Latest Resources

This article describes the efforts within the Cuban medical system to collaborate with health authorities around the globe to develop medical education programs to train such urgently-needed professionals with curricula formulated to meet international standards and local health needs. Special emphasis is placed on the assistance that Cuba provided to Gambia in establishing a medical school in that country. [from author]

This article describes the Cuban medical education system. The role of Cuban physicians internationally is discussed, as well as the placement of international students in Cuban medical schools.

The world’s 1,691 medical schools and 5,492 nursing schools are not producing enough graduates to cover the massive global deficit of doctors, nurses, and midwives. One scaling-up initiative addressing these critical shortages is Cuba’s Latin American Medical School. This article describes those efforts. [adapted from introduction]

The Institute of Medicine’s Academy of Science has recommended that medical schools incorporate information on CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) into required medical school curricula so that graduates will be able to competently advise their patients in the use of CAM. The report states a need to study models of systems that integrate CAM and allopathic medicine. The authors present Cuba’s health care system as one such model and describe how CAM (or natural and traditional medicine) is integrated into all levels of clinical care and medical education in Cuba. The authors conclude that there is much to learn from the Cuban experience to inform U.S.

This report details the impact of Pathfinder Interational’s community-based approach to reproductive health and family planning in Ethiopia.

This article discusses the development of a decision framework to assist policymakers in choosing and designing effective incentive systems. The researchers identified several models that have proven to be effective in changing or enabling a health provider’s performance.

Improving service delivery for the poor is an important way to help the poor lift themselves out of poverty. This resource presents and evaluates tools and techniques to measure service delivery and increase quality in health and education.

This brief reports on a project through Cambodia’s Ministry of Health which contracted health services to NGOs. Contracting NGOs to manage the primary health care system was found to be an effective means to increase service coverage and achieve a more pro-poor distribution of services in rural areas of Cambodia. [adapted from introduction]

This material looks in detail at the preparation of a Nursing Act and is designed to offer guidance on the process of turning policy change in nursing into meaningful and effective legislation. This document has been prepared primarily to assist countries/jurisdictions who are either preparing legislation relating to nursing for the first time, or revising their existing legislation. It is intended to be used by nursing professionals who may not be familiar with the process of making or changing legislation.

The International Nurses Day Kit celebrates and illuminates the nursing role in primary health care. It is for nurses, planners, policy makers, educators, managers, regulators, researchers, national nurses associations and any other stakeholder committed to delivering quality care and serving communities through primary health care. The report analyse the evolution of primary health care, articulates nursing roles, highlights many examples of nurses delivering primary health care and provides a glimpse into the future. [adapted from introduction]

The success of primary health care programmes in Thailand over the past three decades can be attributed not only to medical advances but to the role of community health volunteers. Buddhist monks and their temples have been strongly involved in health promotion and education, particularly in remote, rural communities. [from introduction]

This article is an overview of the major HRH issues facing the health system in Zambia, including out-migration, an outdated medical-training infrastructure, faulty government management, and the effects of HIV/AIDS.

This editorial describes the widespread recruitment of health workers from sub-Saharan Africa to developed nations by recruiting agencies. The authors describe international efforts to criminalize this practice and express concern at the continued practice of recruitment.

This article describes the efforts of the Indian government to decrease maternal mortality by improving birthing conditions. The scheme created a partnership with the private sector and an NGO to provide free birth care to poor families through contracts with private obstetricians practicing in rural areas. The authors conclude that public-private partnerships can rapidly scale up the availability of human resources for skilled birth-attendance and emergency obstetric care to the poor in a very short time. [adapted from author]

This article outlines the challenges facing the surgical workforce in Africa. Funding priorities in Africa typically favor infectious diseases, and surgery and perioperative care have been neglected, even though essential surgical care at district hospitals is more cost effective than some other highly prioritized interventions, such as antiretroviral therapy for HIV. There is a need to integrate surgical and anesthetic training programs so health personnel, particularly in rural areas, can treat the full range of diseases appropriate to that level of care. [adapted from author]

This article discusses the requirements for improving the experience of health care workers in fragile states. Efforts are needed to establish performance-management systems, to support promotion based on merit, and to provide wider opportunities for professional development. These efforts must be accompanied by measures to restructure the workforce (in some cases radically), thus matching staffing levels with agreed norms and to redress imbalances between rural and urban areas and between different levels within the system. [adapted from author]

This article identifies human resources for health policy options in low and middle income countries, and assesses the effectiveness of these policy options. The authors conclude that there is a need for more systematic reviews on the effects of policy options to improve human resources for health in countries with low and middle incomes, for assessments of any interventions that policy makers introduce to plan and manage human resources for health, and for other research to aid policy makers in these countries. [adapted from author]

This article investigates pay structures for health workers in the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa; the adequacy of incomes for health workers; the management of public- and private-sector pay; and the fiscal and macroeconomic factors that impinge on pay policy for the public sector. The study finds that pay and income of health workers varies widely, whether between countries, by comparison with cost of living, or between the public and private sectors. To optimize the distribution and mix of health workers, policy interventions are needed. Fiscal constraints to increased salaries might need to be overcome in many countries, and non-financial incentives improved. [adapted from summary]

This article outlines different efforts at making strategic HRH plans in the developing world. The article focuses on the financial aspects of HRH planning and provides some general guidelines on the best way to make these plans.

This document outlines the issues for human resources for health in the Americas and what the Pan American Health Organization resolves should be done to address them.

This report describes how the war in Iraq and its aftermath continue to have a disastrous impact on the physical and mental health of the Iraqi people, and the urgent measures needed to improve health and health services. It assesses the current state of the health system, including the impact of insecurity, and the workforce, supplies, medicines and equipment it lacks. It also looks at health information and health policy in Iraq. The report ends with conclusions and recommendations, exploring what needs to happen now in Iraq and what lessons can be learned. [adapted from author]

Management Sciences for Health has developed an approach to helping managers become more like coaches, which has proven successful in various settings. This issue of the eManager will help you examine your managerial practices and give you the tools to expand your role from manager to manager as coach.

To understand how the private health sector might better complement Africa’s public health systems, we studied the health care sectors of 45 sub-Saharan African countries. The findings suggest opportunities for private enterprise to help improve the region’s woefully poor health outcomes.

The original purpose of the ADHA scheme was to compensate doctors for hours worked beyond the standard 40 hours per week or 160 hours per month. This study investigated how the scheme impacted a number of human resources (HR) factors associated with health worker recruitment, deployment, retention and performance - specifically, how the significantly higher income levels resulting from the ADHA scheme influenced job satisfaction, motivation, workplace climate and the relationship between clinical and administrative staff, as well as productivity. The study provides a detailed chronology of the ADHA scheme and explores lessons learned from the way in which the GOG implemented and administered the scheme.

This presentation was given at the First Forum on Human Resources for Health in Kampala. It defines health leadership and management, why strengthening it is important, the lessons learned so far, and the main components and uses of the WHO framework. [adapted from author]