Dr. Mubashar Sheikh is executive director of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA). Global Medicine interviewed him about the human resource crisis, brain drain, policy guidelines and the moral responsibility of the developed world.
Worldwide there is a severe shortage of health workers. The numbers are impressive: many countries have a physician density of < 0.1 per 1 000 inhabitants and millions of people don’t have access to essential care. At this moment 57 countries face a severe health workforce crisis and without action the shortage will worsen.  In fact the existing health workforce of 59 million should be complemented with more than four million health workers to fill the gap.
Mycobacterium ulcerans disease, known as Buruli Ulcer, is a painless, necrotizing disease of the skin, subcutaneous tissue and bone. Left untreated it leads to severe handicaps, loss of livelihoods and social stigmata. Worldwide it is the third most common mycobacterial infection.
Rakhi, married at the age of seventeen, is a young woman living in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Although she was pregnant seven times, she only has one living son. She strangled her first two children right after birth, just because they were girls. Two sons died from child diseases.When she got pregnant again, she aborted the foetuses because they were both female. She says she would do it again, as she hasn’t got the money to pay for a dowry.
Although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often discussed, little is known about Palestinian refugee issues and the problems the Palestinian health care system faces due to the ongoing conflict. Who is a Palestinian refugee? What are the problems that Palestinian health workers are dealing with today? What is happening behind the wall?
To conduct a research project for her medical studies, Leonora Louter traveled to Ndala, a small village in Tanzania, where she performed an evaluation of the diagnostic tests of malaria.
In the last two editions, Global Medicine in collaboration with the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) paid special attention to the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine. In this last episode IAVI will explain more about their research in developing countries.
If you've ever travelled through Africa, you must have come across different names for white people. Mzungu give me money! (East Africa) Obruni, marry me! (Ghana)Toubab (Mali), Malungu (Mozambique)... hey, white person!
HIV vaccine reduces risk of infection by one third / Fungus kills malaria mosquito / Fighting climate change with contraception / Russia's president calls for a crackdown on alcoholism / A lethal lack of health insurance
Besides the well known medical professions such as physician, medical specialist or researcher, there are a lot more interesting career possibilities in (global) health care. With these short interviews we would like to introduce other interesting, sometimes unknown, professions. In this edition's Global Careers an interview with Ferko Öry, a medical doctor specialized in pediatrics but also in public health. His special interests brought him all over the world, where he worked at different levels of health care systems.
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