at a local level across Africa
• Women’s health, the ministry’s main concerns: Vahid-Dastjerdi – Tehran Times. (2/22)
  There is shortage of specialized human resources for most pregnancy difficulties in less developed areas of the country.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Despite SSL-3, Gov’t Health Workers Still Struggle for Better Wages – Bulatlat, Philippines. (2/22)
  85 percent of the total employed Filipino nurses are working abroad in 20 countries. Only 15 percent are working in the Philippines.
• THAT HEALTHY FEELING – Calcutta Telegraph. (2/22)
  Public health depends as much on prevention as on treatment
• STATEMENT on the Morong 43 by the Concerned Health Professionals of Davao City – Minda News, Philippines. (2/21)
  Among them are the health professionals who decided to stay in our country despite the lack of support in the State’s health care delivery system
• Bail out nursing stream, banks told – Times of India. (2/19)
  The ratio of nurses to patients in India was in 2004, 1:1,100 and 1:100-150 in Europe
• Govt dealing with medical shortages – Ryall – New Zealand Herald. (2/22)
  A poll showed New Zealand had only 0.8 specialists per 1000 population.
• Health fix needs a lot more than local boards – Sydney Morning Herald. (2/18)
  Appointing local boards to run public hospitals will fix the health system shows a failure to understand the health reform this nation needs

NORTH AMERICA

• Uniting Democrats Is Challenge at Health Forum – New York Times. (2/25)
  Mr. Obama seemed to widen the playing field, giving the Democrats some additional options.
• Are You Looking for A Career In Healthcare?– Savannah Tribune, GA. (2/17)
  As you may or may not know there is a shortage of health care workers, from doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, therapists, therapy assistants
• Orange Healthcare joins the mHealth Alliance– Mobihealth News. (2/24)
  Orange plans to leverage the Alliance’s resources and partners to bring sustainable mobile health projects to scale in West Africa.
• Doctor Shortage Fuels Nurses’ Push For Expanded Role – Kaiser Health News. (2/22)
  There are no doctors in rural Tyrrell County, N.C, only a licensed nurse practitioner the only source of primary care for 4,000 residents spread out over 600 square miles
• Matsui Announces $5 Million for Local Health Workforce Training Programs at Consumnes River College – BigNews.Biz. (2/21)
  Congresswoman announced grant Los Rios Community College District to train health care workers
• Cisco College looks to fill need for health workers – Reporter-News, TX. (2/19)
  Community requires more health-care workers
• Health Worker Training Program Cuts Stillbirths By 30% In 6 Developing Countries, Study Says – Kaiser Global Health Policy Report. (2/19)
  The rate of stillbirths was cut by more than 30 percent after health workers in rural parts of six developing countries were trained
• Blind River 'growing' its own nurses – SooToday.com, Canada. (2/20)
  McGuinty government helps train and retain health professionals
• Most Maternal Deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa Could Be Avoided – Science Daily. (2/18)
  In 2003, the WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA produced the world maternal mortality index
• N.S. workers lack right skills, with job shortage looming – Chronicle-Herald, Canada. (2/17)
  The province has programs to encourage retirees to re-enter the workforce.

EUROPE

• Health workers detained in the Philippines – The Lancet, UK. (2/20)
  Doctors who choose to become community health specialists and work with poor people in the provinces, are automatically considered leftists and targeted, said Health Alliance for Democracy
• AMA Welcomes Government Action On Medical Training, Australia – Medical News Today, UK. (2/16)
  MTRP will have an ongoing expanded role in medical education and training, and it will work closely with Health Workforce Australia
• One woman's justice – Irish Times. (2/20)
  The lack of qualified midwives is the principal stalling issue around addressing maternal mortality.
• International health links manual – Lancet Infectious Diseases, UK. (March/2010)
  Guide on how to establish collaborative development partnerships between health-sector organisations in the UK and counterparts in developing countries
• Amref: Why we need a fourth year in Katine- The Guardian, UK: (2/19)
  AMREF explains why it has decided to extend its development work in Katine for an extra year
• Medical aid still "absolutely necessary" in Haiti, says top WHO official – BMJ, UK. (2/22)
  International assistance—especially medical doctors—is still absolutely necessary in Haiti to help deliver essential services
• Private firm will operate entire NHS hospital – BMJ, UK. (2/22)
  Unions are worried about the development and fear it is a "dangerous experiment"
• Castelló necesita 600 médicos y enfermeras para evitar el colapso. Levante, Spain. (2/23)
  Los sindicatos denuncian que las listas para las intervenciones quirúrgicas ya superan el año de espera
• Governo quer fixar médicos no interior com 750 euros – Diário Econômico, Portugal. (2/20)
  A medida anunciada pretende combater a falta de médicos em algumas regiões.
• Graulhet. Le projet de Maison de santé en question – La Depêche.fr. (2/18)
  Politique. Les Graulhétois ont jusqu'au 10 mars pour faire connaître leurs besoins

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Rotan doctores por escasez de recursos – El Mexicano. (2/20)
  No tienen la plantilla total de médicos y enfermeras en los Centros Comunitarios
• Sin médicos ni servicios opera sistema de salud de Vargas – El Universal, Venezuela. (2/19)
  Poca efectividad en sus tres hospitales, en Barrio Adentro y en centros privados
• Aseguran que ya es "crítica" la situación por la falta de enfermeras en hospitales – Diario Democracia, Argentina. (2/17)
  Las autoridades temen que la problemática termine por obligar a las autoridades a contratar personal sin formación.
• Seremos hospital de referencia – Correo Arequipa, Peru. (2/22)
  IREN-SUR hoy tiene 10 oncólogos y necesitan unos 14 más,
• Fuerte crisis en Salud: renuncian directores y jefes del Hospital Molas – Diario de la Pampa, Argentina. (2/23)
  Además de la crisis sanitaria y orgánica por la falta de personal e insumos, se confirmó ayer la renuncia de los directores del Hospital
• Plus que no llega a Saltillo – Vanguardia, Mexico. (2/19)
  A casi un año de haber entrado en funciones, la Unidad Médica 89 del IMSS sigue sin funcionar al 100 por ciento
• SESA AFIRMA QUE TERCEIRIZAÇÕES AJUDAM A SUPRIR CARÊNCIA DE MÉDICOS – Ceará Agora, Brazil. (2/24)
  A falta de profissionais da saúde em hospitais do estado é uma preocupação do Sindicato dos Hospitais do Ceará

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• New technology strengthens Africa's health workforce - WHO. (2/19)
  This episode focuses on how new technology is helping to strengthen Africa's health workforce to address the enormous public health challenges.
• WHO and the University of Geneva sign an agreement to deliver a Masters Degree Programme with a focus on Health Workforce Development in Francophone Africa – WHO. (2/17)
  The Masters Programme is designed to provide highest medical education to francophone students in Africa through distance learning with the support of inter-country networks of personnel trained in health workforce management and capable of acting as local academic mentors.
• Pampaida: millennium development in action in Nigeria – UNAIDS. (2/22)
  . It was common that women gave birth at home, often attended by untrained help
• Midwifery tutors' capacity and willingness to teach contraception, post-abortion care, and legal pregnancy termination in Ghana – HRH Journal. (2/23)
  Ghana has a high maternal mortality rate of 540 per 100 000
• Blog: Realising the right to health in the Palestinian Territories – Merlin, UK. (2/19)
  Merlin joined the UN and a number of international health agencies calling for the immediate lifting of the blockade

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