Produced by the WHO Transforming Health Systems is a training resource for health trainers to use with health managers, policy-makers and others with responsibilities in reproductive health. It offers a training curriculum designed to equip participants with the analytical tools and skills to integrate the promotion of gender equity and reproductive rights into their reproductive health policies, planning and programmes.
Human Resources
Impatient outpatients - breakdown of the referral process in Lusaka, Zambia
In many developing countries, the outpatient departments of national referral hospitals are swamped by patients from the local urban population. Do these people bypass primary health centres and go straight to outpatient departments when seeking care? Are perceptions of limited and poor quality primary level health services to blame?
It just won’t wash - why hygiene education for women fails
Hygiene education for women is a standard component of water supply projects. However, evaluations frequently reveal little change in hygiene and sanitation behaviour and so water-borne illnesses persist. Why is it so hard to convey water-related health messages? Researchers from UK University of Bradford tackle this issue in an assessment of Ghana’s Upper Region Water Supply Project (URWSP). They argue for a more rigorous analysis of the cultural and gender-related factors that influence women's acceptance and understanding of these messages.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Plans to test health workers slammed
Plans to make HIV testing compulsory for foreign health workers aiming to work in Britain are "discriminatory" and insulting to African nurses, nursing unions said on Tuesday. "We are strongly opposed to mandatory testing because this will exacerbate the stigma of HIV positive nurses. We are worried about what will happen to them when they are found to be positive," the President of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA), Ephraim Mafalo, told PlusNews.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29260
Zimbabwe: Nurses Under Pressure
Stella Zengwa, President of Zimbabwe Nurses Association.
Zimbabwean nurses face difficult decisions in their day-to-day work. Health Services are now client centred and are being provided by a workforce, which is performance driven. A shortage of nurses means that at present all our new nurse graduates are bonded for 3 years, but experienced nurses continue to be lost to neighbouring countries and abroad. Hospital wards are still run with only one or two nurse per shift for a 40-bedded ward with the result that nurses continue to be overworked. Lack of transport has become a critical issue and poses a risk to nurses’ lives when arriving or knocking off duty given the shift work. Lack of accommodation at institutions is making retention of nurses very difficult since in some areas, rented accommodation is not available. Nurses have been pushed out of the traditional nurse’s residences. Inadequate and erratic supplies of drugs, surgical sundries and equipment including protective clothing like gloves are exposing nurses to HIV infection. Burnout syndrome is widespread with nurses overwhelmed with the stress of nursing a full ward of very ill patients with so little support. Unlike other health workers who are visitors to the ward, nurses spend long hours with patients. This requires ways of dealing with burnout so that nurses continue to provide quality health care services.Upholding of nursing ethics is critical building a positive image as desired by the communities that we serve. As a professional association, ZINA aspires to ensure that the services nurses provide in support of public protection and health care are exemplary and community driven.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29251
Malawi: Pfizer to Offer Diflucan Free of Charge
Pfizer Inc. has announced that it will provide its antifungal drug Diflucan at no cost to people with AIDS in Malawi, Reuters reports. The drug maker stated that Diflucan will be provided free of charge for Malawians being treated in hospitals operated by either the government or by the Christian Health Association of Malawi. The drug will be provided "for as long as it is required" for these patients, and there is "no dollar or time limit" on the offer, Pfizer stated. Diflucan treats two opportunistic infections: cryptococcal meningitis, a brain infection which affects 10% of people with AIDS, and oral thrush, which affects between 20% and 40% of people with AIDS. Malawi is the seventh African nation to participate in the program, which also helps train health workers. South Africa, Uganda, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho have already signed on to the program. Tanya Elston, communications manager at Pfizer, said that the company plans to offer the program soon in Mozambique and Zambia. Pfizer hopes eventually to expand the program to 50 of the world's poorest nations, Elston said.
Medical Schemes: Research Conducted by TAC and CARE
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) welcomes the results of the research done on HIV Benefits in Medical Schemes in 2002 by the Centre for Actuarial Research at the University of Cape Town in association with our organisation. One of the most important pieces of legislation promulgated by South Africa's first democratic government is the Medical Schemes Act (Act 131 of 1998). Unfair discrimination against people on a range of grounds including "any medical condition" is prohibited by private medical schemes. The AIDS Law Project, AIDS Consortium and current TAC members supported the passage of the legislation against powerful forces including the insurance industry, the Chamber of Mines and others. This survey shows conclusively that the Medical Schemes Act has been successful in ensuring coverage by medical schemes of people with HIV/AIDS.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29235
Treating HIV-Positive South Africans More Cost-Effective Than Not Providing Medications, TAC Says
Treating people with HIV/AIDS is more cost effective than not providing them with medications because "if you manage HIV properly, it would cut costs and have social benefits," Mark Heywood, secretary of the Treatment Action Campaign, has said in Johannesburg, the South African Press Association reports.
South Africa: Few Medical Scheme Members Using HIV Cover'
More than 95% of medical aid scheme members have access to HIV/AIDS cover exceeding the state's proposed package of minimum benefits, but less than 1% of them are coming forward to take advantage of the available care. This is one of the key findings of a study released by the Centre for Actuarial Research at the University of Cape Town in association with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).
SOUTH AFRICA: Insurance controversy for people living with HIV/AIDS
When Mercy Makhalemele's husband died of HIV/AIDS seven years ago her home was taken away after the insurance company refused to pay out his life cover. "At the time, I decided not to fight it because I had too many things to deal with," she told IRIN. As the executive director of a local community organisation, Makhalemele has been working with members to create a burial scheme for people with HIV/AIDS. Through her work, Makhalemele said she has encountered people who have been treated with injustice and a lack of respect, because of their status.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29168