News of 23 November 2005

News of 28 July 2009

Focus: Chronique diseases
Network MMS: What's up?
Network MMS: News
International Health and more: Issues, Debates, Tools

Focus: Chronique diseases

New network to combat noncommunicable diseases
Prevention and control
(E) WHO | Noncommunicable diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, cancers, diabetes, respiratory diseases and common injuries account for the vast majority of all global deaths, but because they are not yet included as priorities in the global development agenda, donors and international organizations have yet to pledge support to help developing countries address these leading health problems.
www.who.int/...

"Lifestyle” diseases saddle poor countries
Report of the Financial Times
(E) Financial Times | "The infectious diseases that have traditionally killed the world’s poor are starting to recede. Instead, people in Africa, India and China are beginning to die of the same things that kill westerners: chiefly, obesity- and smoking-related diseases."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7d6b6ec6-dd1b-11dd-a2a9-000077b07658.html

Alcohol and harm reduction in Russia
One of the most pressing health problems
(E) Russian Federation The Lancet | "The Series on alcohol and global health, published in The Lancet, draws attention to one of the most pressing public health problems in the world. Alcohol promotes inequities and accounts for substantial harm to individuals, families, and communities, most of which could be prevented or reduced." A very impressive case is Russia.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS014067360961165X

Network MMS: What's up?

Summer School in Public Health Policy, Economics and Management
Lugano, 10 - 21 August 2009
(E) SSPH+ | The Summer School in Public Health Policy, Economics and Management are intended for professionals and managers of health administrations, hospitals and other services and facilities within the health sector, policy-makers and any student registered for one of the continuous education programs coordinated and supported by the SSPH+. The Summer School is an opportunity to meet new colleagues and peers, to exchange knowledge, build networks, and share insights. The emphasis will be on participative approaches, complemented by formal teaching.
http://www.ssphplus.ch/spip.php?page=ssph_main&lang=de&id_rubrique=16

SolidarMed am Jazzfestival Willisau
Willisau, 26. August 2009
(D) SolidarMed | SolidarMed präsentiert den in der Schweiz lebenden Ghanesen Peter John Kofi Donkor am diesjährigen Jazzfestival Willisau. Mit dem Trio "Wings of a Dove" spielt er soulgeladene Afrorhythmen, die ihre Wurzeln in Ghana haben. Im grossen Konzertsaal nehmen «The African Jazz Allstars» das Publikum mit auf eine Reise nach Afrika. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Afrika auch musikalisch unermesslich ist. Mit dem Orchester "The African Jazz Allstars" wurde der Versuch unternommen, ein paar der herausragendsten Musiker der Jazzszene Afrikas auf einer Bühne zu versammeln. SolidarMed ist an diesem Abend Gast in Willisau und während dem ganzen Festival mit einem Stand mitten im musikalischen Herzen Willisaus.
http://www.solidarmed.ch/index.php?id=57

6th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health
Verona, 6–10 September 2009
(E) SGTP | The Congress will deal with the classical aspects of Tropical Medicine including basic science, diagnostic / therapeutics, clinical tropical medicine and disease control, but International
Health will not be a minor component, the central focus being on the main theme of Equity, Human Rights and Access to Care. The Congress will also put a great emphasis on Transferability of Research results into actual practice. The organisers are also interested to discuss how evidence obtained from research is transferred/not transferred into actual policy and practice.
http://www.festmih.org/verona2009/

MMS Meeting Point: Professionelle Dienstleistung – ehrenamtliche Führung
Bern, 15. September 2009
(D) MMS | Der Meeting Point widmet sich der Arbeit des Vereins Freunde Behindertenintegration Kamerun (FBK). Seit elf Jahren unterstützt dieser das orthopädische Zentrum Obala (OZO) in Kamerun.Der Verein steht vor verschiedenen Herausforderungen. Folgende Fragen diskutiert der Meeting Point:
• Wie kann die Nachhaltigkeit des Projektes gesichert werden, finanziell und personell?
• Wie kann ein Nachfolger gefunden werden für den Gründer und Präsidenten des kamerunischen Vereins JHAR, und was sind die notwendigen Qualifikationen?
• Wie kann der ehrenamtlich arbeitende Vorstand, der zugleich Projektberater, Finanzverantwortlicher und Fundraiser ist, das Projekt in Kamerun gut begleiten und die Qualität langfristig sichern?
http://www.medicusmundi.ch/mms/services/cb/meetingpoints/meetingpoint090915

3rd Symposium on Global Health Diplomacy - "Negotiating health in the 21st century
Geneva, 15th October 2009
(E) IHEID/GHP | On occasion of the establishment of GLOBAL HEALTH EUROPE: A Platform for European Engagement in Global Health the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute, Geneva is hosting a high level symposium to explore the emerging regional dimension of global public health. Not only does the growing number of regional agreements in other sectors such as trade impact on population health, health itself is increasingly part of the deliberations of regional bodies such as the EU, ASEAN, AU and OAS. Particularly since the SARS and avian flu outbreaks regional bodies have included health in the functional areas of their cooperation and have explored how to jointly approach regional and global health threats.
http://graduateinstitute.ch/globalhealth/page6404.html

Chronische Krankheiten in Entwicklungs- und Schwellenländern: Globale Gesundheit vor neuer Herausforderung
Basel, 10. November 2009
(D) MMS Symposium | Chronische Krankheiten haben die Todesraten der Infektionskrankheiten auf allen Kontinenten ausser im südlichen Afrika überholt. Sie können nicht mehr als ausschliessliches Problem der reichen Länder angesehen werden. Nicht nur die betroffenen Länder sondern auch die internationale Gesundheitspolitik und die in der Gesundheitszusammenarbeit tätigen Nichtregierungsorganisationen stehen vor grossen Herausforderungen. 8. Symposium der schweizerischen Gesundheitszusammenarbeit.
http://www.medicusmundi.ch/mms/services/events/Symposium2009

Symposium of the Novartis Foundation: "Tackle the crisis with a new world economic ethic?"
Basel, 27 November 2009
(E) Novartis Foundation | The subject of this year's Novartis Foundation Symposium is: "Tackle the crisis with a new world economic ethic?" Speakers will include Hans Küng, theologian and publicist, President of Foundation „Weltethos“; and Ioanna Kuçuradi, Turkish human rights activist and philosopher. The current economic, social and ecological crisis serves as a background for this topic. At the symposium, a new declaration on “Global Economic Ethic – Consequences for Global Businesses” will be presented. Speakers will debate this and other proposals of alternative ways out of the crisis critically. Not only the economic crisis, but also the social dimension, in particular extreme poverty, will prominently figure in the day’s discourse.
http://www.novartisfoundation.org

Network MMS: News

Das Schweigen gebrochen?
Israelische Zivilgesellschaft setzt sich mit dem Gaza-Krieg auseinander
(D) Israel , Palestine medico international | Michael ist sichtlich nervös. Er ist etwa 30, kurzer Bart, runde Brille, große Kippa, Turnschuhe, offenes Hemd. Kaum der typische Friedensaktivist. Tatsächlich ist er ehemaliger Offizier bei Golani, der berühmten Kampfkompanie. Was in Israel als „Salz der Erde“ gilt. Immer wieder hält er inne, nach Worten suchend, spricht dann immer schneller, verliert sich etwas, rafft sich wieder zusammen.
http://www.medico.de/themen/vernetztes-handeln/blogs/paradoxe-hoffnung/

Accès à la santé pour tous : en Suisse aussi !
Projet de Pharmaciens sans Frontières s’adresse prioritairement aux personnes migrantes sans-papiers vivant en Suisse
(F) Switzerland PSF | Pharmaciens sans Frontières Suisse (PSF) a décidé de porter son concours à la Plate-forme nationale pour les soins médicaux aux sans-papiers. PSF souhaite compléter une approche interdisciplinaire en apportant son aide technique, logistique et de conseil aux centres de santé en Suisse. Les points principaux concernant la mise en oeuvre du projet de PSF s’axent autour du triptyque:
1) Centralisation et coordination de l’offre de pharmaciens ressource bénévoles pour le tri des médicaments
2) Développement et coordination d’un réseau de pharmacies ressources pour la collecte et la bonne gestion des MNUs (Médicaments Non Utilisés)
3) Mise en place d’un partenariat avec une ou plusieurs industries du médicament générique –prioritairement- dans le cadre duquel PSF peut jouer un rôle de facilitateur pour pallier aux manques prévisibles de médicaments de premier recours ou de spécialités.
Les membres du Comité PSF seront très heureux de renseigner les membres du réseau MMS de manière plus détaillée. N’hésitez pas à nous contacter !
mailto://info@psf.ch

East – East Collaboration Strengthened Through SDC Funded Projects
SCIH: Potential of learning from each ohter
(E) STI/SCIH | The Swiss Centre for International Health of the Swiss Tropical Institute has a long standing experience implementing Perinatal Health related projects funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and other donors in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Sharing experience and lessons learnt amongst these projects has been particularly interesting and rewarding due to the fact that most countries in this region share a common past but have taken different approaches in health sector reform. Therefore, the potential of learning from each other is considerable. In the past, this sharing of experience was facilitated by project leadership assumed by respective SCIH staff.
www.sti.ch/...

Neglected Diseases Under the Microscope
Swiss Tropical Institute's director on neglected diseases
(E) IPS | "Neglected diseases, neglected people. Marcel Tanner uses the phrase to emphasise the attitude of drug developers towards tropical diseases that primarily affect the marginalised poor."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47549

Novartis loses legal battle
Novartis not ready to give up on Glivec
(E) India Deccan Herald, The Ecconomic Times | "While the media has been busy and preoccupied with reporting about the global problem of Swine flu, many of them really missed an important news item. This is with regard to multinational drug major Novartis losing its legal battle in India." The Indian subsidiary of Swiss drugmaker Novartis will challenge the decision.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/12593/pharma-giant-loses-legal-battle.html
economictimes.indiatimes.com/...

British Minister urges firms to pool HIV patents
50 million will need new drugs by 2030
(E) The Guardian | According to the british International Development Minister, Mike Foster, "drug companies should give up their patent rights to HIV medicines to help prevent the deaths of millions of people in poor countries."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/12/hiv-medicine-patents-drugs-companies

International Health and more: Issues, Debates, Tools

Folter im Ferienparadies Mexiko – und ein Instrument dagegen
Das Istanbul-Protokoll: "Eine Art medizinisch-psychologische Krankengeschichte"
(D) Mexico medico international schweiz | Die heutigen Folterpraktiken werden seit Amtsantritt Obamas wieder thematisiert. Die Partnerorganisationen von medico international schweiz in Oaxaca und Guerrero versuchen, Folter sichtbar zu machen und zur Anklage zu bringen. Sie dokumentieren Folter anhand des sogenannten „Istanbul-Protokolls“ - der ersten Zusammenstellung von internationalen Richtlinien für die Dokumentation von Folter und ihren Folgen.
http://www.medicointernational.ch/content/view/158/1/

Scaling Up the Stock of Health Workers
A Review
(E) STI/SCIH | "Under the leadership of the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Lisbon) and with complementary inputs by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Association of Nurses of Malawi, the Swiss Centre for International Health has substantially contributed to a scientific review on the “Scaling Up the Stock of Health Workers”. Helen Prytherch and Kaspar Wyss are co-authors of the study which provides a synthesis on the published and grey literature on the scaling up the health workforce − also known as human resources for health (HRH). The paper is an initial effort to better understand the process of scaling up the health workforce. Although each country needs to formulate its own strategy, lessons can be learned from others. Scaling up is not a goal in itself, but a major component of any strategy aimed at achieving health policy objectives. The document is available in French, Spanish and English.
http://www.ichrn.com

Where To Find A Million New Nurses?
IPS report on Scaling up the numbers of healthcare workers
(E) IPS on scaling up the numbers of healthcare workers | "If developing countries want to succeed in improving their health systems, they urgently need to decentralise them and shift tasks from doctors to nurses and community health workers, said experts at the Fifth International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Cape Town."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47747

An assessment of interactions between global health initiatives and country health systems
World Health Organization Maximizing Positive Synergies Collaborative Group
(E) The Lancet | "Since 2000, the emergence of several large disease-specific global health initiatives (GHIs) has changed the way in which international donors provide assistance for public health. Some critics have claimed that these initiatives burden health systems that are already fragile in countries with few resources, whereas others have asserted that weak health systems prevent progress in meeting disease-specific targets. So far, most of the evidence for this debate has been provided by speculation and anecdotes. A review and analysis of existing data, and 15 new studies that were submitted to WHO for the purpose of writing this Report to describe the complex nature of the interplay between country health systems and GHIs."
www.thelancet.com/...