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Alliance News Digest

Week of 30 April 2010

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Breaking the Silence about Maternal Death in Sierra Leone – UNFPA. (4/27)
  Sierra Leone has just launched a major push to reduce maternal mortality, including free health care for pregnant and lactating women and their children under five
• New campaign to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Lesotho – UNAIDS. (4/28)
  Lesotho became one of the first countries in the region to allow nurses to administer ARV treatments, which greatly expanded access to treatment in remote areas of the country where fewer doctors are available
• International summit seeks solutions to global shortage of nursing faculty - International Council of Nurses (ICN). (4/12)
  Global Summit hosted by ICN and the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International will be first of its kind
• Monitoring the newly qualified nurses in Sweden: the Longitudinal Analysis of Nursing Education (LANE) study – HRH Journal. (4/27)
  Three Swedish national cohorts of nursing students on university degree programmes were recruited to constitute the cohorts
• Health workers: Rolling back malaria in conflict – Merlin, UK. (4/23)
  On World Malaria Day, 25 April, Merlin is paying tribute to these health workers who are fighting this disease,
• G8 Development Ministers Strongly Commit to Save the Lives of Mothers and Children in Developing Countries – CIDA. (4/28)
  The G8 Development Ministers Meeting concluded today with a consensus to press forward development priorities
• GAVI Alliance Board backs funding platform for stronger health systems – GAVI. (4/20)
  The GAVI Alliance Board today agreed to pursue the implementation of a common Health System Funding Platform

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• US comes to the rescue of Uganda's troubled health sector – The East African, Kenya. (4/26)
  Uganda’s doctor-to-population ratio stands at 1:36,000, nurse to population ratio is 1:5,000 and the midwife-to-population ratio is 1:10,000
• ‘Centralise medics recruitment’ – Daily Monitor, Uganda. (4/25)
  Most health workers do not want to work in the countryside especially under local government given the limited opportunities of promotion and education.
• Ekiti governor appeals to striking resident doctors – Next, Nigeria. (4/23)
  Failures to proper invest in health sector are evident in the poor infrastructure and low staff morale
• To Defeat Aids Pandemic, Save the Children First - The East African, Kenya. (4/26)
  Health systems must be strengthened and the work force capacity scaled-up
• Finally, the right HIV tactic – Mail & Guardian, SA. (4/23)
  There are fears that because of the human resource crisis in healthcare, people may not receive the level of counselling and post-testing support they require.
• Uganda runs short of midwives – New Vision, Uganda. (4/26)
  UGANDA is short of about 2,000 midwives, one of the reasons for the high maternal mortality rate.
• Statement by President of the Republic At the Launch of the Free Health Care Programme for Pregnant Women, lactating mothers and children under five – Awareness Times, Sierra Leone. (4/27)
  Grateful to health workers who have stayed in the country to support health system despite difficult conditions
• District Health Workers Rally For Free Healthcare in Sierra Leone – Standard Times, Sierra Leone. (4/17)
  Every health worker in Sierra Leone is absolutely vital to the successful implementation of free health services

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Diarrhea-hit VDCs face drug crisis - República, Nepal. (4/26)
  Lack of medicines and shortage of health workers has exacerbated the situation in some parts of Rukum district.
• Nueva Vizcaya health workers eye more "Botika ng Barangay" outlets – Philippine Information Agency. (4/26)
  The province only has at present 29 licensed BnBs which is still far from the ideal ratio of at least 1 BnB in every 2 barangays
• Military still holding health workers despite court order to transfer them – Philippine Inquirer. (4/24)
  38 of the 43 were supposed to be transferred from Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal, to Camp Crame.
• Chinese vice premier urges reform of health care system – People’s Daily Online, China. (4/26)
  "A performance-based incentive mechanism must be established to encourage medical personnel to improve their professional skills," said Li.
• Growing talent in public health care – AsiaOne. (4/26)
  Every year, SingHealth gives 150 of awards for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to train in various sub-specialties, both locally as well as overseas.
• Foreign nurses deserve helping hand – Daily Yomiuri, Japan. (4/27)
  Given the shortage of health care workers, certain restrictions should be lifted so qualified foreigners in these fields can work in this country.
• Health debate should not start and end with hospital bed numbers – Sydney Morning Herald. (4/28)
  It is possible that the bed block problem is largely determined by workforce shortages in primary care and in hospitals themselves
• Des Gorman: Mission to heal the health system – New Zealand Herald. (4/28)
  A taskforce is planning for the future of NZ health care
• Health fiasco continues to bleed – The Australian. (4/24)
  In Queensland health workers' claims they had not been paid.

NORTH AMERICA

• A job market with a bright future – Albany Times Union. (4/21)
  Hiring of health professionals stalls for now but demand will heat up, forecasts say
• Hundreds Join IntraHealth to Celebrate 30 Years of Supporting Health Workers Throughout the World – PR Newswire. (4/26)
  Worldwide, there is a shortfall of four million health workers needed to increase access to basic health services
• AAFP Urges Congress to Increase Funding For Primary Care-related Programs in 2011 – American Academy for Family Physicians News. (4/21)
  "Despite efforts to meet scarcities in rural areas, the shortage of primary care physicians continues."
• Malaria Risk in Somalia Declines By Over 50 Per Cent, Report Says – News Blaze. (4/24)
  UNICEF will continue to train health workers and supply all health facilities with rapid diagnostic tests for malaria
• Afghan War-Zone Medical Aid Doubly Endangered – IPS Terra Viva. (4/26)
  Accusation that members of a pacifist charity who had given up European comforts to save lives in Afghanistan were involved in a plot to kill Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal had sounded outlandish
• Temple hospital negotiations to resume Tuesday – Philadelphia Business Journal. (4/27)
  PASNAP represents about 1,500 nurses and allied health workers at Temple University Hospital
• Improving Newborn Survival in Low-Income Countries: Community-Based Approaches and Lessons from South Asia – PLoS Medicine. (4/6).
  Health workers are often not skilled and confident in caring for newborn infants
• Alternative Strategies to Reduce Maternal Mortality in India: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis – PLoS Medicine. (4/20)
  Improved intrapartum and emergency obstetrical care could reduce maternal mortality in India by 75% in 5 years.
• Cuts to nursing jobs hurting health care, union says – HealthZone, Canada. (4/26)
  About 2,045 full-time jobs have been lost since hospitals began to “balance budgets off the nurse’s backs”
• G8 development ministers in Halifax to lay groundwork for upcoming summit – The Star, Canada. (4/26)
  Prime Minister Stephen Harper has billed efforts to improve child and maternal health

EUROPE

• Sierra Leone starts free care for mothers and children – BBC News, UK. (4/27)
  Sierra Leone lacks the resources and infrastructure to support the new programme
• Midwife shortage hit Andover Shut Birth Centre reopens – BBC News, UK. (4/26)
  A Hampshire birthing centre has reopened after being shut over the winter due to staff shortages
• Free healthcare for Sierra Leone - and a whole lot of Tony Blairs – The Guardian, UK. (4/28)
  Sierra Leone has one of the worst death rates for women in childbirth in the world
• Health-financing strategy for WHO's Asia-Pacific Region – The Lancet, UK. (4/24)
  A country is unlikely to achieve universal health coverage if overall spending on health is insufficient
• Unfunded promises as the UK health debate takes centre stage – The Lancet Oncology, UK. (4/20)
  UK population will vote soon to decide their government for the next 5 years, and health policy is likely to be a major factor in the outcome
• Labour isn't working: The problem with giving birth in London – London Evening Standard, UK. (4/28)
  The lives of babies are being put at risk because staff lack basic training
• Nurse led, home based self help treatment for patients in primary care with chronic fatigue syndrome: randomised controlled trial – BMJ, UK. (4/23)
  The objective of reseach is to evaluate the effectiveness of home delivered pragmatic rehabilitation
• Doctor is awarded £0.5m after her employer refused to take account of back pain- British Medical Journal. (4/27)
  Dr Sayers, 64, was described by the tribunal as well regarded in her profession, particularly for her work on ethics
• Rural Scotland needs innovative solutions to deliver out of hours care – British Medical Journal. (4/27)
  Serious shortcomings have been identified in out of hours services to rural and remote parts of Scotland
• El refugio de la salud contra la crisis – Expansión & Empleo. Spain. (4/26)
  El sector sanitario español ha exportado facultativos durante años a países como Italia, Reino Unido o Portugal.

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Lideran en carencias hospitales mexicanos – Siglo de Torreón, Mexico. (4/25)
  En México existen 1.1 médicos y 0.7 camas censables de hospitales por cada mil habitantes, mientras que los promedios de la OCDE son de 3 y 5.1.
• Espera sofrida nos hospitais – Correio Braziliense. (4/24)
  Falta de especialistas e de material básico é um problema encontrados por quem procura atendimento nas unidades do DF.
• Pacientes esperam até 30 dias por uma vaga em UTI nos hospitais – A Tarde, Brazil. (4/24)
  O número de mortes em Salvador por falta de vagas nos hospitais administrados pelo governo do Estado preocupa
• Faltan remedios e insumos en el Hospital Nacional – ABC Digital, Paraguay. (4/27)
  Desde la implementación de la gratuidad de los servicios de salud, . ante tal demanda, se evidencia la falta de recursos humanos
• Advierten sobre la falta de profesionales de la salud en hospitales – Agencia Universitaria de Notícias, Argentina. (4/22)
  Representantes gremiales de dos hospitales, denunciaron un déficit de médicos, enfermeros y anestesistas.

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