[e-drug] MSF Satellite meeting on AIDS and Health Care worker shortages, Mexico, August 3

E-DRUG: MSF Satellite meeting on AIDS and Health Care worker shortages, Mexico, August 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AIDS TREATMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF HEALTH CARE WORKER SHORTAGES

A Médecins Sans Frontières Satellite Meeting at the XVII International
AIDS Conference, Mexico City 2008 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
invites you to attend a satellite meeting on the impact of the health care
worker shortage on access to HIV/AIDS treatment and lessons learned
from clinicians and advocates working on the ground to overcome this
gap.

3 August 2008, 9:00am-1:00pm Melia Reforma Hotel, Paseo de la
Reforma Mexico City, Mexico

Introduction
An estimated 70 percent of people who need antiretroviral treatment are
still not getting it. One barrier to access to treatment is the critical
shortage of health care workers. This shortage contributes to
unnecessary illness and death, yet acknowledgement of the human
resource crisis has not yet translated into strategies and funding to
stimulate needed change.

MIND THE GAPS - a half-day satellite meeting preceding the opening
ceremonies of the International AIDS Conference organized by Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) will include reports on efforts to expand and
uphold quality of AIDS treatment in the context of severe shortage of
health care workers and critical discussions among experts and AIDS
activists about possible policy shifts needed to confront one of the largest
barriers to scale-up and quality AIDS treatment.

Speakers include:
- Dr Mphu Ramatlapeng, Honourable Minister of Health & Social
Welfare, Lesotho
- Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS-Free World
- Rachel Cohen, Head of Mission, MSF South Africa and Lesotho
- Wim Van Damme, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
- Vuyiseka Dubula, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), South Africa
- Paul Kasonkomona, Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign
(TALC)
- Dr Jennifer Kavuma, Health Workforce Advocacy Forum (HWAF),
Uganda
- Dr Moses Massaquoi, MSF Malawi
- Gorik Ooms, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
- Asia Russell, Health GAP

To register, please go to:
www.doctorswithoutborders.org/events/symposiums/2008/aids/

AGENDA

A Médecins Sans Frontières Satellite Meeting at the XVII International
AIDS Conference, Mexico City 2008 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
invites you to attend a Satellite meeting on the impact of the health care
worker shortage on access to HIV/AIDS treatment and lessons learned
from clinicians and advocates working on the ground to overcome this
gap.

Introduction
An estimated 70% of people who need antiretroviral treatment are still
not getting it. Recent advocacy efforts have brought more attention to the
critical shortage of health care workers and how this shortage contributes
to unnecessary illness and death.

In Malawi a medical assistant can see up to 200 patients per day, far too
many to ensure quality HIV care. Patients in parts of Mozambique can
wait up to two months to start AIDS treatment, and many have died
during the wait. In parts of Lesotho, over half of nursing posts remain
vacant, and the leading cause staff attrition is death due to HIV/AIDS.

One strategy used by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and others is
task-shifting to lower levels of health care workers and lay health care
workers. However, this strategy has its own limits and MSF teams and
other implementers find themselves hitting a wall in terms of further
scaling up and maintaining an acceptable level of quality care. Urgent
measures must be taken by donor and national governments to retain a
skilled workforce and attract new staff by increasing pay, improving
working conditions, and keeping staff healthy. The lack of health care
workers must be confronted as an emergency for the millions of people
with HIV/AIDS still waiting for treatment.

August 3, 2008, 9:00am-1:00pm
Melia Reforma Hotel, Paseo de la Reforma Mexico City, Mexico

Agenda - August 3, 2008, 9:00am-1:00pm

Please note that this agenda is subject to change.
9:00 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION Setting the scene

- Stephen Lewis, Co-director of AIDS-Free World (TBC)
- Dr Mphu Ramatlapeng, Honourable Minister of Health & Social Welfare,
Lesotho
9:45 TASK-SHIFTING: LESSONS AND LIMITS
Moderator: Dr Joia Mukherjee, Partners in Health (PIH) (TBC)
- Case study 1: Nurse-based ART and the role of facility-based lay
health workers at primary care level in rural Lesotho, Rachel Cohen,
MSF Lesotho
- Case study 2: Universal access and upholding adherence in rural
Malawi: the contribution of task shifting to more effective ART, Dr Moses
Massaquoi, MSF Malawi
- Trends and challenges of task-shifting to lay workers, Wim Van
Damme, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
- Finding and holding the line on quality: building an operational research
agenda, Dr David Olson, MSF
- Question and Answer: 15 minutes
11:00 COFFEE BREAK
11:30 REMARKS
- Sr Mpumelelo Mantangan, Professional Nurse, Ubuntu HIV/TB Clinic,
Khayelitsha, South Africa (TBC)
11:30 THE POLICY ENVIRONMENT: BARRIERS, ACTIONS, AND
AGENDAS
Moderator: Sharonann Lynch, MSF South Africa and Lesotho
- Fighting for nurses' salary increases in Zambia, Paul Kasonkomona,
Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC)
- Overcoming donor and international barriers to increase the health
workforce, Gorik Ooms, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
- Campaigning for health worker retention measures in Uganda, Dr
Jennifer Kavuma, Health Workforce Advocacy Forum (HWAF), Uganda
- Risks and opportunities of the new financing frontier, Asia Russell,
Health GAP
- Question and Answer: 15 minutes
12:45 CLOSING REMARKS
- Vuyiseka Dubula, Secretary General, Treatment Action Campaign
(TAC), South Africa
1:00 CLOSE

Seco GERARD
Advisor, Analysis and Advocacy Unit, Gen Dir.
MSF
Rue Dupr, 94
1090 Brussels
32 2 475 36 34 (dir off)