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Alliance News Digest

Week of 7 May 2010

NEWS FROM WHO AND PARTNERS

• World Bank opens free access to development data – UNAIDS. (5/6)
  The site uses data from a number of fellow United Nations organisations and an extensive health section.
• Factors affecting recruitment and retention of community health workers in a newborn care intervention in Bangladesh – HRH Journal. (5/3)
  Well-trained and highly motivated CHWs are critical for delivery of many community-based newborn care interventions.
• A model linking clinical workforce skill mix planning to health and health care dynamics – HRH Journal. (4/30)
  Consider implications of skill mixing and workforce composition beyond the 'stock and flow' approach of much workforce planning activity.
• AMREF launches eLearning Course for National AIDS Control Council – AMREF. (4/23)
  The eMDI aims to address the severe shortage of health workers by providing technical and management skills
• International Day of the Midwife - Profile of a midwife – Merlin, UK. (5/5)
  One midwife for so many.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• The state wants our blood, to stop the three-letter plague – Times LIVE, SA. (5/1)
  About 4800 nurses, assisted by 9000 lay counsellors, will be trained to initiate and manage Aids treatment.
• Activists demand better work conditions for workers – Daily Monitor, Uganda. (5/3)
  Poor pay has been cited as one of the key reasons forcing Uganda’s doctors out of the country
• State closes private clinics, transfers medics – The Standard, Kenya. (4/22)
  The action by the PS has led to shortage of staff at Narok North and South district hospitals
• Strike paralyses hospitals in C’River – Sunday Punch, Nigeria. (5/2)
  Cross River State government has consistently refused to implement various new salary structures approved for health workers by federal government.
• Ethiopia among worst places to be a mother – survey – Nazret.com, Ethiopia. (5/4)
  There is only one doctor for every 42,700 people in Ethiopia and most of these doctors are located in urban centers
• Uganda Needs 2,000 More Midwives – New Vision, Uganda. (5/4)
  Number of midwives trained in Uganda remains low, according to figures from NCHE.
• Where to turn in a disaster? Twitter has the answer – The National, UAE. (4/28)
  Twitter has proven to be an invaluable asset in organising and communicating information .

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• World Health Day falls today – Daily News, Sri Lanka. (5/5)
  Sri Lanka has a family healthcare system in existence for 80 years
• Eclipsed At Dawn – Outlook India. (5/1)
  Worldwide, there are 57 countries with shortage in healthcare workforce. India is among them.
• Nursing Shortage To Be Overcome Soon – Brunei Times. (4/30)
  Brunei Darussalam is currently facing a shortage of nurses with 340 nursing positions to be filled
• India among worst places to become a mother: Survey – Times of India. (5/4)
  One of the major concerns is shortfall of healthcare workers who are a country's frontline defence
• Inadequate Budget Starving the Country’s Health System – Bulatlat, Philippines. (5/6)
  Inadequate budget allotted for health services has forced many health professionals to work abroad.
• More midwives - good news for New Zealand women and their babies – New Zealand Doctor Online. (5/4)
  A focus on recruitment and retention of midwives in rural areas is showing positive results.
• Health Workforce New Zealand publishes first annual plan – New Zealand Doctor Online. (4/30)
  Ensure that planning for our future health workforce is fully integrated with planning and decision-making for current and future health services
• Nurses Welcome New Diploma – Voxy.co.nz, New Zealand. (4/30)
  NZNO welcomes the Nursing Council's commitment to educate all Enrolled Nurses
• Newcastle University axes midwife diploma: Students, nurses cry foul – The Herald, Australia. (4/30)
  The university has axed its 15-month midwifery diploma for graduate nurses in 2011 and replaced it with a three-year degree
• Lucas warns health workers of more payroll pain – Brisbane Times, Australia. (5/3)
  Underpaid Queensland Health workers yelled "show me the money" as they marched in Brisbane's Labour Day parade

NORTH AMERICA

• New health-care law might make your doctor more informed, efficient, responsive – Washington Post. (5/4)
  The trouble is that there aren't enough primary-care physicians
• North Korea has plenty of doctors: WHO – Washington Post. (4/30)
  North Korea's health system would be the envy of many developing countries because of the abundance of medical staff
• 2010 Lack of Access to Contraception, Abortion Persist in Pakistan – IPS Terra Viva. (5/3)
  Many rural areas do not provide reproductive health care
• Hospital Cuts Hit Health-Care Workers – Wall Street Journal. (4/29)
  With one hospital closing and others slashing budgets, the city's healthcare-job marketplace could get crowded in the coming days
• Kathryn Osborne: Chapman correct on using more nurses – Wisconsin State Journal. (4/29)
  Re. column, “Nursing our way out of doc shortage”
• Implications of Health Reform for Mental Health Care – Psychiatry Online. (May 2010)
  Provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama, address the mental health workforce crisis
• Indian Country Math: Health Care = Jobs – Daily Yonder. (4/30)
  There are job vacancies in Indian Country for dentists, nurses and doctors. Meanwhile, some Indian communities have unemployment rates of 50 percent
• Will We Ever Start Calling Nurses 'Doctor'? – HealthLeaders Media. (4/28)
  Certified registered nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and clinical nurse specialists all have different levels of allowable function depending on the state.
• Canada commits millions to Africa – Ottawa Citizen. (5/1)
  CIDA will pay for training of health workers to help treat common illnesses
• Foreign aid policy may play well here, but it doesn't help those in need – Edmonton Journal, Canada. (4/30)
  If the government is serious about improving the health of children around the world, it must address the entire picture, including the sexual health of girls and teenagers

EUROPE

• Four social theories for global health – The Lancet, UK. (5/1)
  Time has long since come to supersede this untenable situation and to make social theory another instrument of improving health and reforming health care
• Valais health workers strike back – World Radio Switzerland. (5/3)
  The controversy, which has been going on for two months, will be on the agenda of Valais’ Grand Council when it meets tomorrow.
• Mobile phones are harnessed to the wisdom of crowds – Financial Times, UK. (4/28)
  When dozens of international organisations scrambled to help earthquake victims in Haiti in January, a number of innovative technologies were in the emergency kit
• Another American way – The Economist, UK. (4/29)
  The success of Kaiser Permanente, an integrated American health-care firm, offers lessons for insurers and hospitals at home and abroad
• CAMBRIDGE BUILDING SOCIETY – Cambridge News, UK. (5/3)
  HEALTH WORKER OF THE YEAR
• Editor's Comment – Andover Advertiser, UK. (4/30)
  Things are moving ahead on the education front and it will be good to see further enhancements to local healthcare
• Councillor wants answers over future of maternity unit – Express & Echo, UK. (5/1)
  Questions have been put to health chiefs over controversial proposals to close an East Devon maternity unit.
• Tired South Africa doctors botch operations: report – Reuters. (5/3)
  Shortage of doctors in South Africa, resulted in a doctor patient ratio of 1-4,000, forcing doctors to work long hours
• Call for better maternity services for women in Shipley – BBC News, UK. (4/29)
  Whoever wins the general election should address concerns over shortage of midwives in the area.
• La Xunta mete el bisturí – El País, Spain. (5/2)
  A Coruña ya funcionan desde hace tiempo con "déficit histórico" de enfermeras

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Sistema de Salud carece de médicos y equipo – ElSalvador.com. (5/4)
  La falta de equipo adecuado es otra de las dificultades del sistema de Salud
• Falta de médicos en El Salado, Bolívar, desata polémica – El Heraldo, Colombia. (5/5)
  Se generó una polémica por la falta de médicos permanentes en el corregimiento de El Salado.
• Más médicos necesita el Goyeneche – Correo Arequipa, Peru. (5/4)
  El hospital Goyeneche tiene más personal técnico y administrativo que médicos y enfermeras.
• Ambulatorio de Los Barrancos funciona en medio de dificultades – Nueva Prensa de Guayana, Venezuela. (5/3)
  Dos meses sin médicos que atendieran a los pacientes.
• Cada vez faltan más enfermeras en Hospital Zonal – El Ciudadano, Argentina. (4/29)
  Faltan 66 enfermeras para cubrir la demanda en Hospital Zonal.
• La EBY adeuda a los profesionales – Última Hora, Paraguay. (5/4)
  Médicos, enfermeras y otros profesionales no perciben salario desde enero

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