Demography

The report describes the exodus of healthcare workers from areas of poverty and low socio-economic development, to more highly developed areas.... There are a variety of push and pull factors that impact on the movement of healthcare workers, arising both within and beyond the health system. Factors endogenous to the health care system are low remuneration levels, work associated risks including of diseases like HIV/AIDS and TB, inadequate human resource planning with consequent unrealistic work loads, poor infrastructure and sub-optimal conditions of work.

The purpose of this document is to describe the concept and key principles of an Equity Gauge, and to provide guidelines for putting the concept and principles into action. GEGA’s ultimate goal in disseminating the document is to contribute to the creation of an effective global alliance of Equity Gauges bound by shared principles and common approaches. Concern about equity in health is not new. International health and development agencies, researchers, and activists have been pointing to inequities in health between different countries, between rich and poor people, between racial/ethnic groups, and between men and women, for many years. Equity was one of the key principles of the 1978 Alma Ata Declaration on Health for All. However, despite evidence of wide and sometimes widening disparities between and within countries on every continent, few countries routinely monitor equity in health, health care, the underlying determinants of health, or the social consequences of illness. Equity is an urgent public health issue today. An Equity Gauge places health equity squarely within a larger framework of social justice. While some health inequalities are inevitable and acceptable (for example, elderly people generally have poorer health than young adults), many health inequalities are avoidable and unjust (for example, lower rates of immunization coverage among girls than among boys, or higher mortality rates among some racial/ethnic groups compared to others). Equity Gauges are concerned with health-related inequalities that are unfair.

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African governments have been urged to come up with policies to combat increasing cases of chronic diseases. A World Health Organisation (WHO) director in Non-Communicable Diseases in Africa, said scientific evidence had shown that millions of people throughout the world were dying from cardiovascular diseases, obesity, cancers and respiratory infections. Dr Mohamed Belhocine, was addressing journalists at a news conference at a Harare hotel to mark the end of a three-day WHO workshop on global strategy on diet, physical activity and health. [Leon H. Sullivan Summit] He said: There is scientific evidence that with moderate physical activity and a slight change in dietary habits, 60 percent of new cases would be avoided. He said reducing the cases of chronic diseases like obesity, hypertension and high cholesterol, did not necessarily depend on the availability of resources. These could be averted by just being responsible with one's health. According to a WHO fact sheet, chronic diseases accounted for 59 percent of the 56,5 million deaths annually and 45,9 percent of the global burden of diseases. (Source: Harare, The Daily News 25 March, 2003).

Men's health issued across the world are being severely neglected, a panelist taking part in a worldwide live video conference under the aegis of the World Health Organisation said on Sunday. Those taking part in the unique conference were linked to cities such as Cairo, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Washington, Geneva and Addis Ababa. The Dean of the Nelson Mandela Medical School at the University of Natal in Durban, Professor Barry Kistnasamy, together with Professor Maurice Mars of the Department of Sports Science, represented the medical school on the panel. The panelist, Professor Edward Bartlett of Washington University's Public Health Department, called for the promotion of initiatives world-wide to promote men's health. He said it was anticipated that life expectancy for women in industrialised countries would soon be 90 years. Men's life expectancy, on the other hand, was nowhere near that, he said. In fact, statistics from Russia showed that the average woman there lived 15 years longer than the average man. He said that women's health initiatives were being implemented all over the world and women's issues were being widely addressed. However, programmes for men are lagging behind, Bartlett claimed. In addition, men globally were three and a half times more likely to commit suicide than women. (Source: The Daily News, 20 January 2003)

The Unit for Epidemiological Studies,Technikon Pretoria in collaboration with the Department of Health and WHO presents a symposium on The threat of emerging & re-emerging diseases To Global Health Security Epidemics and newly emerging infections are on the move as never before continually threatens the health of the people of the world with a major impact on the movements of people and goods in the global village. Globalisation, climate change and the growth of megacities are increasing the potential for rapid spread. The symposium will highlight important issues regarding epidemic alert and response within the global as well as the local context. Who should attend? Communicable Disease Outbreak Response Teams; Health Service Managers; Academics; Pathologists; Professional nurses; Medical Officers; Laboratory personnel; Health promotion; Public Health Programme Managers; Pharmacists; Heads of Trauma/Casualties/ Outpatient Departments; Communication & Health Information Personnel; Health Informatics; Epidemiologists; Infection Control Personnel; Disaster Management Teams; Environmental Health Practitioners; Environmental Managers; Pharmaceutical Companies; Travel Medicine.

Low-Tech Strategies for Promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health. This is a 12-day intensive course for master trainers within health education programmes. The course addresses the challenges they face in preparing local trainers and educators for health promotion in resource-constrained communities. Human sexuality, behaviour change communication and the nuts and bolts of training are central themes in this course. Participants explore culture-based methodologies for communicating health messages and are supported in their application of these methodologies in sexual and reproductive health education. The course culminates in participants' development and presentation of low-tech teaching aids from common, every-day materials.For further information and registration contact: Ms. Busi Marule, Margaret Sanger Centre International South Africa, P.O. Box 848, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa, Tel: +27-11-726-1172 Fax: +27-11-726-2424, mailto:info@mscisa.org.za

The number of new-born babies registered in South Africa last year grew by only 1,82 percent from 2000, Statistics SA reported on Tuesday. At the end of 2001, the figure stood at 1433432 compared to 1407833 a year earlier. University of SA demographer Carel van Aardt ascribed the dreadfully low increase partly to the prevalence of HIV/Aids.In its later stages, the disease affects the biological capacity of a woman to have babies. We are getting an ever-increasing pool of women approaching full-blown Aids, he told Sapa. Urbanisation also played a role in the low birth rate. It saw more women entering the labour market, opting for either postponing children or settling for smaller families.Van Aardt predicted the country could by the year 2010 be close to a zero-growth figure in the number of new births registered. Stats Sa said the low increase in 2001 was a continuation of a pattern that started around 1992. Van Aardt said lower fertility was certainly a factor, but could not be only explanation for the low birth rate.This was especially true if one took into account that the use of contraceptives was not common among the majority of the population. Stats SA detected a decrease in recorded births in all months of the year.Seasonal variation of births clearly indicates that September was the month in which childbearing peaked, followed by March.In a provincial breakdown of birth registrations last year, KwaZulu-Natal came out on top, followed by the Eastern Cape and Gauteng. The Northern Cape was at the bottom of the list. Stats SA said most new mothers were between the ages of 20 and 29 last year, while fathers were mostly between and 30 and 34 years old.

The Reproductive Health Research Unit in collaboration with the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Health Systems Trust (HST), The Population Council and The Africa Centre started conducting a course in reproductive health research method in July 1997, as a response to reproductive health needs in the African region. Course participants are drawn from the sub-Saharan African region. The aim of this course is to support reproductive health policy making, planning and programmes by building capacity in reproductive health research; and to develop a network of regional research expertise. As a result of the huge success with the first course and the high rating it received from the participants, it was decided to run the course annually. The course has been run with great success for the past five years. The next course will be conducted from the 29 July to 23 August 2002. For any queries concerning the course, contact the course co odinator Palesa Ntsihlele in Johannesburg, South Africa at (+ 27 11) 9331228 Ext 250 Fax (+27 11) 9331227 Email : p.ntsihlele@rhrujhb.co.za

This report summarises some preliminary results from the 2000 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey (2000 NDHS), which was undertaken by the Ministry of Health and Social Services in collaboration with the Central Bureau of Statistics of the National Planning Commission, SIAPAC and UNAM. The NDHS provides a wealth of information on key demographic and health issues. In order to provide reliable results on most of the survey indicators for each of the 13 administrative regions, a sample of more than 6,500 women of childbearing age was selected. Furthermore, to investigate men’s knowledge and attitudes towards family planning, family size and HIV/AIDS, the sample design required that approximately 3,000 men aged 15-59 years be interviewed in a sub-sample of households. With roughly two teams in each region, fieldwork took three months, from 21 September to 15 December 2000.

In 2000, the Reproductive Health Manager at the Provincial Administration of the Western Cape (PAWC) approached the Womens Health Research Unit (WHRU) to review the reproductive health information that was being collected at a provincial level and ascertain whether the data being collected was reliable and useful, and whether additional indicators were needed. At the same time, the Health Systems Trust expressed interest in commissioning a project that would develop a set of reproductive health indicators that could be used, particularly by health service managers.