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IPSF EducationJune 2011

World leaders to debate role of education in development(ECOSOC, Geneva, 4-8 July)

In a keynote address on 4 July, Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO is toplead for commitment to education from the highest levels of government andinternational bodies. At a prior event, she will join UN officials and schoolchildren tourge world leaders to redouble their efforts to put education at the centre ofdevelopment.

ECOSOC is a major forum for discussing world issues and preparing policyrecommendations for Member States and the UN system. Its Annual MinisterialReview (AMR) is to assess progress on the education-related MillenniumDevelopment Goals; highlight the links between education and other internationallyagreed goals; act as a catalyst towards the achievement of the education-relatedgoals; encourage countries to launch initiatives in support of education and achievebroad multi-stakeholder engagement – notably through a series of regionalpreparatory meetings.

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Ms Bokova, Mr Tang, the Assistant Director-General for Education and otherUNESCO representatives will visit the Innovation Fair, where the Organization isshowcasing its work on capacity development. The innovative approach ofUNESCO’s CapEFA programme will be highlighted.

The expected outcome of the 2011 AMR session will be the Ministerial Declarationon "Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard toeducation".

Related Links

ECOSOC Websiste

Education for All (EFA)

Graduate careers: EU changes pave way for new healthcare rolesThe Guardian, UK18/06/2011

Anna Tims

The European Commission clampdown on doctors' working hours has opened a newcareer path for UK graduates wondering what to do with a science degree.Physicians' assistants are an emerging breed of healthcare professionals trained torelieve the pressure on overstretched doctors in hospitals, GPs' surgeries andcommunity services.

The idea, borrowed from the US, which devised the role 40 years ago to overcome ashortage of physicians, has now translated into the first wave of UK-trained recruitswho will join a medical team supervised by a doctor and have powers including thediagnosis and referral of patients and the analysis of test results.

The career is an appealing alternative for graduates who would like to work in thefrontline of the health sector but without committing to five years in medical school.Graduates with a degree in life or health-related sciences can earn the necessaryqualification in a two-year degree course at St George's Medical School in London,and Birmingham and Wolverhampton universities have launched two-yearpostgraduate diploma courses in general medicine.

Jonathan Ogidi was among the first tranche of physician assistants to graduate fromSt George's last September and has joined the hospital's trauma and orthopaedicsteam. "The training offered me a different kind of skill set and the opportunity toremain in general medicine rather than having to specialise," he says.

Originally a biomedical science graduate from Sheffield, Ogidi says that the role,which is still an unregistered profession, is being developed from scratch. "We'regradually beginning to understand how PAs can be useful," he says. "No one wassure initially how we would fit in, but I've been assigned a mentor and I'm nowworking with every consultant in the department."

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The idea is to train students in general medicine covering a broad spectrum ofhealthcare so that they can take on some of the non-specialised functions of adoctor. As experience is gained, they can take increasing responsibility at thediscretion of a supervising doctor or surgeon, although as yet they have no powersto prescribe medicines.

"The role is an extension of what physicians do, but always as part of a team," saysJoel Grey, course leader at St George's. "The attraction for physicians is thatassistants are a permanent member of a team, unlike a junior doctor who mightmove on after a few months just after they've been trained up. It will suit people whowant to be part of a team but have no desire to captain the ship."

Newly fledged assistants can expect to start on around £24,000 but salaries rise withexperience and could reach £45,000. The career is not, alas, a short cut to a fully-fledged doctor's career. Although physician assistant training encompasses many ofthe elements that doctors study, those wishing to upgrade will need to apply fromscratch for a full-length course at medical school.

How Cell Phones, Mobile Devices, iPhones Save Lives in PoorCountriesABC News10/06/2011

By DANA HUGHES

ABC News' correspondent Dana Hughes reports from the Mobile Health Summit inCape Town, South Africa.

More than 5 billion people in the world today have cell phones, and they are doing alot more than just talking. Globally, people are using mobile phones to surf the web,telecommute and, increasingly in the developing world, send and receive money.

The next revolution will not be televised, technology experts say, but be driven bydevices that fit into the palm of your hand.

Part of that revolution is using mobile technology to deliver and track health careservices, a practice referred to as mhealth. While people in the United States andEurope are focused on how the latest iPhone app will make their lives easier,wireless technology is literally saving lives in poor countries such as those in Africaand Asia.

A new WHO report, "mHealth: New Horizons for Health through MobileTechnologies," focuses on the impact mobile devices and the Internet are having onglobal access to health care. The report, launched at the Mobile Health Summit heldin Cape Town, South Africa. this week, finds that more than 70 percent of mobilesubscribers live in low- and middle-income countries.

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It also says that commercial wireless signals cover more than 85 percent of theworld. Places that might have no electricity or a safe water supply could easily havecellphone coverage. But having seemingly high-tech advancement in places lackingbasic infrastructure isn't only a problem; it's also an opportunity.

"Things that are being learned in Africa can be used in other parts of the world,including the United States," said Adele Waugaman, senior director of TechnologyPartnerships for the United Nations Foundation, which supported the WHO study.

The U.N. Foundation and telecommunication giant Vodacom have been partneringfor the past five years to try and fund innovative mhealth projects. One of their mostsuccessful is DataDyne, a company founded by Dr. Joel Selanikio of the UnitedStates. Selanikio started his career in IT, went to medical school and eventuallyspecialized in global health with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

His frustration working in Africa, where health policy decisions were being madebased on often slow and outdated data, led him to create EpiSurveyor, a mobileapplication using the Web that allows community health workers in even the mostremote parts of the world to record and report health information almostinstantaneously.

"We have a system online where anybody can go to the Website Episurveyor.organd in five minutes create a form and share it with mobile phones around the world,and have those mobile phones be sending information back by a simple textmessage," Selanikio said ABC News.

He acknowledged that not all global health problems will be fixed using technologybut said, "We can fix one problem, which is the data collection part. We can nail thatone down, and that's what we've done with EpiSurveyor."

Mobenzi, a South African-based mhealth company, focuses on both data collectionand patient care. Their mobile app allows health workers to schedule appointments,pull up a patient's file and even send photos to a specialist online who can help witha diagnosis.

"It takes off a lot of the pressure on the traditional health facilities," Andi Friedman,one of Mobenzi's partners, said. "It allows us to extend the level of care we canprovide in the field. The mobilization of this really sophisticated capability is really thepoint here."

Companies, Governments and Health Care Pros Come TogetherAt the Mobile Summit, health care professionals, humanitarian groups, mobilenetwork operators and government representatives also discussed some of thechallenges with mhealth. For example many programs are still in the pilot stages,governments have yet to regulate issues such as patient confidentiality and liability,and network operators and other telecommunications industry groups want mhealthto develop an eco-system that will be a financially sustainable business model.

No one expects to get rich but the general consensus was that if mhealth is basedsolely on philanthropic funding, the innovation will not survive.

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Craig Friderichs works with the mobile health initiative for GSMA, a global tradeorganization for the world's largest GSM network operators including Vodacom,AT&T and Orange. GSMA and the Mobile Health Alliance sponsored the summitprecisely to get groups and individuals working in mhealth to address thosechallenges, as well as share successes.

"We can really transmit or help patients at the bottom of the pyramid in the poorestcommunities, in the most under-serviced communities, with the most basic phonesand connectivity," Friderichs said. "And we believe that the reach or the penetrationof mobile into these underserviced communities and the ubiquity that mobile isbringing to these communities has the potential to literally revolutionize the way wedeliver health care services."