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Alliance News Digest

Week of 03 December 2010

News related to/from the Global Health Workforce Alliance

• Forging partnerships to solve the global health workforce crisis and achieve the health MDGs – World Hospitals and Health Service. (11/2010)
  The health workforce is in many countries the weakest link in the effective and equitable delivery of quality health services

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Job satisfaction and motivation of health workers in public and private sectors: cross-sectional analysis from two Indian states – HRH Journal. 11/25)
  Ensuring health worker job satisfaction and motivation are important if health workers are to be retained and effectively deliver health services in many developing countries
• GAVI Alliance Board helps launch Mother and Child Health Week in Rwanda – GAVI Alliance. (11/29)
  Twice-yearly Rwandan health drive focuses on maternal and child health, aiming to empower communities and reduce maternal and child mortality rates
• ICN and the Burdett Trust for Nursing Announce Partnership for the Global Nursing Leadership Institute – ICN – (11/25)
  This will ensure that nurses from low income countries can take part in this important programme through bursaries.
• Universal antiretroviral treatment: the challenge of human resources – WHO. 12/2010
  The number and types of human resources that will be required in the future to achieve universal coverage – deserves attention from a new perspective
• Caring for the carers – WHO. (11/19)
  International guidelines launched to protect health workers against HIV and TB

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Lagos Doctors’ Strike:Counting the cost - Vanguard, Nigeria – (11/27)
  Investigation showed that over 27 people died at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital during the recent strike
• Lagos pays over N360m doctors’ salaries - Vanguard, Nigeria – (11/29)
  The state government implements the “mutual agreement” reached with doctors in strike at their last meeting
• Plateau Proposes New Primary Health Care Model - Daily Trust, Nigeria – (11/29)
  The new model would allow the state government to be in charge of the system for effective delivery
• Ondo Tasks Nurses, Midwives on Healthcare Delivery - Daily Independent, Nigeria – (11/25)
  Nurses and midwives have been urged to complement ongoing efforts to improve healthcare delivery services, especially in the rural areas
• NHI 'won't cure' the ills that plague our healthcare system - Personal Finance, SA – (11/27)
  Lack of accountability and poor governance are the main problems with the country's healthcare system, an expert says
• Doctors urged to stay in province and fight HIV, Aids - Bua News, SA – (12/01)
  Government has a responsibility to create a conducive environment for medical practitioners to work in and to do everything possible to retain them in South Africa
• Besigye promises Shs2m salary for doctors - Daily Monitor, Uganda – (12/02)
  Presidential candidate Kizza Besigye has promised to increase salaries for doctors from the current Shs550, 000 to Shs2 million a month
• Volunteer doctors to extend services - Gulf News – (11/28)
  Medical centre at the Pakistan Association in Dubai to open its doors for patients in need

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Staff shortage raises disease fears - Vietnam News – (11/30)
  Flu, dengue fever, malaria, encephalitis and diarrhoea strike an estimated 3.5 million people throughout the country each year
• Resident docs of IGGMC to go on an indefinite strike - The Times of India – (11/28)
  They want to attract the attention of the state government about their demands despite repeated requests and reminders
• Why should doc's strike not be held unconstitutional, asks HC - Hindustan Times – (11/24)
  Due to a recent strike of resident doctors, 50 persons died and many other suffered as they were not given proper treatment
• Do you know whos treating you? - The Times of India – (11/30)
  Are doctors doing proxy work?. Many doctors claim that such a practice does exist
• International doctors recruited for regional areas - ABC News, AU – (11/29)
  50 new GPs over the next year as a result of the Australian Medical Association's 'Missing Doctor' program.
• Nurses demand better health system - Green Left, AU – (11/27)
  Four thousand nurses and midwives protest against the state government's refusal to fund safe nurse-to patient-ratios.
• Social Media Guide for Medical Professionals - Top News, NZ – (12/01)
  The need to for a guiding tool was felt citing the increasing use of internet by medical professionals

NORTH AMERICA

• Primary care physician shortage creates challenges for medical homes - American Medical News – (11/29)
  An additional 6,355 doctors would be needed to handle only half of the follow-up care done by specialists treating seven chronic conditions, a study says.
• Doctors say Medicare cuts forcing them to shift away from elderly - The Washington Post – (11/26)
  “It's not easy. But you realize you either do this or you don't stay in business" doctor says
• Study Finds No Progress in Safety at Hospitals - The New York Times - (11/24)
  The most common problems were complications from procedures or drugs and hospital-acquired infections
• Editorial: Nurse-practitioner law worth Legislature's debate - Dallas News – (11/29)
  In most states, nurse practitioners are permitted to exercise the full extent of their training and expertise, but not in Texas
• Not Enough Doctors? Too Many? Why States, Not Washington, Must Solve the Problem - The Heritage Foundation – (11/29)
  Congress is, once again, committing the states to unfunded and underfunded federal mandates
• Health care act could impact rural care - The McPherson Sentinel – (12/01)
  The PPACA contains numerous provisions aimed at rural areas, to enhance programs and develop strategies to enlarge the health care workforce
• How to attract doctors - The Times, CA – (12/01)
  The answer, and the only answer, is money
• More help should be provided to help foreign-trained doctors practise in Canada! - Seaway News, CA – (12/01)
  Foreign-trained doctors are systemically shut out of the Quebec medical workforce.
• The residential schools of medicine - Ottawa Citizen – (11/26)
  Evacuating women out of remote communities to give birth is traumatic and costly. So why is it still happening?
• Cash bribes put patients atop surgery waiting lists - The Vancouver Sun – (11/27)
  The Quebec College of Physicians said it condemns any form of kickbacks, but has not had a single complaint.

EUROPE

• Evaluation of health workforce competence in maternal and neonatal issues in public health sector of Pakistan: An assessment of their training needs - Biomed Central, UK – (11/27)
  The high neonatal mortality rates are partially attributable to scarcity of trained skilled birth attendants and paucity of resources
• Facing up to the threat in China - The Lancet, UK – (11/27)
  Improper health-care system reforms did not acquire Chinese doctors a deserved improvement in social and economic status
• China's healthcare plans bump against rural skills gap – Reuters – (12/01)
  China is now using its new-found prosperity to try and extend health insurance and basic health care to all people
• Striving for universal health coverage - The Lancet, UK – (11/27)
  Yet the world is still a long way from universal health coverage for rich and poor countries.
• Mobile phones to improve HIV treatment adherence - The Lancet, UK – (11/27)
  Ensuring strict adherence to suppressive antiretroviral regimens remains a formidable challenge, mobile (cell) phone text-messaging may help
• Concern over plan for GPs at supermarkets - Leicester Mercury – (11/29)
  Sainsbury's is planning to set up GP surgeries in up to 204 of its stores.
• Health professionals for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world - The Lancet, UK – (11/29)
  Health systems worldwide become more complex and costly, placing additional demands on health workers
• Des consultations à prix variable chez votre médecin ? – Le Parisien – (11/26)
  Ancien ministre de la Santé fait une série de propositions pour améliorer l'actuel état de l'exercice de la médecine.
• Task Shifting: Maximizing Healthcare in Low-Resource Countries - ISN, Suisse – (12/01)
  The deadly cholera epidemic in Haiti is only the most recent example of how the time for 'task shifting' has arrived.
• Los médicos de familia, en contra del copago - ABC, Spain – (11/29)
  Por sus posibles efectos perjudiciales en la equidad y la salud de la población, especialmente en la más desfavorecida

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Una veintena de reconocidos académicos piden reforma en educación sanitaria - El periódico de México – (11/29)
  Los académicos se quejan de la escasa inversión que se dedica en el mundo a la formación de los médicos y enfermeros
• Denuncian graves problemas de acceso a salud en zonas rurales - El País, Colombia – (11/26)
  Entre los principales problemas para acceder a salud son la distancia, la seguridad y carencias económicas, indicó el informe de Médicos Sin Fronteras .
• Médicos internistas sin seguro contra accidentes - La República, Perú – (11/29)
  Pese a que es una profesión de alto riesgo, la mayoría de médicos internistas no cuentan con un seguro contra accidentes laborales. .
• Retrocesso na saúde - Estadão, Brazil – (11/27)
  Entre 2005 e 2009, o Brasil perdeu 11.214 leitos hospitalares, cujo número total, de 431.996 unidades, é o menor dos últimos 33 anos.
• Hay médicos, pero mal distribuidos - La Voz, Argentina – (12/02)
  Los pacientes del interior conocen las penurias de venir a las grandes ciudades a buscar atención especializada porque en sus pueblos no la encuentran
• Haiti - Cholera Epidemic : The needs for medical staff revised upwards - Haiti Libre – (11/30)
  The PAHO estimates that at least 350 doctors, 2,000 nurses and 2,200 health support staff are necessary
• Gran Bretaña financiará personal médico para combatir el cólera en Haití – Hoy Digital, Dominican Republic – (11/27)
  Hay una falta dramática de personal médico, sobre todo en el norte del país