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Alliance News Digest

Week of 05 November 2010

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• Telehealth in the developing world - International Development Research Center, Canada – (November 2010)
  By bringing people together, telecommunication technologies have the potential to improve both the quality of and access to health care in the remotest areas of the developing world
• PPE Fact Sheet: Meeting the information needs of health professionals - now available in French and Spanish – HIFA2015 – (10/30)
  This Fact Sheet is the newest tool in the Positive Practice Environments (PPE) campaign toolkit
• Collaborating to Expand Health Workforce Resources from the South Pacific Region – CapacityPlus – (11/01)
  The Hub and the HRH Global Resource Center will work together to disseminate original research on the South Pacific region’s HRH challenges
• Bringing Partners Together to Address Uganda’s Health Workforce Challenge – CapacityPlus – (10/28)
  Uganda Capacity Program builds the capacity of Ugandan institutions to plan for the health workforce
• Money Matters! A New Costing Tool for Health Worker Retention – CapacityPlus – (October 2010)
  WHO and CapacityPlus are designing a simple and user-friendly costing tool for health worker retention in rural and remote areas
• Forecasting the need for medical specialists in Spain: application of a system dynamics model – HRH Journal. (10/29)
  Spain has gone from a surplus to a shortage of medical doctors in very few years

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Mothers targeted to stop HIV spread - Capital News FM, Kenya – (10/30)
  Unicef unveiled a new plan to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS
• Time For Frank Talk With Striking Lagos Doctors – PMNews, Nigeria – (11/02)
  Doctors employed by the Lagos Government embarked on an indefinite strike seeking better remunerations
• Hurdles for foreign nurses – Times Live, SA – (10/29)
  As foreign doctors face a long wait to register before they can work in the country's hospitals, it was found that foreign nurses face even longer delays.
• Govt's Responsibility in Aids Funding – Health-e, SA – (10/28)
  Although South Africa covers most of the costs of HIV/AIDS services, it does rely on donors to help with the shortfall
• Uganda: Deadly Consequences of Inadequate HIV Counselling – IRIN PlusNews – (10/28)
  According to health workers, the counselling given to couples is insufficient to deal with feelings and issues they face following a positive diagnosis
• Male Circumcision campaign slowed by shortage of human resources – The Zimbabwean – (10/29)
  This is threatening to undermine the campaign aiming at reducing HIV incidences by 80% among the 15-29 year olds by 2015
• Wanted: more Emirati nurses to be trained as midwives – The National, Abu Dhabi – (11/04)
  The programme aims to attract more UAE nationals to the profession

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• 'Encourage more Muslim women to take up nursing' – The Times of India – (11/03)
  Senior clerics, doctors and activists have supported an awareness campaign
• Access to Drugs A Life Saver for People with HIV – Inter Press Service – (11/01)
  Cambodia government says more than 40,000 people now have access to ARVs, representing roughly 86 percent coverage.
• Doctors at pains over male nurses inside labour room – The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka – (10/31)
  The doctors counter that having male nurses in labour rooms make mothers uncomfortable
• Japanese premier vows to help RP nurses, road users – Inquirer Global Nation, Philippines – (11/30)
  Japanese Prime Minister promised to help make it easier for Filipino nurses to pass Japanese exams to work in Japan
• Uzbek children’s health program makes progress, says report – Central Asia Newswire – (11/03)
  Uzbekistan reduced hospital costs and number of over-prescriptions of medicines by doctors since the MCH project was launched.
• Doctors reject indigenous preventive health scheme – The Australian – (11/04)
  The indigenous health checks, designed to address chronic disease in Aboriginal communities, had been low despite benefits paid to doctors who performed them.
• Nurses rally over nurse-to-patient ratios – Sidney Morning Herald – (11/03)
  The NSW Nurses Association claims nurse shortages and poor skill mix has plagued the public health system for too long, risking patient safety

NORTH AMERICA

• Why Do Evaluations of eHealth Programs Fail? An Alternative Set of Guiding Principles – PLoS Medicine – (11/02)
  Much has been written about why eHealth initiatives fail, less attention has been paid to why evaluations of such initiatives fail to deliver the insights expected of them
• Harvard Medical School Launches $30M Primary Care Center – The Harvard Crimson – (10/28)
  The primary care initiative began in response to reports suggesting that primary care physicians are typically overworked and underpaid in comparison to specialize colleagues
• Nurses call level of staffing unsafe.-.The Washington Post.- (11/02)
  The largest nurses union in the US asked the D.C. Health Department to investigate nurse understaffing at Washington Hospital Center
• Nurses Aid Haiti; Will Your Hospital Help? – HealthLeaders – (11/02)
  Long after the TV news cameras moved on, nurses keep coming to earthquake-ravaged Haiti
• Delaware Physicians Create Unique Patient Connectivity Environment – Business Wire.- (11/02)
  Organization recognizes primacy of physician in transforming health care, engaging patients
• UN Report: World Is Healthier and Richer – New York Times. (11/4)
  Human Development Report Shows Great Gains, and Some Slides
• Afghans turn to Pakistan for medical treatment – Washington Post. (11/5)
  Many Afghans are unable to get to basic health care
• Calls grow to limit doctors' slice of health-care spending – The Globe and Mail, CA – (10/28)
  Spending on physicians is threatening to spiral out of control while potentially eroding patient care.
• Quebec limits future doctors – The Gazette, Montreal – (10/30)
  Many young doctors are frustrated with a government policy that restricts where they can practise in the province
• Ontario doctors signing up for electronic record keeping - Toronto Sun, CA – (11/03)
  Health Minister said the number of physicians who signed up has leaped by 80% over the past year

EUROPE

• Countdown to 2015: assessment of official development assistance to maternal, newborn, and child health, 2003—08 – The Lancet, UK – (10/30)
  Many countries are faltering in their efforts to achieve the MDGs for child and maternal health
• European cross border healthcare moves a step closer – BMJ, UK – (11/1)
  Patients will enjoy stronger rights for reimbursable medical treatment in another European Union country under proposals approved by the European parliament.
• The parlous state of palliative care in the developing world – The Lancet, UK – (10/30)
  In a developing country, patients who are diagnosed with terminal cancer or HIV must confront their mortality alone, and in pain.
• Services for sick babies 'stretched to breaking point' – In The News, UK – (11/03)
  There is a shortage of 1,150 nurses to care for babies in need of specialist hospital care in England alone
• Nurses 'will not fill gaps in HSE' – Irish Times – (11/02)
  Nurses and midwives will not fill in gaps left by support workers who take up the Government’s voluntary redundancy scheme for health service staff
• Three years: no easy answers to poor health in Katine – The Guardian, UK – (10/28)
  Although services are free at public health units in Uganda, accessing sound healthcare remains difficult in Katine.
• Thousands Czech doctors interested in Germany's jobs – Daily Prague Monitor – (11/01)
  Over 5000 Czech doctors showed interest in job opportunities offered by 32 clinics from Germany and one from Austria at a job fair in Prague
• Uganda: Mobile Technology Doubles HIV Treatment Rate in Babies - SciDev.Net, UK – (11/01)
  EID system enables central hospital laboratories to send results directly to an SMS printer in local clinics
• UK's emphasis on results will narrow the focus of its foreign aid budget – The Guardian, UK – (11/01)
  Achieving value for money may please the public but it won't be good for the poor
• Siete de cada diez médicos han sufrido amenazas o agresiones de los pacientes - ABC, España – (10/28)
  Aumentan las agresiones a facultativos, en su mayoría verbales por las bajas laborales o la expedición de recetas

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Egresados de Medicina deberán pagar por rendir el Examen Unico Nacional: Paro en la U – La Segunda, Chile – (10/28)
  Por primera vez, este año los egresados de Medicina deberán financiar parte del costo del Examen Unico Nacional de Conocimientos de Medicina
• Reconoce Córdova deficientes servicios médicos en penales – El Heraldo de Tabasco, Mexico.- (11/03)
  Entre los médicos que atienden a las mujeres presas no hay ginecólogos, y los especialistas se niegan a trabajar dentro de los penales
• Necesario formar especialistas: De la Fuente – Sumédico, Mexico – (11/03)
  Se señaló la necesidad de destinar mayores recursos a la formación de especialistas, a fin de evitar el riesgo de una crisis por la falta de estos en 5 a 10 años
• Médicos: el 70% vive en la capital – El País, Uruguay – (11/02)
  Plan de Salud Rural pretende equilibrar cifras
• Respaldo al reordenamiento laboral – Granma, Cuba – (10/29)
  El X Congreso del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Salud conluye con el enorme desafío de continuar elevando los indicadores que miden los niveles de salud de la población
• Enrolled nurses want more recognition – Jamaica Observer – (10/30)
  President of the Jamaica Enrolled Assistant Nurses Association said many people were unaware that there were three categories of nurses — registered, enrolled, and midwives.

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