Latest Resources

Documentation and Assessment of the Reproductive and Child Health Alliance (RACHA) Program: an External Assessment

This assessment evalutes the RACHA program in Cambodia which was intended to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of the public and private sectors to deliver quality reproductive health and child survival services. The five technical intervention areas were birth spacing, STD/HIV prevention, safe motherhood, childhood diarrhoeal diseases and micronutrient deficiences. One of the key intermediate results identified within these areas was inproved human resource capacity to address these issues. [adapted from author]

Strategic Assessment of Reproductive Health in the Lao People's Democratic Republic

This report describes an assessment of reproductive health needs in LAO People’s Democratic Republic. Chapter 2 focuses on birth spacing and the health worker’s role. There is a great demand for and interest in birth spacing among women and men in the community. Training of health providers on the different contraceptive methods seemed adequate where the program had been introduced, but client counselling (for new and repeated clients) was limited.

Global Pharmacy Workforce and Migration Report: a Call for Action

This report presents global data on the distribution of pharmacists, continuing professional development systems, and migration of pharmacists. [author’s description]

Human Resources for Health Strategic Plan (Draft): 2006 - 2010

In order to resolve the crisis and address the key issues the Ministry of Health has developed a Human Resources for Health Strategic Plan, in consultation with key stakeholders. The strategies and activities outlined in the Plan attempt to address the concerns of all the stakeholders consulted and to provide a framework to guide and direct interventions, investments and decision making in the planning, management and development of human resources for health. [from foreword]

Capacity Building: What Does It Mean? Millennium Development Goal 6: Malaria, HIV

This presentation was given as part of the Christian Health Association’s Conference: CHAs at a Crossroad Towards Achieving Health Millennium Development Goals. It provides an excellent overview of the challenges of Malaria and HIV/AIDS ; discusses the human resource needs in light of these challenges; and how to build and maintain capacity. [from author’s description]

Attracting and Retaining Nurse Tutors in Malawi

This paper focuses on the scheme by the Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH) to retain nurse tutors in collaboration with the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM). It chronicles the scheme’s successful elements for purposes of eventual replication, suggests how to address some of the challenges and identifies effective incentives, including salary supplements. [from executive summary]

Strategy for the Rapid Start-Up of the HIV/AIDS Program in Namibia: Outsourcing the Recruitment and Management of Human Resources for Health

In response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, Namibia’s public health sector is carrying out a comprehensive strategy to rapidly hire and deploy professional and non-professional health workers with the aim of providing comprehensive care, counseling and testing, as well as antiretroviral therapy (ART) and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). [from executive summary]

Incorporating Lay Human Resources to Increase Accessibility to Antiretroviral Therapy: a Home-Based Approach in Uganda

The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) administers a home-based program in Uganda that gives people in poor and rural settings access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and services. The program’s innovation lies in shifting delivery of most clients’ follow-up activities at home to field officers, a new cadre of degree and diploma holders from the social sciences and education. Field officers ensure adherence to ART, refill clients’ medications and perform various activities, from voluntary counseling and testing to education to promoting family and community support. [from executive summary]

Learning for Performance: a Guide and Toolkit for Health Worker Training and Education Programs

This manual presents Learning for Performance, a systematic instructional design process based on IntraHealth’s experience in designing reproductive health and HIV/AIDS training and performance improvement programs over the last 27 years in countries around the world. The manual and accompanying tools help connect learning to specific job responsibilities and competencies. To facilitate use and adaptation of the 14 Learning for Performance tools in the manual, Microsoft Word versions of the tools are available for downloading. [adapted from publisher]

Utilizing the Potential of Formal and Informal Private Practitioners in Child Survival: Situation Analysis and Summary of Promising Interventions

This review and discussion paper highlights the important role that private practitioners are already playing in providing health services to children in many countries, and the far greater contribution that they could be called upon to make.

Multisectoral Responses to HIV/AIDS: A Compendium of Promising Practices from Africa

This document brings together the promising practices identified by the PVO community. Our definition of promising is purposefully broad to include the many ideas and experiences of different organizations that seem likely to combat HIV/AIDS successfully. [from foreword]

Community Health Worker Incentives and Disincentives: How They Affect Motivation, Retention and Sustainability

This paper examines the experience with using various incentives to motivate and retain community health workers (CHWs) serving primarily as volunteers in child health and nutrition programs in developing countries.

Mapping Capacity in the Health Sector: a Conceptual Framework

This paper aims to review current knowledge and experiences from ongoing efforts to monitor and evaluate capacity building interventions in the health sector in developing countries.

Graduates of Lebanese Medical Schools in the United States: an Observational Study of the International Migration of Physicians

As healthcare systems around the world are facing increasing physician shortages, more physicians are migrating from low to high income countries. As an illustrative case of international migration of physicians, we evaluated the current number and historical trends of Lebanese medical graduates in the US, and compared their characteristics to those of US medical graduates and other international medical graduates. [abstract]

Do Visas Kill? Health Effects of African Health Professional Emigration

This study uses a new database of health worker emigration from Africa to test whether exogenous decreases in emigration raise the number of domestic health professionals, increase the mass availability of basic primary care, or improve a range of public health outcomes.

Human Resources for Health Planning and Management in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Facts, Gaps and Forward Thinking for Research and Policy

The objectives of this paper are to: lay out the facts on what we know about the HRH for EMR countries; generate and interpret evidence on the relationship between HRH and health status indicators for LMICs and middle and high income countries (MHICs) in the context of EMR; identify and analyze the information gaps and provide forward thinking by identifying priorities for research and policy. [abstract]

Social Franchising of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Honduras and Nicaragua

This document outlines the outcome of three franchising projects implemented by Partners of Marie Stopes International (MSI) in Honduras and Nicaragua. The projects were designed to pilot full and partial social franchising models as part of an initiative to test and develop alternative forms of delivering quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services by a non government organisation (NGO). [abstract]

Development of a Framework for the Development of a Benefit and Motivation Package for Rural Health Workers in Voluntary Agencies (VA) Owned Hospitals: Based on Finding in the Lake Zone

This presentation was given as part of the Christian Health Association’s Conference: CHAs at a Crossroad Towards Achieving Health Millennium Development Goals. It discusses the human resources for health situation in Tanzania in general, and specific findings from the Lake zone in terms of health workers in church health institutions. The author proposes options for a motivation package to address the issues of retention for these workers.

CSSC Geographic and Human Resource Information Systems

This presentation was given as part of the Christian Health Association’s Conference: CHAs at a Crossroad Towards Achieving Health Millennium Development Goals. It introduces geographic information systems (GIS), human resource information systems (HRIS) and the Christian Social Services Commission (CSSC). It outlines the progress made in creating the systems, the benefits and reasons to have GIS and HRIS and presents the preliminary results in terms of health infrastructure, human resources and programs and interventions.

HR Crisis in Kenya: the Dilemma of FBOs

This presentation was given as part of the Christian Health Association’s Conference: CHAs at a Crossroad Towards Achieving Health Millennium Development Goals. It outlines FBO health services in Kenya and sources of and financial support for them. It also discusses the exodus of health workers from church health facilities, the reasons behind this migration and how this problem is being addressed.

Human Resources for Health Retention Strategies: CHAZ Response to the Human Resource Crisis in Zambia

This presentation was given as part of the Christian Health Association’s Conference: CHAs at a Crossroad Towards Achieving Health Millennium Development Goals. It discusses church health institutions and the HR crisis, including staffing levels and attrition; the national response, and details the many efforts of the CHAZ response such as the CHAZ Health Workers’ Retention Scheme.

Partnership Building: Practical Tools to Help You Create, Strengthen, Assess and Manage Your Partnership or Alliance More Productively

The complex and wide ranging challenges related to human resources for health in developing countries necessitate that stakeholders work together through inclusive alliances and networks. This kit aims to offer those wanting to create a partnership, as well as those already working in one, some easily accessible tools to support that process. [from introduction]

Providing Doorstep Services to Underserved Rural Populations: Community Health Officers in Ghana

Through its Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) initiative, Ghana has deployed more than 310 auxiliary nurses in 53 of the country’s most deprived districts. These nurses, who receive two years of training and the title Community Health Officer (CHO), are part of an innovative approach that shifts staff from low-impact static health centers with limited outreach to high-impact mobile community-supported services. CHOs provide doorstep services to underserved rural populations and have improved access to health services for nearly one million Ghanaians (each CHO serves an average of 4,500 people), resulting in substantial improvements in community health.

Kenya's Health Care Crisis: Mobilizing the Workforce in a New Way

The Capacity Project worked with health sector leaders to develop the Emergency Hiring Plan (EHP), an innovative rapid response staffing and training model. Designed to increase the number of qualified health professionals available to work in public health facilities, the EHP is helping the MOH to expand access to treatment and care through the rapid hiring, training and deployment of 830 health workers. [from author]

Ready to Rebuild: Sudanese Doctors Return Home

The 2005 peace treaty between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army created a window of opportunity for rebuilding the south’s severely damaged health sector. The effort is getting an important boost from a program to bring back 15 Sudanese-born doctors who are ready to help. [adapted from author]