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Alliance News Digest

Week of 3 September 2010

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Google.org launches Health Speaks in Arabic, Hindi and Swahili – HIFA2015. (9/1)
  Google.org has launched Health Speaks - http://www.google.org/healthspeaks - a new initiative to try to increase the amount of online health information in languages other than English
• Salaries, demand and career opportunities contributeto global nursing faculty migration – ICN. (8/23)
  Experts from around the world convened at the Global Summit on Nurse Faculty Migration to identify factors and next steps
• PPE partners publish a new Fact Sheet on the information needs of health professionals – PPE Campaign. (8/31)
  Meeting the information needs of health professionals" is the new tool in the PPE Campaign toolkit.
• Health care for cut off villages in Pakistan: A day's hike, a day's haul – Merlin, UK. (8/31)
  Merlin's mobile teams reach remote villages daily by foot, bringing medical care

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Nurses Train in Electronic Information Transfer – New Times, Rwanda. (8/30)
  The training attracted 45 nurses from Huye District hospitals and other health centres last week.
• Volunteer healthcare providers graduate – The Standard, Zimbabwe. (8/28)
  Nyawasha is a volunteer village health worker and her routine includes travelling to at least three villages to check on the health of pregnant women
• 'Health Issues Are Being Politicised' – Leadership, Nigeria. 88/29)
  We want government at various levels to open their doors for discussion on health care delivery and remuneration to medical and dental practitioners and health workers
• Intimidation hotline set up for health workers – Times LIVE, SA. (8/28)
  There were several reports of healthcare workers being assaulted and intimidated since the start of the nationwide public sector strike.
• Uganda: IT Aids Teachers, Health Workers Share Knowledge – East African Business Week. (8/30)
  Regular tele-medicine consultations have already started in some of the African countries
• Hotline to Ensure Access to Chronic Medication – BuaNews, SA. (8/30)
  Call centre has been established to assist patients on chronic medication and encountering difficulties accessing their treatment during strike
• Cameia District Gains New Hospital – Angola Press. (8/30)
  The 55-bed capacity hospital will be secured by two Chinese physicians and assisted by 15 health technicians
• Traditional Healers And HIV/Aids – Times of Zambia. (8/27)
  THE inclusion of traditional healers in the PATF signifies the important role they play in health care services

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• Delay having baby, get honeymoon package - NDTV, India. (8/30)
  Delayed childbirth means better health for women
• The human ‘biradari’ needs to pitch in – Times of India. (8/29)
  Hundreds of thousands remain cut off from relief supplies in Pakistan. There are shortages of doctors, health workers, helicopters — almost everything
• UN, civil society: improve health of millions worldwide – The Inquirer, Philippines. (9/2)
  Achieving the MDGs, which world leaders have pledged to do by 2015, “is a moral imperative.”
• DHBs intimidating staff, says union – New Zealand Herald. (8/31)
  Vulnerable health workers are being suspended without pay to intimidate them into ending their industrial action, the laboratory workers' union says.
• Non-Governmental Organizations At UN Conference In Australia – Voxy, New Zealand. (8/31)
  NGOs can do so much, but with MDG 5 (maternal health), they cannot do that much without help.
• Intern shortage at crisis point: AMA – Sydney Morning Herald. 88/25)
  Faced with a growing ageing population, the AMA says the shortage could have severe implications on the nation's ability to provide adequate health care
• Nurses call for mental health focus – ABC News, Australia. (8/30)
  "There needs to be a strong commitment to the development of an adequate mental health workforce."
• Project aims for more Maori workers in health sector – Taranaki Daily News, New Zealand. (8/28)
  WRR project will co-ordinate all Maori health workforce activity in the region to promote health jobs to young Maori
• Strikes mean more cancelled operations – New Zealand Herald. (8/30)
  Hundreds of patients will now have to be rebooked for operations after the strikes end.

NORTH AMERICA

• South African Strike Puts Thousands of HIV-Infected Patients at Risk – Voice of America News. (8/30)
  Strike shuts government clinics that usually dispense antiretroviral drugs
• Reform to further strain health work force – Stockton Record. (8/27)
  Forum: Shortage of professionals could hit 30,000
• Europe Needs You!– The Durango Herald. (8/29)
  Almost all European nations need skilled medical workers and engineers
• Pakistani Female Flood Victims Struggle to Find Health Care - Voice of America News. (8/27)
  Floods damaged more than 200 health facilities and displaced roughly a third of the country's 100,000 female health workers from their homes
• Meeting the Demands of Staff in the Healthcare Sector – PR Newswire. (8/26)
  A report last week from the Health Authority-Abu Dhabi revealed the need to double the number of health staff in 10 years
• NELSON: $600,000 FEDERAL GRANT FOR RURAL HEALTH CARE – Trading Markets. (8/25)
  Rural health care provider in Crete will receive a three-year, $600,000 grant to recruit medical professionals.
• Kaiser workers to vote on replacing SEIU union – San Francisco Chronicle. (8/31)
  Employees will vote on whether to stick with SEIU or join the upstart National Union of Healthcare Workers.
• Commission Is Likely to Set Nation's Health Workforce Policies, Say Experts – American Academy of Family Physicians News. (8/18)
  This commission could emerge as the dominant force in driving and shaping the nation's health care workforce policies
• Va. Tech adds master's degree in public health – NewsLeader, Va. (8(19)
  “Maintaining a sufficiently large and appropriately trained public health workforce is paramount to the health of everyone.”
• Ban hails role played by civil society in advancing global health – UN News Service. (8/30)
  NGOs have an invaluable role to play in advancing global health goals

EUROPE

• The midwives who are the real Klass act: Myleene's glowing verdict after 17-hour shifts with the tireless nurses – Daily Mail, UK. (8/29)
  The midwives are all highly skilled, but what really makes the difference is their compassion.
• What makes a good doctor? (Editorial) – The Lancet, UK. (8/28)
  The attributes of a good doctor vary according to the population surveyed
• Dramatic decline in nursing posts fuels job fears – Nursing Times, UK. (8/31)
  The number of nursing vacancies has fallen by nearly 40 per cent in the last year
• New nurses struggling to find jobs – Nursing Times, UK. (8/23)
  Royal College of Midwives Scotland suggested that there may soon be no jobs at all for newly-qualified midwives
• Expansion of cancer care and control in countries of low and middle income: a call to action – The Lancet, UK. (8/16)
  Much can be done to prevent and treat cancer by deployment of primary and secondary caregivers
• The unfolding human tragedy in Pakistan: fighting alone – The Lancet, UK. (8/28)
  Much of the infrastructure for communication, transport, education, and public health in the affected districts has been destroyed
• Health-systems strengthening: current and future activities – The Lancet, UK. (9/3)
  There is strong consensus in the global health community, among donors, recipient countries, and policy makers, about the need for health-system strengthening in low-income and middle-income countries
• NHS Direct may have to compete to provide call service within new NHS 111 scheme – BMJ, UK. (9/2)
  The management of the nurse led 24 hour telephone advice service provided by NHS Direct in England is to be taken over by the new NHS 111 phone service
• Better collaboration between primary and secondary doctors is key to integrated care – BMJ, UK. (9/2)
  GPs should be at the forefront of integrated care in their role as commissioners

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Govt. Strengthening Capacity of Health Workforce – Jamaica Information Service. (8/26)
  Government is seeking to develop co-operation between training and health service institutions to strengthen the capacity of the health workforce.
• Protesta de médicos y enfermeros por la situación del hospital Erill – Día de Escobar, Argentina. (8/31)
  La falta de personal medico y de enfermería es un problema crónica que se agudiza
• Hay 10 médicos por cada enfermero – La Nación, Argentina. (8/31)
  En la ciudad de Buenos Aires, el desequilibrio llega a 19 a 1; en Canadá, la proporción es totalmente opuesta
• Maracanaú com carência de médicos – Jornal de Maracanaú, Brazil. (8/23)
  Devido à carência de médicos, a prefeitura de Marcaanaú está ampliando o antendimento em alguns postos de saúde
• Se requiere mayor personal – Correo de Puno, Peru. (8/30)
  Pocas enfermeras en los hospitals.
• Vulneran derecho de enfermeras – La Industria, Peru. (8/30)
  Centros de salud en la periferia de la ciudad de Trujillo, no se respeta la jornada legal de 6 horas diarias o 150 horas mensuales

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