Institute recommends a global health corps for AIDS
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《英国医生杂志》
The United States should create a global health service corps as a crucial component of the president's emergency plan for AIDS relief. The corps would address the needs of personnel tackling the AIDS crisis in the worst affected countries.
The emergency plan that President Bush announced in January 2003 commits the US to spending $15bn (￡7.9bn; 11.6bn) over five years in 15 countries that are thought to carry more than half of the global burden of HIV and AIDS ( BMJ 2003;326: 1233).
The recommendation for a global health service corps comes in a report published last week by the independent advisory body the Institute of Medicine, which was asked to look at the issue by officials running the president's plan.
"The dearth of qualified health care professionals in most low-income countries represents the single greatest obstacle to meeting health care needs," the report says. Sub-Saharan Africa currently has 25% of the world's burden of disease but only 1.3% of the world's health workforce.
President Bush's emergency plan to tackle AIDS needs a health corps to implement it
Credit: PAUL J RICHARDS/AFP/GETTY
The report recommends the creation of a global US health services corps, initially seen as 150 doctors, nurses, and technicians, assigned to the host nations for a minimum of two years. They would provide specialised skills, accelerate the scaling up of HIV and AIDS programmes, and educate and train local colleagues.
Additional numbers of recently graduated doctors might be attracted to spend a year or more in service abroad through a combination of a paid fellowship programme and repayment of up to $25 000 a year in loans associated with their medical education. Similar incentives have been used to attract doctors to underserved rural and poor urban communities in the US.
Partner nations would be encouraged to undertake an analysis of their resources and health needs. The US would work with them to increase capacity and move towards the goal of self sufficiency, through a mix of in-country training and exchange programmes.
The report highlights the importance of "stopping the brain drain by dampening demand in richer countries that continue to recruit health workers" from many of the nations hardest hit by HIV and AIDS.
It notes the potential of technology and internet based communications in patient management, education, and the exchange of information.(Bob Roehr)
The emergency plan that President Bush announced in January 2003 commits the US to spending $15bn (￡7.9bn; 11.6bn) over five years in 15 countries that are thought to carry more than half of the global burden of HIV and AIDS ( BMJ 2003;326: 1233).
The recommendation for a global health service corps comes in a report published last week by the independent advisory body the Institute of Medicine, which was asked to look at the issue by officials running the president's plan.
"The dearth of qualified health care professionals in most low-income countries represents the single greatest obstacle to meeting health care needs," the report says. Sub-Saharan Africa currently has 25% of the world's burden of disease but only 1.3% of the world's health workforce.
President Bush's emergency plan to tackle AIDS needs a health corps to implement it
Credit: PAUL J RICHARDS/AFP/GETTY
The report recommends the creation of a global US health services corps, initially seen as 150 doctors, nurses, and technicians, assigned to the host nations for a minimum of two years. They would provide specialised skills, accelerate the scaling up of HIV and AIDS programmes, and educate and train local colleagues.
Additional numbers of recently graduated doctors might be attracted to spend a year or more in service abroad through a combination of a paid fellowship programme and repayment of up to $25 000 a year in loans associated with their medical education. Similar incentives have been used to attract doctors to underserved rural and poor urban communities in the US.
Partner nations would be encouraged to undertake an analysis of their resources and health needs. The US would work with them to increase capacity and move towards the goal of self sufficiency, through a mix of in-country training and exchange programmes.
The report highlights the importance of "stopping the brain drain by dampening demand in richer countries that continue to recruit health workers" from many of the nations hardest hit by HIV and AIDS.
It notes the potential of technology and internet based communications in patient management, education, and the exchange of information.(Bob Roehr)