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Alliance News Digest

Week of 5 March 2010

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• UNFPA Helps Displaced Pakistani Mothers Deliver Safely – UNFPA. (3/2)
  UNFPA stepped up support to the health facility as part of its ongoing response to the area’s humanitarian emergency.
• Nursing Shortage in the English-Speaking Caribbean Hinders the Region’s Development, Says World Bank Report. World Bank. (3/2)
  Nursing shortages across the English-speaking Caribbean limit access and quality of health services
• Wrong schools or wrong students? The potential role of medical education in regional imbalances of the health workforce in the United Republic of Tanzania – HRH Journal. (2/26)
  Tanzania, like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, faces a human resources crisis in its health sector

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Khayelitsha Holds Some of the Answers (Op-Ed) – Health-e, SA. (2/26)
  ARVs will need to be provided in close to 4000 health centres, while currently it is only being provided in 400
• Upper West medical practitioners urged to come home – Ghana News Agency. (2/28)
  Only three general doctors out of the numerous doctors from the region were currently staying and serving in the region
• The Success and Sustainability of the Free Medical Service Scheme for Mothers and Children in Sierra Leone – Sierra Express Media. (2/27)
  In Sierra Leone health facilities are very few and located away from remote and poor communities,
• FG Urged to Pay Health Workers New Salary – This Day, Nigeria. (3/2)
  Federal Government to urgently implement the newly- approved minimum remuneration for healthcare workers
• SOUTHERN AFRICA: Preparing for the worst – IRIN PlusNews. (3/1)
  In Zimbabwe, the economic crisis sparked migration among doctors and nurses as well as patients
• RWANDA: Nurses to help speed up ART rollout – IRIN PlusNews. (2/26)
  Rwanda suffers from a severe shortage of health workers according to WHO
• Gov't urged to reconsider decision to sack health extension workers – Ghana News Agency. (3/3)
  Government has been urged to reconsider a decision to lay off health extension workers employed by the previous government
• GLOBAL: Free care for expectant mothers - is it enough? – UN IRIN News. (3/2)
  No-cost medical care will do little to make pregnancies safer unless health centres are better equipped to serve expectant mothers, according to WHO
• Sierra Leone welcomes former British PM to discuss elimination of user fees for maternal health – Media Global. (2/25)
  Financial constraints are the major barriers to health care for poor communities

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• The wrong way for rural doctors – Morung Express, India.
  The proposal to introduce a shortened medical course is a folly: it will aggravate the rural-urban divide and give a raw deal to villages
• Int’l lawyers urge Arroyo to free 43 health workers – Manila Bulletin. (3/1)
  Those arrested were medical practitioners and health workers who were participating in a one week First Responders Training
• Public health faces brain drain – Viet Nam News. (3/2)
  A shortage of medical workers and their uneven geographical distribution is having a negative impact on the country
• Exodus of health workers paves way for bilateral pacts – Manila Bulletin. (3/3)
  Philippines is the top exporter of nurses to the world
• Indian doctors serving under difficult conditions: Manmohan – The Hindu, India. (2/27)
  “The death of medical personnel in the Kabul blast defined the risks that Indian medical teams have to face while serving in Afghanistan,” Prime Minister said
• AMA backs govt's health reform plan – Sydney Morning Herald. (3/3)
  There is dire shortage of health professionals in the country.
• New health worker role tried in Auckland hospital – Radio New Zealand News. (3/3)
  A pilot scheme is being carried out in Auckland to decide whether a new kind of health worker could take on duties from surgeons
• Patient-centred health reform – The Australian. (3/4)
  AS we assess the federal government's policy response to the challenges facing our health system it is worth considering first what are the objectives of health reform.

NORTH AMERICA

• SWAZILAND: Long-distance Learning Certificate for Caregivers – IPS Terra Viva. (2/24)
  Programme trains caregivers to understand the emotional, physical, psychological, spiritual and educational needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty
• Cost and Cost-Effectiveness of Treating Smear-Positive Tuberculosis by Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia: An Ancillary Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Community Randomized Trial – PLoS ONE. (2/17)
  The interaction between TB and HIV has fuelled the TB burden and affected the already overstretched health service
• Emergency Doctors Leave Haiti – Wall Street Journal. (2/23)
  Emergency workers leave the country and thousands of surgeries done after the January 12 earthquake need to be redone.
• Trends Reveal Shifts in the Pharmacy Profession Toward More Patient Care – Business Wire. (2/28)
  Study results showed that pharmacists continued to be in high demand overall.
• Connecting the Dots II – Milwaukee Courier. (2/26)
  Many studies on healthcare have revealed the disparities in care among minority patients
• Haiti Seeks More Support for Women's Health Needs – PharmaPro. (2/26)
  Post-quake problems range from sexual violence to lack of obstetric services
• Public Health Departments Shrinking, Survey Finds – New York Times. (3/1)
  Public health workers are another casualty of recent budget cuts in cities and counties across the country.
• Obama to Highlight Cost in New Health Bill Push – New York Times. (3/1)
  President Obama this week will begin a climactic push to rally restive Congressional Democrats to pass major health care legislation
• Les infirmières lancent un cri du cœur – Radio-Canada. (2/24)
  Les infirmières et infirmiers de l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont lancent un cri d'alarme en raison du nombre d'heures supplémentaires qu'ils doivent effectuer

EUROPE

• Reforms on the horizon for Australia's health system – The Lancet, UK. (2/27)
  Ahead of Australia's general election in 2007, there were several high profile media stories about the failings of the Australian health-care system
• AHIMA Hosts Cross-Border Health Information Management Event – eHealthNews.eu. (2/27)
  The event focused on the importance of having a skilled workforce to advance health information management
• Paramedics complain of lack of consultation on healthcare reform – Times of Malta. (2/25)
  There are 700 paramedical workers in 20 different professions within the public health sector
• Conference plans reconstruction of Darfur’s health services in wake of ceasefire – British Medical Journal. (2/25)
  The key determinants of health are for the most part lacking in Darfur
• Merging of healthcare providers in California has led to big rise in costs – British Medical Journal, UK. (3/3)
  A new study has found that consolidation has given providers "a stronger bargaining position over health plans
• The IMF and the human resources for health crisis in developing countries – report – Action for Global Health, EU. (2/16)
  In 2006, WHO estimated that 57 countries were facing a severe health workforce crisis
• "Nasty party style" politics rears its head over funding of national care service – British Medical Journal, UK. (2/16)
  Debate in the UK about how to fund long term care of elderly people has been smouldering since 1999

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• PAHO official: Migration of health workers affecting the sector – Dominica Online. (2/26)
  PAHO is currently seeking ways to stabilize the human resources in health, because of migration.
• En Haití sobresale el humanismo de enfermeras cubanas – CubaWeb. (2/28)
  Personal de enfermería desempeño un papel decisivo a la par que el resto de los médicos y los técnicos de salud en la atención a los pacientes
• Urge aumentar el número de enfermeros en el país – ABC Digital, Paraguay. (3/1)
  Faltan recursos en el sector sanitario.
• Ambulatorio no tiene médico y su sede está deteriorada – El Tiempo, Venezuela. (2/28)
  Sólo dos enfermeras prestan servicio en unas instalaciones deterioradas.
• Concursos abrem 1.738 vagas na Saúde Pública do Rio – O Globo, Brazil. (2/27)
  Está previsto para 10 de março o início das inscrições para 760 vagas no Programa de Saúde da Família do Rio
• Suspendidas cirugías electivas en el CHET – El Carabobeño, Venezuela. (2/26)
  En emergencia no hay personal especializado de enfermería para que los atienda, sino de cuidados generales"
• Três concursos abrem inscrições para 568 vagas de todos os níveis – Correio Braziliense. (3/2)
  400 vagas são para lotação no órgão e outras 29 são para suprir carência do Sistema Único de Perícia Médica e Saúde Ocupacional
• Falta fomentar áreas de enfermería en geriatría y obstetrician – Milenio Colima, Mexico. (3/1)
  Existe una alta demanda de profesionales en de enfermería geriátrica y obstetricia
• Nursing profession grapples with ‘sub-optimal’ quality of training – Stabroek News, Guyana. (3/3)
  Migration of Caribbean nurses leaves regional shortage

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