Latest Resources

Despite advances, insufficient progress has been made in implementing HRH interventions to improve access to qualified health workers. This qualitative study was conducted to determine the factors that define the enabling environment for successful implementation of HRH interventions in three countries: Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. [from publisher]

The health workforce crisis is widely recognized as a critical obstacle to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, as well as the global health goals of the United States Government. The Global Health Initiative recognizes this problem and includes expansion and appropriate deployment of the health workforce among its goals. However, this has yet to be translated into a coherent strategy with clear goals, resource allocation, technical approach, and indicators of progress. This paper addresses that gap in the US approach. [adapted from abstract]

This document combines the presentations from the first Social Service Workforce Strengthening Webinar series. It includes: Health Workforce Strengthening efforts: Progress and Challenges; Global Health Workforce Strengthening Initiative; and Local Health Workforce Strengthening Initiative. [adapted from author]

The authors examined how informal health markets operate from the viewpoint of informal providers (those without any government-recognised medical degrees) by drawing upon data from a household survey in 2002, a provider census in 2004 and ongoing field observations from a research site in Koppal district, Karnataka, India. [adapted from author]

This CPD framework provides guidelines that create an environment for nurses to keep abreast with, and improve competencies in service delivery in an effort to satisfy the needs and expectations of patients and clients in Kenya. [adapted from author]

This paper explores the nonfinancial factors that influence health workers’ choice of employer (public, private or nongovernmental organization) or their choice of work location (urban, rural or overseas). [adapted from author]

This study explores the role of provider motivation in the quality of maternal and neonatal care. The main research questions were: which factors motivated these respondents to join the health professions; what is understood by the term motivation; what influences their motivation, job satisfaction and the quality of their care; and which incentives do these providers themselves suggest. [adapted from author]

A recent trial in Kenya showed that text-message reminders on adherence to malaria case-management sent to health workers’ mobile phones improved management of pediatric outpatients by 25 percentage points. This paper examines costs and cost-effectiveness of this intervention. [from abstract]

This paper applies a health systems perspective to guide analysis of potential challenges of scaling up mHealth for the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of community-based health services (CBS) in South Africa. This formalisation of CBS is expected to bring greater standardisation of M&E and supervision systems for community health workers. [adapted from author]

This case study focused on documenting and analysing factors that are relevant to mobilising and retaining health workers to deliver health services during a period of conflict and instability. [adapted from summary]

This review documents the ways in which primary health care, specifically human resources in primary health care, has been evaluated in low- and middle income countries with a focus given to countries that have undergone health sector reforms similar to Vietnam. [adapted from author]

Although retaining health workers in the health system is difficult, schools can create bridges that shorten the time from graduation to employment and contribute to making the transition a less frustrating experience for graduates and employers. This brief offers 12 suggestions that health professional schools, ministries of health, employer councils, and others can implement. [adapted from author]

This study identifies the implications of different types of supervision for healthcare worker job satisfaction and intention to leave the workplace in Malawi, Tanzania, and Mozambique. [adapted from author]

This study was collected data from caregivers who work directly with vulnerable children to explore how care decisions are made by community-based volunteers, and the utility of the Child Status Index at the community level as a job aid. [adapted from summary]

This study examines the performance of district health managers in high and low performing districts in an attempt to understand whether, and the extent to which, they affect the performance of their district health services. [from author]

Improving educational capacity through nursing faculty development has been proposed as one of several strategies to address a complex health human resource situation. This paper describes and critically reflects upon the experience of one such faculty development programme in the state of Andhra Pradesh. [from abstract]

In this study, decentralisation of anitretroviral treatement (ART) initiation by professional nurses through the Nurse Initiatied Management of Antiretroviral Treatment (NIMART) program was shown to increase ART uptake and reduce workloadat referral facilities, enabling them to concentrate on complicated cases. [adapted from author]

This review evaluates whether task shifting of ART initiation and management from physicians to nurses increases access to antiretroviral therapy, the primary purpose cited for the implementation of task shifting policies. [from introduction]

To address the lack of information to guide the development of policies and programs on HRH, this book aims to paint a comprehensive picture on HRH, consolidating new and existing evidence. The book highlights in particular new evidence on some of the underlying determinants impacting stock, distribution and performance of health workers in Ghana, including health worker production and attrition, management and accountability structures, the capacity of health training institutions, and health worker compensation. [from author]

This article reports on a successful partnership to improve access and reduce family and community resistance to polio vaccination in India. The partners trained thousands of mobilizers from high-risk communities to visit households, promote government-run child immunization services, track children’s immunization history and encourage vaccination of children missing scheduled vaccinations, and mobilize local opinion leaders. [adapted from author]

This paper describes the history of how an experimental study set the stage for a national program for promoting community-based primary health care—the Community-Based Health Planning and Services initiative, which deployed nurses to the community and engaged local leaders, reducing child mortality and fertility substantially. [adapted from author]

This controlled study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a personalized HIV risk-reduction intervention delivered by community health workers to people who know they have HIV and who are not on treatment. [from author]

This report outlines a project to apply a quality improvement approach to Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program, which was designed to improve access and utilization of quality preventive, promotive and curative health care services in an accessible and equitable manner to reach all segments of the population, with special attention on mothers and children. [adapted from author]

This book sheds light on the status of health worker need, supply, and distribution across Africa. It analyzes regional and country data to address six key issues: the specific levels of human resources for health in Africa; differences in human resources for health across countries; changing roles of the public and private sector in the healthworker market; motivation for health worker performance; health worker training; and producing health workers. [adapted from author]

In East China’s Jiangsu Province, the City of Haimen privatized all 25 township-village health centers in 2002. This study assesses the effect of privatization on staff retention among these health centers. [from abstract]