E-DRUG: New MSF report -health worker shortages threaten scale-up of ART
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Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
Health Worker Shortage Limits Access to HIV Treatment in Southern Africa
New MSF 'Help Wanted' ?Report
Johannesburg, South Africa, May 24, 2007
The dire lack of health care workers in southern Africa is threatening efforts to expand access to
HIV/AIDS treatment, warned the international medical humanitarian
organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in a
new report issued today. The report covers four southern African
countries - Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa - ”where more than one
million people still need life-saving antiretroviral treatment but do not
have access to it. Lack of action will result in unnecessary illness and
death.
.......
The full report is available online at:
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/reports/2007/healthcare_worker_report_05-2007.pdf
There is wide acknowledgement of the human resource crisis, but little
action on the ground. MSF is urging governments to develop and implement
emergency plans to retain and recruit health care workers that include
measures to raise pay and improve working conditions. In most countries
this will only happen if donors change their policies and start providing
financial support for recurrent costs such as salaries. Ministries of
finance and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will need to find
solutions to overcome 'caps ' on the number of health workers and level of
salaries. Otherwise, governments will not be able to respond adequately to
the unmet need for treatment.
In the four countries profiled in this report, MSF is presently providing
antiretroviral treatment (ART) for nearly 30,000 people. Worldwide, MSF
provides ART to over 80,000 patients in more than 30 countries.
Contact: Buddhima Lokuge +1-212-655-3762
Buddhima Lokuge <Buddhima.Lokuge@newyork.msf.org>