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Unskilled staff recommended for AIDS fight

    JOHANNESBURG

    African countries facing medical staff shortages due to a brain drain of skilled workers to the West have been urged to consider alternatives in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

    Professor Michael Bennish, director of the African Health for Population and Research in Mtubatuba, South Africa, recommended that the gap be filled by unskilled labour.

    During a lecture in South Africa earlier this week, titled 'Surveillance, Education and Treatment for AIDS in Southern Africa', he suggested that crash programmes including the training of matriculants to become HIV/AIDS educators and counsellors be initiated.

    A Namibian newspaper, New Era, quoted Bennish as saying, "We need to try out other options because we can't rely on the doctors and nurses that we have. It is time to think in other directions."

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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