Health Systems News and Research

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Shortages of health workers threaten health initiatives

A new study has for the first time quantified the dangerous scarcity of health care workers around the globe, ensuring future failures of most developing country health initiatives without the effective addition of 4 million health workers to stave off catastrophic health, economic and political consequences.

24 Nov 2004

Effective research could prevent half of the world's deaths

Health systems research has the potential to produce dramatic improvements in health worldwide and to meet some of the major development challenges in the new millennium.

11 Nov 2004

Geriatricians call for creative and wide-reaching solutions to end-of-life care for patients with dementia

Three University of Chicago geriatricians are calling for creative and wide-reaching solutions to the problem of sub-optimal end-of-life care for patients with dementia.

14 Oct 2004

Study shows how people with severe and persistent mental illnesses live their everyday lives

A study by two Indiana University Bloomington professors in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation is beginning to suggest how people with severe and persistent mental illnesses live their everyday lives.

13 Oct 2004

SARS survivor to share his personal and professional experience of SARS

A Hong Kong SARS survivor who helped lead the territory's response to the disease from his hospital bed will be sharing his personal and professional experience of SARS at an international conference in Wellington next month.

13 Oct 2004

Contrary to popular belief, epidemics do not occur spontaneously after a natural disaster

The belief that dead bodies pose a serious health threat often leads authorities to take misguided action, such as mass burials, which can add to the burden of suffering already experienced by survivors. This theme arose Thursday following reports that the death count in Haiti due to flooding from Tropical Storm Jeanne has now climbed above 1,013.

26 Sep 2004

Drug shortages are having major negative effects on patient care and hospital costs

A study to be published in the October 1, 2004, issue of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy finds that ongoing drug shortages are having far-ranging, negative effects on patient care and hospital costs.

26 Sep 2004

PAHO aids relief efforts in Caribbean

Disaster experts from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) are working with other international and local agencies to carry out relief efforts in nine Caribbean countries affected by hurricanes and tropical storms

23 Sep 2004

Liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver and other diseases related to hepatitis B infection will continue to increase

Liver cancer, cirrhosis of the liver and other diseases related to hepatitis B infection will continue to kill people in the prime of life and burden health systems with chronically sick people unless childhood immunization against hepatitis B is stepped up

20 Sep 2004

WHO urges Member States to act now to avoid a major HIV/AIDS epidemic

Dr Shigeru Omi, World Health Organization Regional Director for the Western Pacific, has warned of the danger of HIV "bridging" into the general population from infected individuals with high-risk behaviour unless countries and areas in the Region act now to avoid a major HIV/AIDS epidemic.

16 Sep 2004

Experts discuss antibiotic resistance, tuberculosis, malaria, vaccines, maternal mortality, childhood diseases and health sector reform

New challenges ahead and the unfinished agenda in public health in the Americas" will be the focus of joint efforts by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

14 Sep 2004

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose at about five times the rate of inflation

Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums increased an average of 11.2% in 2004 -- less than last year’s 13.9% increase, but still the fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth, according to the 2004 Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET).

12 Sep 2004

More than one billion people will be over 60 years old by 2025

To help tackle the public health implications of ageing, the World Health Organization today launched Towards Age-Friendly Primary Health Care, new general principles that will serve as guidelines for community-based Primary Health Care (PHC) centres.

6 Sep 2004

Many low-income countries are unlikely to reach the health targets set for 2015

Many low-income countries are unlikely to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) health targets set for 2015; the main reasons for this are fragile health systems and insufficient investments in understanding how to strengthen them, suggest authors of a Public Health article in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.

2 Sep 2004

Doctors have a horrible track record in their profession of recognizing physicians with difficult personalities and dealing with them effectively

Some doctors yell and scream. Some throw surgical instruments. They berate nurses, other health care workers and even patients with snide remarks and insults.

2 Sep 2004

New cooperation along the United States-Mexico Border

The United States-Mexico Border Field Office of the Pan American Health Organization and the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Association are beginning a new stage of cooperation.

1 Sep 2004

Are Latin America and the Caribbean ready to meet the health challenges of the coming senior boom?

Advances in medicine and public health have dramatically increased life expectancy in Latin America and the Caribbean.But is the region ready to meet the challenges of the coming "senior boom"?

31 Aug 2004

African-Americans and Asians more pessimistic about the health systems ability to cope with a bioterrorist event

While nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that the public health system would respond fairly in a bioterrorist event, African-Americans and Asians adhere to this view in smaller proportions, perhaps because of past discriminatory policies put in place by health officials, according to a new UCLA study.

30 Aug 2004

Contract for the production of an investigational vaccine based on an H9N2 strain of avian influenza virus

In 1999 and 2003, an H9N2 influenza strain caused illness in three people in Hong Kong. Scientists are concerned about H9N2 and other emerging types of avian influenza viruses because as they spread—most commonly through poultry—they continually mutate, increasing chances that they may infect humans, evade the body’s immune response and become more lethal.

17 Aug 2004

New initiative aimed at reducing the excessively high rates of stroke

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has announced approximately $2 million in grant awards to support a new initiative aimed at reducing the excessively high rates of stroke, stroke disabilities and stroke deaths that disproportionately occur in the southeastern region of the United States.

5 Aug 2004