Lack of finance has left the Harare Central hospital, one of Zimbabwe's major referral centres, on the verge of collapse. The superintendent of the 1,428-bed hospital, Chris Tapfumaneyi, told IRIN, "Most of our machines are obsolete and cannot be repaired - some of them have been like this for the past 10 years".
Equity in Health
Nutrition Key for Success in Anti-Retroviral Therapy
The Mozambican Association of Doctors in the Fight Against AIDS (MCS) has warned that the poor quality of the diet of many HIV-positive people, who are receiving anti-retroviral drugs, is a motive for serious concern. The MCS warns that poor nutrition risks undermining anti- retroviral treatment.
Treating severe malnutrition: implementing clinical guidelines in South African hospitals
According to the World Health Organisation malnutrition is associated with about 60 percent of deaths in children under five years old in the developing world. The WHO has developed guidelines to improve the quality of hospital care for malnourished children in order to reduce deaths. The guidelines suggest ten steps for routine management of severe malnourishment. These will require most hospitals to make substantial changes. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, together with the University of the Western Cape, and the Health Systems Trust, South Africa conducted a study in two hospitals - Mary Theresa and Sipetu - in rural Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The study was designed to assess the extent to which the guidelines have been implemented and whether they have reduced fatality rates among children diagnosed with severe malnutrition.
Alarm at flight of health workers
Wealthy countries "deliberately" enlist doctors and nurses from poor nations, costing developing states US $500 million a year in lost training, Ndioro Ndiaye, deputy director-general of the International Organisation for Migration, said. According to Ndiaye, the UK drafted more than 8,000 nurses and midwives from outside of Europe in the year 2000. This was in addition to the 30,000 hired over previous years. Some 21,000 Nigerian doctors were working in the US the same year, while there were more doctors from Benin working in France than in their own country, she said.
Articles criticising nevirapine may endanger babies' lives
Three articles published by the Associated Press in mid-December criticising the conduct of a trial of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine in Uganda are threatening to undermine its use in newborn babies in developing countries, according to South African experts. A single dose of the drug given to mothers while in labour and to their babies at the time of birth is known to greatly reduce transmission of HIV from mother to child. The articles, which appeared in newspapers and were broadcast on radio stations in the United States, Britain, South Africa, and many other countries, made allegations about a trial that was conducted from 1997 to 1999 in Uganda by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and subsequently published.
Malawi's maternal mortality goes from bad to worse
This paper, from the Health Systems Trust, is an analysis of the clinical, health systems and underlying reasons for the drastic deterioration in maternal health in Malawi. It finds that the high maternal mortality rates are a result of poor health care, health systems deficiencies, limited access to care and harmful ‘patient-related behaviour.’ The paper argues that there are three ways of improving maternal health: through an integrated health systems approach, through improvements within maternal health programmes, and by equitably addressing poverty and social inequalities.
Rethink urged over TB treatment in Africa
In the crowded wards of African hospitals, coughs and bony bodies tell the story of a deadly return. Tuberculosis (TB), supposedly defeated 40 years ago, is back, riding on the AIDS epidemic, and the world is ill-prepared, says the relief agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). In its study 'Running out of Breath? TB Care in the 21st Century', MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines urges a radical rethink of the global approach to the disease. TB kills two million people every year, nearly all in developing countries. Yet TB, if detected early and treated, is curable.
UN envoy battling AIDS in Africa finds infected children lack key treatment
Although 2.2 million children are living with AIDS, at least two-thirds of them in Africa, anti-retroviral formulations for children are not available and the youngsters are just being left to die, a United Nations special envoy battling HIV/AIDS on the continent said. "In the instance of anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy, the scenario for children is quite simply, doomsday," Stephen Lewis, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, told a news conference. "Incredibly enough, we don't even have paediatric formulations. When treatment takes place - a rarity among rarities - doctors and nurses fumble over breaking capsules into several pieces to estimate the dosage for a child, or scramble around to find a syrup solution. It's bizarre."
WHO highlights health in the 2015 development blueprint
The World Health Organization (WHO) has underlined the need to urgently tackle the health issues highlighted in the Millennium Project's "Investing in Development" report. The report provides detailed recommendations on how the world must immediately and massively increase the investment in health programmes to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This includes programmes to deliver AIDS treatment, to improve maternal and child health, to control and treat tuberculosis and malaria, and to make more medicines affordable.
Committed to health for all? How the G7/G8 rate
This article, published in Social Science and Medicine, reports on progress towards the goal of health for all, with specific reference to international development commitments made by the G7/G8 nations at the 1999, 2000 and 2001 summits. It argues that the limited progress toward achieving health for all derives largely from the failure of G8 nations to fulfil their development commitments. In particular, efforts to reduce poverty and economic security have been insufficient; and national governments have not been enabled to make basic investments in health systems, education and nutrition.