Latest Resources

The aims of this publication are to encourage midwives and student midwives to make the most of supervision by working in partnership with their supervisor; provide clear information about the supervisory process and the interface between supervision and midwifery practice; and inform midwives and student midwives about the changing role of the supervisor of midwives. [from introduction]

The toolkit is a collection of participatory educational exercises for educating health care providers on the issues of stigma and gender-based violence. It was developed for and with health care providers in Andhra Pradesh, India. The goal is to facilitate open discussion on HIV stigma and gender violence, and on what health workers can do to promote a change in attitude and practice. [from publisher]

Zambia, like many of the countries heavily affected by HIV and AIDS in southern Africa, also faces a shortage of human resources for health. The country receives significant amounts of funding from GHIs for the large-scale provision of antiretroviral treatment through the public and private sector. This paper examines the impact of GHIs on human resources for ART roll-out in Zambia, at national level, in one province and two districts. [from abstract]

The lack of adequate national pharmacy work-force plans and the reluctance of health authorities to develop these and resource their implementation, particularly for services beyond supply chain management, may be due to the scarcity or lack of an appropriate human resource information system and evidence base. Compared with other health professions, pharmacy is severely lagging in developing an evidence base related to its education and work-force development.

Losses of graduates from the Fiji School of Medicine to overseas migration and to the local private sector prompted exploration of the reasons for these losses from the Fiji public workforce. This study provides some support for the view that local or regional postgraduate training may increase retention of doctors. Attention to career pathways and other sources of frustration, in addition to encouragement to complete training, should increase the likelihood of such programs reaching their full potentials. [adapted from abstract]

This document provides resources on Ethiopia’s experiences with community health worker programs. [from abstract]

Anticipating physician supply to tackle future health challenges is a crucial but complex task for policy planners. While there are number of forecasting tools available the methods, advantages and shortcomings of such tools are not straightforward and not always well appraised. This paper attempts to present a typology of existing forecasting approaches and to analyze the methodology-related issues. [adapted from abstract]

This study evaluates the effectiveness and sustainability of a voluntary counseling and testing training program based on a training-of-trainers model. [adapted from abstract]

Population size is often correlated with the number of physicians in a community, and is conventionally considered to represent the power of communities to attract physicians. However, associations between other demographic/economic variables and the number of physicians in a community have not been fully evaluated. This study seeks other parameters that correlate with the physician population and show which characteristics of a community determine its attractiveness to physicians. [adapted from abstract]

This study investigates the influence of demographic characteristics, provincial policies, organizational changes and emerging practice challenges on the rural–urban segments of the Canadian nursing workforce in order to describe the nature of nursing work from the perspective of rural nurse executives and frontline nurses. [adapted from introduction]

The most common problems related to Health Workers Salaries and Benefits (HWSB) in Bolivia, Peru and Chile are shortage of health workers, disparity of skills, poor distribution of health workers, inadequate working environments and low knowledge about the characteristic of HWSB. This report collects data about these countries, showing that the wages of doctors during the last fifteen years have generally had to increase more than the wages of other workers. [adapted from executive summary]

Migration of medical professionals from developing countries has become a major concern. This brain drain worsens the already depleted healthcare resources in poor countries and widens the gap in health inequities worldwide. This article makes recommendations regarding the collaboration of international organizations to protect the value of this intellectual property. [adapted from article]

The already inadequate health systems of sub-Saharan Africa have been badly damaged by the emigration of their health professionals. This article suggests some practical measures to address the situation. [adapted from summary]

Predicted shortages and recruitment targets for nurses in developed countries threaten to deplete nurse supply and undermine global health initiatives in developing countries. This article supports a twofold approach involving greater diligence by developing countries in creating a largely sustainable domestic nurse workforce, and their greater investment through international aid in building nursing education capacity in the less developed countries that provide nurses. [adapted from abstract]

Nurses and managers interviewed in Cape Town primary care facilities share their insights, experiences and how they cope with the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. [from introduction]

The author presents a report on the career paths taken by graduates of Makerere Medical School in Uganda.

This paper reports on a systematic literature review exploring the importance of human resources in the quality of emergency obstetric care and thus in the reduction of maternal deaths. [from abstract]

This paper examines the impact of Global Health Initiatives on human resources for antiretroviral treatment roll-out in Zambia at a national level, in one province and two districts. [adapted from abstract]

This study documents and assesses the impact of a major educational and support program on a change in the health service provision of a neonatal intensive care unit. [adapted from abstract]

This paper describes the results of a study to assess patients consulting full-time traditional health practitioners (THP) and the THPs' practices after they had been trained on HIV/Sexually Transmitted Infections prevention and care. [adapted from abstract]

This paper describes the results of safer circumcision training designed to improve circumcision knowledge, attitude and practice which was successfully delivered to traditional surgeons and nurses in South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

To build instructors’ capacity and address the knowledge gaps, the Capacity Project partnered with East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community and Africa’s Health in 2010 to deliver a week-long workshop on Contemporary Issues in Family Planning for midwifery tutors in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. [from author]

This study investigated the role of traditional healers in sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS as well as a collaboration between the traditional and biomedical health care systems as seen by nurses and traditional healers. Qualitative analyses are presented on themes including attitude and respect; collaboration between traditional healers and nurses; control and regulation of traditional health practices; and the training needs of healers and nurses. [adapted from abstract]

Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV is among the key HIV prevention strategies in Zimbabwe. The main objective of this study was to evaluate acceptability and feasibility of reinforcing the role of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in family and child health services through their participation in PMTCT programmes in Zimbabwe. [from abstract]

Increasing access to safe delivery and family planning services within rural communities increases the opportunities for women to have positive outcomes for their pregnancies as well as to plan and achieve their desired family size. This paper examines the scaling up of a community-based model in Kenya that enabled women to give birth safely at home or to be referred to a hospital when attended by a self-employed skilled midwife living in the community. [adapted from summary]