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Alliance News Digest

Week of 28 January 2011

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Commitment and action to boost health workforce - The Lancet, UK – (1/25)
  The 2nd Global Forum on HRH will provide a venue to take stock of developments, share experiences, review progress together
• Cuban doctors: overlooked champions of the health and human resources crisis - PLoS Medicine, US – (1/24)
  The potential risk of a decline in the number Cuban doctors working in low-income countries, should be placed firmly on the agenda of the 2nd Global Forum on HRH.
• In the wake of the floods, will we see innovation? Some health workforce matters… - Crikey, AU – (1/21)
  Rural Health Workforce Australia CEO Kim Webber, will co-chair working session on how to keep health workers in rural areas at 2nd Global Forum on HRH in Bangkok.
• Nations meet, children's lives in the balance - International Business Times, US – (1/24)
  As nations prepare for the 2nd Global Forum on HRH, millions of children worldwide die every year from preventable diseases due to an increasing shortage of healthcare workers
• Delegation of IHSA to Visit Thailand - Bahrain News Agency – (1/24)
  A delegation representing the Secretariat General of the IHSA will take part in Prince Mahidol Award's ceremony due to be held in Bangkok.
• In Brief: "Unprecedented" chronic disease growth in Southeast Asia – IRIN News – (1/25)
  Chronic disease could kill up to 4.2 million people annually in Southeast Asia by the year 2030, according to new research published in the UK medical journal, The Lancet.
• Tanzania: Empowering local people to tackle malaria - The Guardian, UK – (1/24)
  More than 125,000 people die each year in Tanzania as a result of malaria. However, community health workers trained by Amref are working to prevent and treat the deadly disease.
• Invest in Innovation to Increase Africa’s Health Workforce, Urges AMREF – AMREF – (1/21)
  As the 2nd Global Forum on HRH gets underway in Bangkok, Thailand, AMREF is calling on world governments and development partners to take concrete action to solve the global health worker crisis
• Davos: We Are in it Together in Sickness or in Health - Global Health Council – (1/26)
  Lord Nigel Crisp conveys message to leaders in Davos from the health worker conference in Bangkok.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Côte d'Ivoire: Protecting Public Health Despite Political Impasse – IPS – (1/24)
  Despite the political impasse the country is going through, humanitarian work continues and is saving lives in Côte d'Ivoire, officer says.
• Malawi: Better Paediatric HIV Services Reduce Infections - IRIN PlusNews – (1/20)
  Today, 45 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women use PMTCT services, putting Malawi on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reduced infant mortality by 2015
• Ministry Must Eliminate Quack Health Practitioners - New Vision, Uganda – (1/19)
  A myriad of private clinics offering alternative therapies offered by unqualified personnel have sprung up everywhere, not controlled, monitored or supervised.
• Mobile health apps gain acceptance in developing nations - Business Daily Africa – (1/18)
  These applications will spur innovation in healthcare delivery and is becoming a new revenue stream for telecoms companies in the developed world, report says.
• 2010: 30 nurses die of AIDS in Malawi - Africa News – (1/20)
  “We have also seen about 445 nurses declaring that they are HIV positive, 2400 registered health workers living with HIV/AIDS” responsible for the 'caring for care givers project' said.
• Health Ministry Working to Solve Shortage of Drugs - Mozambique News Agency – (1/26)
  Manhuele said the government was trying to overcome this deficit, and the situation is now improving.
• Kenyan hospitals facing acute staff shortage - Daily Nation, Kenya – (1/27)
  To attract and retain staff, the government plans to offer medical personnel better financial packages
• Nurses end sanctions over acute hospital crowding - The Jerusalem Post – (1/20)
  After talks with the ministry hit a wall, nurses say they will stop receiving patients in internal medicine wards operating over capacity.
• Time for health care to move to the next level - The National, AE – (1/19)
  Medical systems globally are haemorrhaging money and buckling under the strain. Electronic streamlining is the answer.

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Medecins Sans Frontieres, Red Cross treat Maoists: Dantewada SP - The Times of India – (1/20)
  The police superintendent of Dantewada, accused international medical aid organisations of treating wounded Maoists, in the grip of intense conflict between Maoist guerillas and security forces.
• Flying doctors save mum, baby - Asia One, Singapore – (1/21)
  Flying doctor teams are saving lives in remote areas.
• Set to rule on strike by docs, HC says patients most important - Indian Express – (1/20)
  Observing that “patients are the most important elements”, the Delhi High Court will very soon give its ruling in the matter related to doctor’s strike
• 50 doctors on the run from extortionists - The News International, Pakistan – (1/24)
  In addition to these 50 or more doctors, over 2,000 had left the city in recent years due to the worsening law and order situation and threats from gangsters to pay extortion.
• Provide low cost treatment to the poor: IMA to doctors - The Times of India – (1/26)
  The Pune branch of the IMA has directed its members to give medical consultation at concessional rates to patients belonging to the economically weaker sections of the society
• Patients suffer as doctors walk off the job in protest - The News, Pakistan – (1/22)
  Almost all public hospitals in the city remained closed on Friday in protest against the killing of a doctor
• Student nurses lack maths skills - The Herald Sun, AU – (1/20)
  Nursing students have "dangerously" low levels of mathematical ability, research has found.
• Caring as vital as curing for new doctors -The Sydney Morning Herald – (1/19)
  Interns need a more flexible curriculum to focus on their humanity.

NORTH AMERICA

• As Doctors Age, Worries About Their Ability Grow - The New York Times – (1/24)
  One-third of the nation’s physicians are over 65, and that proportion is expected to rise.
• Corrective medical education: CME focused on physician behaviour - American Medical News – (1/24)
  Courses offered around the country are aimed at helping doctors who have been disciplined learn from their mistakes and prevent future ones.
• Harnessing Our Opportunity to Make Primary Care Sustainable - The New England Journal of Medicine – (1/19)
  The foremost task this year must be to develop a strategy to ensure the sustainability of our primary care system
• The Impact of eHealth on the Quality and Safety of Health Care: A Systematic Overview - PLoS Medicine – (1/18)
  Despite the wide endorsement of and support for eHealth, the scientific basis of its benefits—which are repeatedly made and often uncritically accepted—remains to be firmly established.
• Indian Doctors: Testing Times – Forbes – (1/25)
  A single entrance exam for medical admission will ensure that merit will not be sidelined.
• U.S. Students Design Ultrasound for Ugandan Midwives - Women’s eNews – (1/25)
  A low-cost ultrasound system is on its way to Uganda in early summer to help midwives battle the high death rate in the country's rural areas.
• House Approves Health Law Repeal - The Wall Street Journal– (1/20)
  House Republicans now must deliver on a second promise of last fall's campaign: proposing legislative alternatives to the Democrats' law
• Doctors fail empathy test in 90% of cases - National Post – (1/25)
  Doctors need more training in responding to human emotions, study says.
• Canada's North frozen out of doctor supply - The Vancouver Sun – (1/20)
  In the country's northern regions, one physician is responsible for the health of as many as 3,333 people, according to a new report
• Harper pushes maternal health plan opportunity 'as an 'unprecedented - Montreal Gazette – (1/27)
  PM Harper leads United Nations commission which has been assigned to track how $40 billion is spent on initiatives to improve the health of women and children in impoverished countries.

EUROPE

• Revolutionising healthcare for the poor - The Guardian, UK – (1/21)
  An Indian doctor's mission to deliver low-cost hospitals could revolutionise the provision of healthcare in poorer countries
• NHS shakeup will hurt poor and help rich, says BMA committee chairman - The Guardian, UK – (1/25)
  Laurence Buckman of GPs' group warns that under coalition plans the worst off will lose out to affluent 'medical tourists'
• Human resources for health in southeast Asia: shortages, distributional challenges, and international trade in health services - The Lancet, UK – (1/25)
  All countries in southeast Asia face problems of maldistribution of health workers, and rural areas are often understaffed.
• Patients could contact doctors by email - The Telegraph, UK – (1/24)
  Patients could be told to email their doctor after assessing their symptoms at home rather than visiting in person, under proposals to free up GP's surgeries.
• Bad decisions for global health - The Lancet, UK – (1/22)
  Last week, several large publishers have withdrawn journals from HINARI's Bangladesh programme, depriving the opportunity of access to hitherto inaccessible knowledge for the most resource-poor countries in the world.
• Call for mandatory emergency work for graduates - Irish Times – (1/25)
  The situation in emergency departments had now reached critical levels in terms of the lack of Irish-trained NCHDs, expert says.
• Doctor incentives don't improve patient care-study - Reuters, UK – (1/25)
  Paying doctors rewards has no impact on patient outcomes. Study suggests payers may be wasting billions of dollars
• Inquiétudes pour l'avenir de la pédiatrie en France - Le Figaro, France – (1/19)
  Avec un pédiatre pour 6000 enfants, la pénurie touche aussi bien le secteur libéral que les hôpitaux.
• Heger to offer 2 billion for Czech doctors´ pay increase – server - Ceske Noviny, Czech Republic– (1/27)
  The money should be found by redistributing money between health insurers, among others.

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Insultos, amenazas y golpes: el nuevo combate de los médicos - Clarín, Argentina – (1/22)
  Estadísticas en hospitales porteños revelan que de cada diez médicos, ocho sufrieron alguna agresión, pero sólo dos hicieron la denuncia penal
• Las modernas guerras médicas - La Página, El Salvador – (1/20)
  Debemos estar orgullosos de los médicos que por necesidad debieron salir fuera a terminar sus estudios y quieren regresar porque desean un futuro al igual que nosotros.
• Bebes prematuros: una lucha sin descanso por la supervivencia - La Nación, Argentina – (1/21)
  Expertos en neonatología indican que hace falta una especialización en el tema para salvar vidas.
• RD requiere más de 2000 mil médicos de familia - Primicias, República Dominicana – (1/25)
  La RD solo tiene 400 profesionales en el área de la medicina familiar, cifra que se va acortando debido a la migración de la gran mayoría de los galenos a Europa
• ¿Socializar la medicina? - El Universal, Ecuador – (1/25)
  Hay que trabajar profundamente en las facultades de medicina para recuperar el sentido social de su práctica entre los estudiantes.
• Governo pede um tempo aos médicos - Tribuna do Norte, Brazil – (1/25)
  O impasse entre as cooperativas médicas e o Governo do Estado continua sem solução