Rachel Cohen of the Lesotho MSF wrote in the Mail & Guardian, Africa online newspaper, urging the Global Fund to keep their support for health systems strengthening esp. in the case of health workforce costs. Using the case of Lesotho, the World third highest in HIV positive prevalence, she demonstrates how important it is to invest in health workers in order to achieve the three diseases' treatment goals. According to Cohen, "a major initiative will need to be developed at the national level to recruit, train and retain skilled nurses and other professional healthcare workers. According to the nurses we work with, a critical first step to retain nurses and attract new ones is salary increases."
Full article at http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=303017&area=/insight/monitor#
March 29, 2007
Health Workers and Health Care Quality in Developing Countries
Health Affairs releases six developing country studies on quality of care in its March 27 issue. Jishnu Das and Paul Gertler, in its overview piece, argues that it is now necessary to look beyond health care access into health service quality. The journal presents quality of health care in five developing countries: India, Indonesia, Mexico, Paraguay, and Tanzania. Two papers are specifically addressing the issue of health workers. The list of articles in this issue of Health Affairs is provided below.
For full papers, please visit the health affairs website at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.26.3.w296/DC3
- Variations In Practice Quality In Five Low-Income Countries: A Conceptual Overview
- Variations In Prenatal Care Quality For The Rural Poor In Mexico
- Variations In Doctor Effort: Evidence From Paraguay
- Location, Location, Location: Residence, Wealth, And The Quality Of Medical Care In Delhi, India
- Differences In Access To High‑ Quality Outpatient Care In Indonesia
- The Contribution Of Human Resources For Health To The Quality Of Care In Indonesia
- Variations In The Quality Of Care Accessible To Rural Communities In Tanzania
For full papers, please visit the health affairs website at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.26.3.w296/DC3
Strengthen HRH system is necessary for the male circumcision services program
WHO and UNAIDS announced yesterday their recommendations on male circumcision for HIV prevention. These recommendations are based on expert consultation and recent study results that show significant reduction in HIV transmission among heterosexual male.
In their recommendations, health systems strengthening and health workforce development are considered crucial for the success of male circumcision services as they should be integrated into routine service delivery.
The full announcement is available here. Excerpt on HSS and HRH related parts shown below:
"Health services need strengthening to provide quality services safely Health services in many developing countries are weak and there is a shortage of skilled health professionals. There is a need, therefore, to ensure that male circumcision services for HIV prevention do not unduly disrupt other health care programmes, including other HIV/AIDS interventions. In order to both maximize the opportunity afforded by male circumcision and ensure longer-term sustainability of services, male circumcision should, wherever possible, be integrated with other services."
In their recommendations, health systems strengthening and health workforce development are considered crucial for the success of male circumcision services as they should be integrated into routine service delivery.
The full announcement is available here. Excerpt on HSS and HRH related parts shown below:
"Health services need strengthening to provide quality services safely Health services in many developing countries are weak and there is a shortage of skilled health professionals. There is a need, therefore, to ensure that male circumcision services for HIV prevention do not unduly disrupt other health care programmes, including other HIV/AIDS interventions. In order to both maximize the opportunity afforded by male circumcision and ensure longer-term sustainability of services, male circumcision should, wherever possible, be integrated with other services."
March 28, 2007
Bill Gates doesn't think Brain Drain impedes development
Steven Edwards of the Canadian National Post wrote on its March 24 issue how Bill Gates, the global leader in philanthropy, strongly believe in freedom of migration. According to Edwards, "Gates himself rejects the notion that this brain drain impedes development in those countries. When the bright sparks get jobs in the West, he says, the money they send home directly helps people who need it." He also quotes some of Gates' testimony before a U.S. Senate committee hearing on strengthening U.S. competitiveness as follows:
"There's this incredible benefit to the country that they come from of the remittances they send back to the country, and that's a huge thing in terms of bootstrapping those economies, letting them send kids back there to school, and having the right nutrition and great things."
In contrary to Gates' view, Edwards adds in his article a different view on the issue from Mary Robinson, a former UN human rights commissioner, who said that the rich countries must start spending more on training their own people, instead of raiding poor nations.
"It is of utmost importance to stop the brain drain."
"In the U.S., where I am currently living, 500,000 nurses and 200,000 doctors are needed by the year 2015," Ms. Robinson said. "Nurses are being imported. The fact of acquiring them cheaply by not having to educate them is unacceptable."Read full article at "Fast track immigrants with skills, Gates urges. He rejects idea brain drain hurts developing nations".
March 27, 2007
Reverse Foreign Aid: poor-to-rich subsidy from the brain drain
NY Times Magazine on March 25th, 2007 features an article by Tina Rosenberg. She describes how poor countries are now subsidizing rich countries in what she calls a "Reverse Foreign Aid". Among all the mechanisms, the health worker brain drain was used as a prominent example of how poor countries are suffering from professional migration. See excerpt below...
"Human nature, not smart lobbying, is responsible for another poor-to-rich subsidy: the brain drain. The migration of highly educated people from poor nations is increasing. A small brain drain can benefit the South, as emigrants send money home and may return with new skills and capital. But in places where educated people are few and emigrants don’t go home again, the brain drain devastates. In many African countries, more than 40 percent of college-educated people emigrate to rich countries. Malawian nurses have moved to Britain and other English-speaking nations en masse, and now two-thirds of nursing posts in Malawi’s public health system are vacant. Zambia has lost three-quarters of its new physicians in recent years. Even in South Africa, 21 percent of graduating doctors migrate.
The financial consequences for the poorer nations can be severe. A doctor who moves from Johannesburg to North Dakota costs the South African government as much as $100,000, the price of training him there. As with patent enforcement, a larger cost may be in health. A lack of trained people — a gap that widens daily — is now the main barrier to fighting AIDS, malaria and other diseases in Africa."
Full article at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/magazine/25wwlnidealab.t.html
"Human nature, not smart lobbying, is responsible for another poor-to-rich subsidy: the brain drain. The migration of highly educated people from poor nations is increasing. A small brain drain can benefit the South, as emigrants send money home and may return with new skills and capital. But in places where educated people are few and emigrants don’t go home again, the brain drain devastates. In many African countries, more than 40 percent of college-educated people emigrate to rich countries. Malawian nurses have moved to Britain and other English-speaking nations en masse, and now two-thirds of nursing posts in Malawi’s public health system are vacant. Zambia has lost three-quarters of its new physicians in recent years. Even in South Africa, 21 percent of graduating doctors migrate.
The financial consequences for the poorer nations can be severe. A doctor who moves from Johannesburg to North Dakota costs the South African government as much as $100,000, the price of training him there. As with patent enforcement, a larger cost may be in health. A lack of trained people — a gap that widens daily — is now the main barrier to fighting AIDS, malaria and other diseases in Africa."
Full article at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/magazine/25wwlnidealab.t.html
March 22, 2007
Health Professional Migration resulting in service shut-down in Ethiopia
The Ethiomedia reported on March 19th that surgical services in four hospitals have been cancelled due to the lack of physicians. Over the last year and a half, over 157 health professionals have left their jobs. The Government, however, tends to see no problem in the situation and expressed no interest in changing it.
Full article is available at http://www.ethiomedia.com/articles/hospitals_cancel_surgeries.html and below.
Analysis
Major hospitals cancel surgeries in Ethiopian capital
Ethiomedia | March 19, 2007
ADDIS ABABA - Four major hospitals in the Ethiopian capital have cancelled surgical operation services due to shortage of physicians in the city, a newspaper has said.
Full article is available at http://www.ethiomedia.com/articles/hospitals_cancel_surgeries.html and below.
Analysis
Major hospitals cancel surgeries in Ethiopian capital
Ethiomedia | March 19, 2007
ADDIS ABABA - Four major hospitals in the Ethiopian capital have cancelled surgical operation services due to shortage of physicians in the city, a newspaper has said.
The online Amharic-language Reporter said Yekatit and Zewditu hospitals cancelled surgical operations entirely as Ras Desta and Menelik hospitals shelved their services at night and on holidays.
At least 157 health professionals have officially quit their jobs in the last 18 months, the Reporter quoted the Health Bureau as saying.
The Ethiopian Health Professionals Association (EHPA) says the number of those who have abandoned their jobs for various reasons could be higher than the officially reported 157 professionals consisting of 15 specialists, 66 general practitioners, six pharmacists, 66 nurses and four lab technicians.
EHPA warned the government that the health system was on the verge of collapse unless measures were taken to reverse the situation.
However, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi recently shocked a meeting of health care officials and physicians by remarking the country needs no doctors. He was addressing a meeting of health officials and professionals who asked about the brain drain that has hit the country severely.
Billed as a government mouthpiece for its blunt endorsement of harsh policies, the Reporter said patients visiting hospitals around closing hours were often turned back for lack of medical staff.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one physician serves about 30,000 patients in the country.
In one shocking comparison, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said there are more Ethiopian-trained physicians in Chicago than in Ethiopia
March 19, 2007
Nature Editorial in praise of health worker brain drain
In its March 14th online issue, the Nature's editorial argues that there is benefit to sending countries from migrating health professionals. It cites recent study by an economist, Michael Clemens, of the Center for Global Development who claims that there is a "clear correlation between emigration and the state of the public healthcare system." Countries with more health professional emigrants have better health systems, according to Mr. Clemens. The editorial piece gave several points of arguments why losing countries are also gaining. It concludes by stating that "the notion that other places have necessarily suffered a corresponding loss — or that emigration is a zero-sum game — is misplaced."
The original article by Michael Clemens entitled "Do Visas Kill? Health Effects of African Health Professional Emigration" is available at the CGDEV website ( http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/13123). The abstract is provided below:
"The emigration of highly skilled workers can in theory lower social welfare in the migrant-sending country. If such workers produce a good whose consumption conveys a positive externality of such as nurses and doctors in a very poor country of the loss can be greater, and welfare can even decline globally. Policies to impede emigration thus have the potential to raise sending-country and global welfare. This study uses a new database of health worker emigration from Africa to test whether exogenous decreases in emigration raise the number of domestic health professionals, increase the mass availability of basic primary care, or improve a range of public health outcomes. It identifies the effect through two separate natural quasi-experiments arising from the colonial division of the African continent. These produce exogenous changes in emigration comparable to those that would result from different immigration policies in principal receiving countries. The results suggest that Africa is generally low staffing levels and poor public health conditions are the result of factors entirely unrelated to international movements of health professionals. A simple model proposes that such results would be explained by segmentation of health workforce labor markets in the sending countries. The results further suggest that emigration has caused a greater production of health workers in Africa."
The original article by Michael Clemens entitled "Do Visas Kill? Health Effects of African Health Professional Emigration" is available at the CGDEV website ( http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/13123). The abstract is provided below:
"The emigration of highly skilled workers can in theory lower social welfare in the migrant-sending country. If such workers produce a good whose consumption conveys a positive externality of such as nurses and doctors in a very poor country of the loss can be greater, and welfare can even decline globally. Policies to impede emigration thus have the potential to raise sending-country and global welfare. This study uses a new database of health worker emigration from Africa to test whether exogenous decreases in emigration raise the number of domestic health professionals, increase the mass availability of basic primary care, or improve a range of public health outcomes. It identifies the effect through two separate natural quasi-experiments arising from the colonial division of the African continent. These produce exogenous changes in emigration comparable to those that would result from different immigration policies in principal receiving countries. The results suggest that Africa is generally low staffing levels and poor public health conditions are the result of factors entirely unrelated to international movements of health professionals. A simple model proposes that such results would be explained by segmentation of health workforce labor markets in the sending countries. The results further suggest that emigration has caused a greater production of health workers in Africa."
March 14, 2007
GHWA launches a new HRH Scale-up Task Force
New Task Force on HRH education and training led by Lord Crisp (UK) was launched at WHO by the Global Health Workforce Alliance on March 13, 2007. The Task Force aims to "champion the need for significantly increased investment in the education and training of health workers in developing countries, and will build international commitment to practical action". More details in the press release below.
INTERNATIONAL ACTION NEEDED TO INCREASE HEALTH WORKFORCE
13 March 2007
GENEVA — A new international Task Force was launched and met for the first time today to tackle the global shortage of health workers. With a shortfall of 4.3 million health workers worldwide, including more than 1 million in Africa alone, there is an urgent need to increase the number of doctors, nurses, health managers and other health care workers needed to face immediate health crises.
Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), welcomed the new Task Force: "The simple fact is that the world needs many more health workers. The world faces global as well as local threats to health. Infectious diseases have staged a dramatic comeback, and chronic diseases are on the rise.We cannot improve people's health without staff to deliver health care.
The new global Task Force, chaired by Lord Nigel Crisp, former Chief Executive of the National Health Service in England, and Bience Gawanas, the African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, has been set up under the auspices of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA). The Task Force includes two African Ministers of Health – Dr Stephen Mallinga of Uganda and Marjorie Ngaunje of Malawi - and senior health policy makers from across the globe, from the public and private sectors, and both developing and developed countries.
Together these leaders in health and education will champion the need for significantly increased investment in the education and training of health workers in developing countries, and will build international commitment to practical action.
The Joint Learning Initiative (2004) and the World Health Report 2006 brought this shortage of health workers to the world’s attention, and the World Health Assembly called for urgent action. Fifty-seven countries have critical shortages of health workers, and 36 of these are in sub-Saharan Africa. If the crisis is not tackled, these countries will not be able to provide their population with basic health care.
“HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB, and maternal and child mortality – which together kill many millions of people annually across the world, will not be significantly reduced unless the crisis in health workers is tackled,” said Lord Crisp. “There is an urgent need for a massive international effort to train more health care workers, including doctors, nurses, managers and community health workers.”
The Task Force will focus on practical solutions. It will also consider the need and scope for financial and technical support internationally, as well as links between training institutions and universities in the developed and developing world, and innovative use of technology for distance-learning.
Already some countries are beginning to address the problem. Countries such as Ethiopia (a GHWA ‘pathfinder’ country), India and Malawi are rapidly increasing the production of health workers through education and training. The Ethiopian government, for example, has an ambitious programme to train 30 000 community health workers (Health Extension Workers) by 2009, so that people in villages have access to basic essential health services. The Malawi government, with support from the Global Fund and the UK Department for International Development, is doubling the number of nurses and tripling the number of doctors in training, through a six-year Emergency Human Resources Programme.
The Task Force will look at the impact of such programmes, and assess the scope to replicate these and the resources needed to do so.
GHWA Executive Director Dr Francis Omaswa welcomed the Task Force. "GHWA has identified a need for some type of ‘fast-track’ training initiative to address the health worker shortage. This new GHWA Task Force will make practical recommendations for action. The Task Force will also work closely with other programmes which address issues such as health worker migration, health financing, and access to HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care."
The Task Force is due to present its initial recommendations to the GHWA Forum in Autumn 2007.
Notes to editors:
1. The Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) was set up in May 2006, with a secretariat provided by WHO. It is a partnership of a wide variety of stakeholders (UN agencies, NGOs, academia, professional associations, donors and IGOs) with the common goal of working together to find solutions to the health workforce crisis.
2. GHWA already has grants from countries such as Canada, France, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom, the latter having recently committed £1 million ($1.9 million) funding over two years.
3. GHWA is giving grants to eight pathfinder countries, in Africa, Asia and the Americas, which are tackling the health workforce crisis in practical ways, in-country, and are helping set up Country Action Teams to identify country-based solutions.
4. The Task Force is supported with initial grants from GHWA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and CIDA.
5. Task Force members:
Lord Nigel Crisp (co-chair)
Bience Gawanas (co-chair; African Union Commission)
Honorable Stephen Mallinga (Health Minister Uganda)
Honorable Marjorie Ngaunje (Health Minister Malawi)
Professor Srinath Reddy (Director, Public Health Foundation of India)
Peter Loescher (President Global Human Health Merck & Co) / Jeff Sturchio (Vice President, External Affairs Merck & Co)
Dr Joy Phumaphi (Vice President and Head, Human Development Network) / Alexander Prekker (Lead Economist, Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank)
Judith Oulton (Chief Executive Officer, International Council of Nurses)
Kathy Cahill (Gates Foundation)
Dr Francisco Campos (Director of Work and Education in Health, Ministry of Health, Brazil)
Sarita Bhatla (CIDA, DG Governance and Social Development Directorate) / Jeea Saraswati, (CIDA, Health Specialist Africa Branch)
For more information, please contact :
P. Ben Fouquet, Communications officer, GHWA, WHO, Geneva: tel: + 41 22 791 3554; Mobile: +41 79 467 1370; Fax: +41 22 791 4747; Email: fouquetp@who.int or Imogen Sharp, Task Force Director, Mobile: +44 7884 473074; Email: Imogen.sharp@dh.gsi.gov.uk. All WHO news releases, fact sheets and notes for the press can be found at www.who.int.
More information on the Global Health Workforce Alliance can be found at: www.who.int/workforcealliance.
INTERNATIONAL ACTION NEEDED TO INCREASE HEALTH WORKFORCE
13 March 2007
GENEVA — A new international Task Force was launched and met for the first time today to tackle the global shortage of health workers. With a shortfall of 4.3 million health workers worldwide, including more than 1 million in Africa alone, there is an urgent need to increase the number of doctors, nurses, health managers and other health care workers needed to face immediate health crises.
Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), welcomed the new Task Force: "The simple fact is that the world needs many more health workers. The world faces global as well as local threats to health. Infectious diseases have staged a dramatic comeback, and chronic diseases are on the rise.We cannot improve people's health without staff to deliver health care.
The new global Task Force, chaired by Lord Nigel Crisp, former Chief Executive of the National Health Service in England, and Bience Gawanas, the African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, has been set up under the auspices of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA). The Task Force includes two African Ministers of Health – Dr Stephen Mallinga of Uganda and Marjorie Ngaunje of Malawi - and senior health policy makers from across the globe, from the public and private sectors, and both developing and developed countries.
Together these leaders in health and education will champion the need for significantly increased investment in the education and training of health workers in developing countries, and will build international commitment to practical action.
The Joint Learning Initiative (2004) and the World Health Report 2006 brought this shortage of health workers to the world’s attention, and the World Health Assembly called for urgent action. Fifty-seven countries have critical shortages of health workers, and 36 of these are in sub-Saharan Africa. If the crisis is not tackled, these countries will not be able to provide their population with basic health care.
“HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB, and maternal and child mortality – which together kill many millions of people annually across the world, will not be significantly reduced unless the crisis in health workers is tackled,” said Lord Crisp. “There is an urgent need for a massive international effort to train more health care workers, including doctors, nurses, managers and community health workers.”
The Task Force will focus on practical solutions. It will also consider the need and scope for financial and technical support internationally, as well as links between training institutions and universities in the developed and developing world, and innovative use of technology for distance-learning.
Already some countries are beginning to address the problem. Countries such as Ethiopia (a GHWA ‘pathfinder’ country), India and Malawi are rapidly increasing the production of health workers through education and training. The Ethiopian government, for example, has an ambitious programme to train 30 000 community health workers (Health Extension Workers) by 2009, so that people in villages have access to basic essential health services. The Malawi government, with support from the Global Fund and the UK Department for International Development, is doubling the number of nurses and tripling the number of doctors in training, through a six-year Emergency Human Resources Programme.
The Task Force will look at the impact of such programmes, and assess the scope to replicate these and the resources needed to do so.
GHWA Executive Director Dr Francis Omaswa welcomed the Task Force. "GHWA has identified a need for some type of ‘fast-track’ training initiative to address the health worker shortage. This new GHWA Task Force will make practical recommendations for action. The Task Force will also work closely with other programmes which address issues such as health worker migration, health financing, and access to HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care."
The Task Force is due to present its initial recommendations to the GHWA Forum in Autumn 2007.
Notes to editors:
1. The Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) was set up in May 2006, with a secretariat provided by WHO. It is a partnership of a wide variety of stakeholders (UN agencies, NGOs, academia, professional associations, donors and IGOs) with the common goal of working together to find solutions to the health workforce crisis.
2. GHWA already has grants from countries such as Canada, France, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom, the latter having recently committed £1 million ($1.9 million) funding over two years.
3. GHWA is giving grants to eight pathfinder countries, in Africa, Asia and the Americas, which are tackling the health workforce crisis in practical ways, in-country, and are helping set up Country Action Teams to identify country-based solutions.
4. The Task Force is supported with initial grants from GHWA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and CIDA.
5. Task Force members:
Lord Nigel Crisp (co-chair)
Bience Gawanas (co-chair; African Union Commission)
Honorable Stephen Mallinga (Health Minister Uganda)
Honorable Marjorie Ngaunje (Health Minister Malawi)
Professor Srinath Reddy (Director, Public Health Foundation of India)
Peter Loescher (President Global Human Health Merck & Co) / Jeff Sturchio (Vice President, External Affairs Merck & Co)
Dr Joy Phumaphi (Vice President and Head, Human Development Network) / Alexander Prekker (Lead Economist, Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank)
Judith Oulton (Chief Executive Officer, International Council of Nurses)
Kathy Cahill (Gates Foundation)
Dr Francisco Campos (Director of Work and Education in Health, Ministry of Health, Brazil)
Sarita Bhatla (CIDA, DG Governance and Social Development Directorate) / Jeea Saraswati, (CIDA, Health Specialist Africa Branch)
For more information, please contact :
P. Ben Fouquet, Communications officer, GHWA, WHO, Geneva: tel: + 41 22 791 3554; Mobile: +41 79 467 1370; Fax: +41 22 791 4747; Email: fouquetp@who.int or Imogen Sharp, Task Force Director, Mobile: +44 7884 473074; Email: Imogen.sharp@dh.gsi.gov.uk. All WHO news releases, fact sheets and notes for the press can be found at www.who.int.
More information on the Global Health Workforce Alliance can be found at: www.who.int/workforcealliance.
March 11, 2007
Call for Rapid Response Research on'Health Worker Salaries and Benefits' in Low and Middle Income Countries
The Global Health Workforce Alliance and the Alliance for Health Policy and System Research call for proposals to conduct research on health workforce compensation and benefit in low and middle income countries.This call for proposals is aimed at generating rapid research to feed into the next forum of the Global Health Workforce Alliance, planned for November 2007 in Sub-Saharan Africa, at which grantees would be expected to present their research findings.Proposals are invited across three interlinked areas of research:่
1)patterns and trends of health worker 'salaries and benefits'่
2)determinants of health worker 'salaries and benefits'and่
3)the impact of health worker 'salaries and benefits' on the provision of care.่
Deadline for submission of proposals: March 30th 2007่
For more information, please contact alliance-HPSR@who.int
HEALTHCARE ACTIVISTS CALL ON US CONGRESS TO FUND WAR ON AIDS
Dr. Paul Farmer joins fellow physicians and medical students in asking for
$8 billion for health workers
Press Conference: Saturday, March 10, 2007, at 10:00 am at the Hyatt Regency
Crystal City, Potomac Room
WASHINGTON, DC – Internationally-renowned physician and public health
activist Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners In Health (PIH) will join more than
1500 medical students and doctors from the American Medical Student
Association (AMSA) and the National Physicians Alliance (NPA) to press for
Congressional funding to overcome the critical shortage of health workers in
Africa and to combat the ever-growing public health crisis in a region
devastated by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. AMSA, NPA and PIH are asking
for a commitment of $8 billion over five years, based on World Health
Organization (WHO) cost estimates for health worker training and retention
programs.
“As healthcare workers and advocates, we cannot turn our backs on an entire
continent,” says AMSA President Jay Bhatt. “We call on Congress to keep the
promises our country made to fight AIDS in Africa.”
The groups are pushing for rapid passage of and increased funding for the
African Health Capacity Investment Act. This bipartisan bill, sponsored by
Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Russell
Feingold (D-Wisc.), was introduced during the week of the AMSA rally at the
Capitol on March 8th, 2007. The proposed legislation authorizes funding for
sub-Saharan African countries to train and retain doctors, nurses,
pharmacists and community health workers critical to lessening the burden of
AIDS. “Investing in health workers brings us closer to realizing the full
potential of the commitments the U.S. has made to fighting global AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis,” said Bhatt.
The WHO estimates a dearth of 1 to 1.5 million health workers in sub-Saharan
Africa; this shortage is the major bottleneck in the fight against the AIDS
pandemic, hindering such worldwide efforts as the President’s Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria.
“Study after study has shown that most health professionals want to stay in
their country of origin, but find it impossible to do so because of low
wages, inadequate resources and little opportunity for advancement.” Says
Lydia Vaias, NPA president. One sub-Saharan African nation, Ghana, has lost
69% of physicians, 25% of nurses and 42% of pharmacists which it graduated
between 1993-2002. Vaias continues, “To change this deadly situation, we are
bringing physicians out of the hospital and into the streets, straight to
the capitol.”
“Withholding care is not a matter of necessity; it’s a choice,” states Paul
Farmer of PIH. “Programs like those that Partners In Health supports in
Haiti, Rwanda and Lesotho have shown that effective health-worker training
and health care delivery are possible even in the most resource-poor areas.
Whether hundreds of millions of people will live or die is now a matter of
political will.”
###
Paul Farmer is the co-founder of Partners In Health, an organization whose
goals are to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in
need and to serve as an antidote to despair. www.pih.org
The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), with over a half-century
history of medical student activism, is the oldest and largest independent
association of physicians-in-training in the United States. www.amsa.org
The National Physicians Alliance (NPA) was founded to restore physicians'
primary emphasis on the core values of our profession: service, integrity,
and advocacy. www.npalliance.org
$8 billion for health workers
Press Conference: Saturday, March 10, 2007, at 10:00 am at the Hyatt Regency
Crystal City, Potomac Room
WASHINGTON, DC – Internationally-renowned physician and public health
activist Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners In Health (PIH) will join more than
1500 medical students and doctors from the American Medical Student
Association (AMSA) and the National Physicians Alliance (NPA) to press for
Congressional funding to overcome the critical shortage of health workers in
Africa and to combat the ever-growing public health crisis in a region
devastated by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. AMSA, NPA and PIH are asking
for a commitment of $8 billion over five years, based on World Health
Organization (WHO) cost estimates for health worker training and retention
programs.
“As healthcare workers and advocates, we cannot turn our backs on an entire
continent,” says AMSA President Jay Bhatt. “We call on Congress to keep the
promises our country made to fight AIDS in Africa.”
The groups are pushing for rapid passage of and increased funding for the
African Health Capacity Investment Act. This bipartisan bill, sponsored by
Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Russell
Feingold (D-Wisc.), was introduced during the week of the AMSA rally at the
Capitol on March 8th, 2007. The proposed legislation authorizes funding for
sub-Saharan African countries to train and retain doctors, nurses,
pharmacists and community health workers critical to lessening the burden of
AIDS. “Investing in health workers brings us closer to realizing the full
potential of the commitments the U.S. has made to fighting global AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis,” said Bhatt.
The WHO estimates a dearth of 1 to 1.5 million health workers in sub-Saharan
Africa; this shortage is the major bottleneck in the fight against the AIDS
pandemic, hindering such worldwide efforts as the President’s Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria.
“Study after study has shown that most health professionals want to stay in
their country of origin, but find it impossible to do so because of low
wages, inadequate resources and little opportunity for advancement.” Says
Lydia Vaias, NPA president. One sub-Saharan African nation, Ghana, has lost
69% of physicians, 25% of nurses and 42% of pharmacists which it graduated
between 1993-2002. Vaias continues, “To change this deadly situation, we are
bringing physicians out of the hospital and into the streets, straight to
the capitol.”
“Withholding care is not a matter of necessity; it’s a choice,” states Paul
Farmer of PIH. “Programs like those that Partners In Health supports in
Haiti, Rwanda and Lesotho have shown that effective health-worker training
and health care delivery are possible even in the most resource-poor areas.
Whether hundreds of millions of people will live or die is now a matter of
political will.”
###
Paul Farmer is the co-founder of Partners In Health, an organization whose
goals are to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in
need and to serve as an antidote to despair. www.pih.org
The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), with over a half-century
history of medical student activism, is the oldest and largest independent
association of physicians-in-training in the United States. www.amsa.org
The National Physicians Alliance (NPA) was founded to restore physicians'
primary emphasis on the core values of our profession: service, integrity,
and advocacy. www.npalliance.org
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