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WHO World Health Organization |
Since 2000 Grant MacEwan College from Edmonton Alberta/Canada and Tyumen State Medical Academy have been working together as partners in the Health Education Link Project "HELP".
Developed as a joint effort and sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), HELP is an example of a successful response by a Canadian post-secondary institution to a need in Russia to improve and expand the role of nursing within local health care system. It demonstrates how innovative educational programs can be turned into a powerful tool of contributing to social reform efforts in a country undergoing transition.
HELP
is one of Canada’s largest and most successful projects in Russia to date. Initiated
as a local effort in the Tyumen region, HELP has been recognized by key stakeholders
as a project of the national dimension. Its interim results have already been
picked up by the Russian Ministry of Health and shared with institutions across
all of Russia. CIDA and the World Health Organization (WHO) are calling attention
to the project’s successes.
MacEwan programs in Nurse Credentialing and Human Services Administration, have been adapted, translated into Russian, and made available at nursing schools located throughout the Tyumen region, as well as at the Tyumen State Medical Academy.
Although HELP was designed as a regional project to facilitate health care reform primarily in Tyumen region, Alberta’s sister province located in Western Siberia, over the past 12 months it has been recognized by key Russian and international stakeholders as a project with national dimensions.
Key elements of the Canadian learning materials have been recognized by the Russian health care professionals as a relevant and timely contribution to the health care reform currently underway in the country. The Ministry of Health has decided to develop two Russian nursing textbooks based on the HELP materials. These textbooks, covering all major aspects of contemporary nursing, will be published in the spring of 2003 to become primary learning resources for nursing schools across the country. The Ministry has also decided to make Nurse Credentialing materials available at all nursing schools in Russia (450 nursing schools and over 30 Universities). They consist of 23 modular courses and associated readings such as selected sections of the "Adult Health Nursing" textbook by Beare & Myers. Russian Nursing Association has distributed Nurse Credentialing Materials among 57 regional associations across Russia. In 2003 the project partners will be involved in a number of new activities such as designing a draft national catalogue of clinical nursing problems and developing a set of uniform nursing test assignments for the national system of professional accreditation.
The project is training a core group of Russian nursing instructors to promote a shift from the "doctors teach nurses" to the "nurses teach nurses" paradigm. Community Liaison Health Promotion Sites to be staffed by the graduates of the HELP programs, are being established in Tyumen. In addition, the project has assisted Russian partners in establishing job and career services for health care students. This component is being developed by MacEwan’s Canadian partner, the Career and Placement Services (CaPS) of the University of Alberta.
The project partners attribute their achievements to date to shared leadership, strong outreach component, replication of the project programming in different parts of Russia, creative adaptation of learning material by Russian partners, and their genuine integration into existing multi-level nursing curricula across the country.
WHO follows with great interest the outcomes of this project and aims to incorporate its positive lessons learned into Russian and other CIS countries’ health care and human resource policies.
For further information,
please contact:
Yuri Konkin, Project Manager
Grant MacEwan College
konkiny@macewan.ca
Eduard Kashuba
Rector Tyumen State
Medical Academy
kashuba@tma.tmn.ru
Visit website:
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The Brazilian Ambassador Luis Felipe de Seixas Correa, chair of the Inter-governmental Negotiating Body (INB) of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), on 15 January 2003 made public his proposed text for the Global treaty.
When in effect, the Framework Convention will be an important tool in the fight against cancers, heart disease and emphysema and for health promotion efforts globally.
WHO European Member States have been actively sharing and coordinating their positions throughout the negotiations. The process comprised of four subregional groups (EU, CIS, Baltic, and South-East) and culminated at the region-wide meetings organized by the WHO Regional Office in Copenhagen in September 2002 and in Geneva in February 2003.
The Russian Federation has initiated and led the CIS coordination process by hosting two intergovernmental meetings in September 2001 and in September 2002. Jointly agreed CIS positions were presented during the region-wide consultations and the sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body. Thus Russia together with its partner CIS countries has profiled highly and positively in this very important process.
The revised text was the basis for the sixth and ultimate preparatory meeting which took place in Geneva from 17–28 February. Over those eleven days, delegations from WHO’s 191 Member States negotiated a final text which will be submitted for adoption by the World Health Assembly in May.
"We have made excellent progress thus far and I am confident we will be able to move the process ahead to prepare the convention for adoption by the next Assembly", said Ambassador Luis Felipe de Seixas Correa. "We must move beyond country, subregional and regional perspectives and work for the collective interest. The text I am proposing today is an attempt to take into account the views and suggestions expressed during the last round of negotiations. But primarily, the aim of this text is to ensure that we end up with a treaty which is an effective tool for improving public health".
The fifth round of negotiations took place in October last year. Substantial progress was made then towards agreement on such key issues as tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, illicit trade in tobacco products, taxes, international co-operation and financial resources.
The new proposed text is drawing on the discussions with countries since October to suggest wording which as many countries as possible can agree on to ensure that the treaty becomes global in reach and effective in its task to strengthen national and international tobacco control.
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is the first international health treaty under WHO’s auspices. It forms a key aspect in a global strategy to reduce the world-wide epidemic of tobacco. Last year, tobacco killed 4.9 million people, up sharply from estimates only two years ago, as the true toll of tobacco in developing countries is becoming known.
If action is not taken, annual tobacco-related deaths will reach 10 million by the late 2020s. More than 70% of these will be in developing countries.
The work towards a treaty has already strengthened tobacco control efforts in countries. In addition to the health sector, ministries of finance, trade and foreign affairs, to name a few, have been engaged in the process of what diplomats say is a truly multisectoral approach to health.
"With this new text, we have a solid basis for a treaty that, when adopted, will protect public health", said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO Director-General. "I am confident we can craft a convention which both has muscle and that can be accepted by all".
The Framework Convention aims to create a global regulatory system that, when in force, will stimulate, organize and supplement national policies, as well as being in itself a multilateral regime to control the tobacco pandemic.
Once the convention has been adopted by the World Health Assembly, further discussions will be opened to add more detailed protocols on specific issues.
The text will be available on line at this address: