This Week's News 7-11 June 2010

This Week's News
7-11 June 2010

Weekly news clippings service featuring articles on the Global Health Workforce Alliance and selection of articles from around the world on the issue of the health workforce crisis

The Global Health Workforce Alliance ¦ News from WHO and partners ¦ Africa & Middle East ¦ Asia & Pacific ¦ North America ¦ Europe ¦ Latin America & Caribbean This compilation is for your information only and should not be redistributed

News from/related to the Global Health Workforce Alliance

Date	Headline	Publication
10.06.10	Strengthening midwifery services: a Global Call to Action	The Alliance
05.06.10	Countdown to 2015 decade report (2000—10): taking stock of maternal, newborn, and child survival	The Lancet, UK
03.06.10	Lack of Skilled Birth Care Costs 2 Million Lives Each Year Report Shows Both Mothers and Newborns at Risk	Countdown to 2015
05.06.10	Lack of skilled birth care staff coasting lives 	The Citizen, Tanzania
03.06.10	Lack of skilled birth care costs 2 million lives each year	EurekAlert
04.06.10	21 Kenyan women die daily at childbirth 	The Standard, Kenya

News from WHO and partners

Date	Headline	Publication
07.06.10	Women Deliver + Countdown Conferences open with promises for women + children	WHO
07.06.10	Consensus Forged on a Strategy to Strengthen Midwifery in Developing Countries	UNFPA
07.06.10	UNFPA and CARE Announce Partnership to Improve Maternal Health Globally 	UNFPA
04.06.10	Maternal Mortality: Is It Yet Time For Sub-Saharan Africa To Celebrate? AMREF’s Position on The New Lancet Estimates. 	AMREF
28.05.10	ICN celebrates the courage and determination of outstanding nurses who strive to offer quality care for patients with TB and MDR-TB 	ICN

Africa & Middle East

Date	Headline	Publication
04.06.10	21 Kenyan women die daily at childbirth	The Standard, Kenya
03.06.10	Tuberculosis in Children Neglected 	IPS-Africa
07.06.10	Hospitals collapsing from unpaid insurance claims	Ghana Web
03.06.10	Eric Bloch:Reversing the brain drain	Zimbabwe Independent
03.06.10	Capping doctors’ fees will cause a headache	Money Web, SA
08.06.10	Scrap Maternity Fees, Midwives Urge Govt	The Herald, Zimbabwe
09.06.10	Govt to recruit 1,000 health workers	New Vision, Uganda
10.06.10	Deputados satisfeitos com nível de execução dos PIP em Namacunde	Angola Press

Asia & Pacific

Date	Headline	Publication
09.06.10	FOCUS: Indonesia health workers master Japanese to work in Japan	Kyodo News, Japan
04.06.10	Alleged breach of Red Zone security 	Daily Times, Pakistan
08.06.10	IDS funding falls likely to increase burden on care providers 	Ohmy News, S. Korea
07.06.10	No end in sight to Queensland Health wages fiasco 	Courier-Mail, Australia

North America

Date	Headline	Publication
30.05.10	The Doctor Will See You Now. Please Log On.	New York Times
03.06.10	Bringing Doctors to the Dying Patient’s Bedside	New York Times
04.06.10	Coordination key to World Cup emergency readiness	Washington Post
03.06.10	International Conference to Focus on Maternal, Infant Mortality	Voice of America News
06.06.10	Anderson University moves to add nursing program	The Greenville News
07.06.10	Agencies warn of coming doctor shortage	Los Angeles Times
08.06.10	How Mobile Phone Technology Can Fight Maternal Mortality 	UN Disptatch
09.06.10	How to save lives in Africa	Montreal Gazette
04.06.10	Public Sector contract talks 	Montreal Gazette
03.06.10	A model for maternal health 	Toronto Sun

Europe

Date	Headline	Publication
03.06.10	Our aid will hit the spot	The Guardian, UK
04.06.10	Region set for almost 200 NHS job losses	The Scotland Courier, UK
05.06.10	Momentum, mandates, and money: achieving health MDGs 	The Lancet, UK
03.06.10	Don't get ill 	The Economist, UK
05.06.10	Gender equity is the key to maternal and child health (Editorial) 	The Lancet, UK
07.06.10	Melinda Gates tells the world that women matter 	The Guardian, UK
07.06.10	Africa: Giving a Voice to Unpaid HIV Care Workers	Commonwealth News and Information Service, UK
07.06.10	Gates foundation shifts aid to family health 	Financial Times, UK
04.06.10	Assaults on health workers on rise 	Irvine Herald, UK
04.06.10	Israeli assault of flotilla highlights crippling effects of blockade on Gaza’s health care	BMJ, UK

Latin America & Caribbean

Date	Headline	Publication
08.06.10	Hacen falta enfermeras en el Hospital del ISSSTE:RCP	EnLineaDirecta, Mexico
03.06.10	Acesso a saneamento e estímulo ao uso do leite materno reduziriam mortalidade infantil, diz médico	Correio Braziliense
08.06.10	Empossados 309 servidores 	Tribuna do Brasil
07.06.10	Governador empossa mais de 300 profissionais da Saúde 	Correio Braziliense
02.06.10	Puno: Contribuyen a reducir muertes por neumonía	La República, Peru
10.06.10	Por falta de enfermeras, es alta la mortalidad de los prematuros 	La Nación, Argentina

News from/related to the Global Health Workforce Alliance

Strengthening midwifery services: a Global Call to Action

The Alliance

10/06/2010
The Alliance coordinated and chaired sessions at the Symposium on Strengthening Midwifery and the Women Deliver conference, and in collaboration with partners produced a Global Call to Action on strengthening midwifery services to save lives and promote health of women and newborn. The Alliance also contributed to the Lancet review on maternal, newborn and child survival, and the Countdown to 2015 Decade Report.
Details on the session including speakers, outlines and outcomes, as well as links to the Global Call to Action, the Lancet Review and the Countdown to 2015 Decade Report can be found on the Alliance web site at http://www.who.int/workforcealliance/media/events/2010/midwiferysymposium/en/index.html

Countdown to 2015 decade report (2000—10): taking stock of maternal, newborn, and child survival

The Lancet, UK

05/06/2010

Prof Zulfiqar A Bhutta PhD a , Mickey Chopra MD b, Henrik Axelson MSc c, Peter Berman PhD d, Ties Boerma MD e, Jennifer Bryce EdD f, Flavia Bustreo MD c, Eleonora Cavagnero PhD e, Giorgio Cometto MD g, Bernadette Daelmans MD e, Andres de Francisco MD c, Helga Fogstad MHA h, Neeru Gupta MD e, Laura Laski MD i, Joy Lawn MRCP j, Blerta Maliqi MD e, Elizabeth Mason FFPHM e, Catherine Pitt MSc k, Jennifer Requejo PhD f, Ann Starrs MPA l, Cesar G Victora MD m, Tessa Wardlaw PhD b
Summary

The Countdown to 2015 for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Survival monitors coverage of priority interventions to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for child mortality and maternal health. We reviewed progress between 1990 and 2010 in coverage of 26 key interventions in 68 Countdown priority countries accounting for more than 90% of maternal and child deaths worldwide. 19 countries studied were on track to meet MDG 4, in 47 we noted acceleration in the yearly rate of reduction in mortality of children younger than 5 years, and in 12 countries progress had decelerated since 2000. Progress towards reduction of neonatal deaths has been slow, and maternal mortality remains high in most Countdown countries, with little evidence of progress. Wide and persistent disparities exist in the coverage of interventions between and within countries, but some regions have successfully reduced longstanding inequities. Coverage of interventions delivered directly in the community on scheduled occasions was higher than for interventions relying on functional health systems. Although overseas development assistance for maternal, newborn, and child health has increased, funding for this sector accounted for only 31% of all development assistance for health in 2007. We provide evidence from several countries showing that rapid progress is possible and that focused and targeted interventions can reduce inequities related to socioeconomic status and sex. However, much more can and should be done to address maternal and newborn health and improve coverage of interventions related to family planning, care around childbirth, and case management of childhood illnesses.

Introduction

“Our world possesses the knowledge and resources to achieve the MDGs… falling short of the Goals would be an unacceptable failure, moral and practical.”

Ban Ki Moon
The UN Millennium Summit in 2000 set the stage for 189 governments and at least 23 international organisations to commit themselves to a broad set of health and development goals with defined targets to be achieved by 2015.1 The target of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 is reduction of mortality in children younger than 5 years by two-thirds, and those of Goal 5 are reduction of the maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters and achievement of universal access to reproductive health. In 2010, two-thirds of the period for attainment of the MDGs has passed, with only 5 years remaining. In September, 2010, governments will reconvene in a special Summit of the UN General Assembly to assess progress and renew commitments to these goals.
The Countdown to 2015 for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Survival is an independent suprainstitutional initiative that was established in 2005. Its primary objective is to gather and present data for use by countries and the global health community to stimulate action on the health-related MDGs. The initiative is a collaboration of academics, UN agencies, non-governmental organisations, health-care professional associations, donors, and governments, with The Lancet as a key partner. Countdown specifically focuses on key evidence-based interventions that have been proven to improve maternal, newborn, and child health and survival. The work of Countdown addresses not only the fourth and fifth MDGs, but also MDG 1 through action on nutrition, MDG 6 on HIV/AIDS and malaria, MDG 7, which includes water and sanitation, and MDG 8 through a focus on partnership.
Evolution of Countdown

Countdown provides a common framework to track coverage of proven interventions and measures of mortality and nutrition in countries with the highest burden of mortality in mothers and children. In 2005, the first Countdown report included 60 countries and 17 interventions, and focused on child survival.2 The process thereafter evolved to focus on the continuum of care from prepregnancy through to pregnancy, childbirth, the postnatal period, and early childhood. At present, Countdown tracks coverage for interventions that have proven effectiveness to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality and improve maternal health in the 68 countries that together account for at least 95% of maternal and child deaths worldwide.3 Countdown mechanisms generate evidence of progress and use country profiles, publications, conferences, and other means to advance use of data for national and global action. The 2008 Countdown meeting in Cape Town was linked to the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and was intended to engage politicians and policy makers in issues related to maternal, newborn, and child health and survival.4

An important Countdown function is identification of key gaps in data and evidence, and stimulation of development of methods and instruments to improve assessment of coverage. Countdown indicators and methods have changed in response to new evidence and improved methods, but the principal aim of Countdown has not altered—ie, to assess every 2 or 3 years until 2015 whether proven interventions and approaches are reaching women and children in greatest need, especially marginalised populations and those living in poverty. Tracking of single biologically based interventions has been complemented by inclusion of broad packages such as antenatal or postnatal care that can serve as platforms for delivery of several interventions. The list of priority countries has also expanded and attempts are being made to include an increased range of indicators including adolescent and reproductive health as well as social determinants of health. Adolescent birth rate, a tracking indicator for MDG 5 target B, was added in 2010.
Countdown focuses not only on intervention coverage, but also on major determinants of coverage, including strength, policies, and financial flows of health systems, with a focus on the relation between socioeconomic and sex inequities and intervention coverage (panel 1). These areas of emphasis are part of a broad conceptual framework guiding secondary analyses of Countdown data and are consistent with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness6 and the monitoring and evaluation framework for health-systems strengthening that was developed by a working group of representatives from WHO, the World Bank, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.7 Continued
Full-text: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60678-2/fulltext?_eventId=login

Lack of Skilled Birth Care Costs 2 Million Lives Each Year

Report Shows Both Mothers and Newborns at Risk4 - Some Poor Countries Making Remarkable Progress, but Children Still Dying from Treatable Conditions

Countdown to 2015 - Maternal, Newborn and Child Survival

03/06/2010
A lack of skilled attendants at birth accounts for two million preventable maternal deaths, stillbirths and newborn deaths each year, according to the newly released Countdown to 2015 Decade Report (2000-2010).
The report shows that nearly 50 percent of women in the 68 countries carefully tracked in the Countdown report —most of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia— still give birth without the aid of a trained midwife, nurse, doctor, or other skilled birth attendant.
Only 10 of the 68 Countdown countries have increased the rate of skilled care at childbirth by at least 10 percent since 1990.
Eleven countries made no progress, according Countdown to 2015, a global movement of academics, governments, UN agencies, foundations, health care associations and nongovernmental organizations formed in 2005 to track progress in reducing maternal and child deaths in the 68 countries where over 95 percent of these deaths occur.
“All women and their newborns need skilled care at birth and access to emergency care when complications develop,” says Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, MD, of the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan and co-chair of Countdown to 2015.
 “Skilled childbirth care is one crucial element of a continuum of care for women, newborns and children that can drastically reduce the toll of death and illness in the Countdown countries.”

The global shortage of midwives is especially severe: an estimated 700,000 new midwives* and other trained providers are needed in order to provide skilled childbirth care to all women who need it.

In Africa alone, an additional 1.5 million health workers are needed, nearly doubling the current workforce of 1.6 million, according to the Global Health Workforce Alliance.
Some countries are doing well at providing skilled birth attendants. A skilled provider attends more than 75 percent of births in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Egypt and Indonesia. Almost 100 percent of births are attended in Turkmenistan and China.
Starting with very low skilled attendance coverage, many of the 68 Countdown countries have made major progress in providing women with a skilled attendant at birth, with Angola, Bhutan, Laos, Nepal, Peru, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, and Rwanda showing the most impressive gains.
At the other extreme, 10 countries made no progress from 2000 to 2008 and several, notably Bolivia, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Somalia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, showed decreases in the use of skilled birth attendance.