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This report is the World Health Organization’s annual compilation of health-related data for its 194 Member States1 and includes a summary of the progress made towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals and associated targets. This year, it also includes highlight summaries on the topics of noncommunicable diseases, universal health coverage and civil registration coverage. [from introduction]

This overview outlines how the growing trend in online learning can open up new perspectives and opportunities for Africa’s health professionals. [adapted from author]

This report describes pioneering work where quality improvement methods are being applied to strengthen human resources management and performance at the facility, district, and regional management levels to improve maternal care in Niger’s Tahoua Region. [from summary]

Research reveals a close link between inappropriate nurse staffing levels and higher rates of unwanted outcomes for patients. This report highlights evidence-informed recommendations for improvements in patient outcomes through advancements in nurse staffing. [from summary]

This study evaluates the Midwives Service Scheme in Nigeria which engaged newly graduated, unemployed, and retired midwives to work temporarily in rural areas to improve the wide variation between maternal, newborn, and child health indices across geopolitical zones and between urban and rural areas, mostly due to variations in the availability of skilled attendance at birth. [adapted from author]

This paper reviews the magnitude and form of Cuban medical cooperation in the Pacific and analyses its implications for health policy, human resource capacity and overall development assistance for health in the region. [from abstract]

HIV/AIDS is fast becoming a chronic disease with the advent of antiretroviral drugs, therefore making home based care key in the management of chronically ill HIV/AIDS patient. The objective of this study was to determine the perception and practice of health care workers on HIV/AIDS related home based care in the health facilities in Ogun state, Nigeria. [from abstract]

This brief presents an overview of issues related to community health workers and human resources for health along with suggested actions, key considerations, and resources. [from author]

This study compares and contrasts two provider types - obstetric nurses and professional midwives - with the medical model, analyzing perspectives on their respective training, scope of practice, and also their perception and experiences with integration into the public system as skilled birth attendants. [from abstract]

This study aimed to evaluate perceived and assessed clinical capabilities of recent graduates of an outcomes-based integrated medical program and compare to benchmarks from traditional content-based or process-based programs. [from abstract]

The objectives of this review were systematically assess national practices in HRIS implementation, identify main areas of weakness in HRIS implementation with attention to countries facing acute health workforce shortages, offer recommendations to ministries of health and global health policy makers on how to improve the science and application of human resources information and monitoring systems. [from author]

As there is considerable uncertainty whether the scale of emigration of health workers in Poland will continue at the current rate, increase or decrease in coming years, this cross-sectional survey assess the most likely scale of emigration of Polish doctors and identifies the characteristics of potential migrants. [from author]

The aim of this systematic review was to explore the use of feedback in improving the effectiveness of workplace based assessments in postgraduate medical training. [adapted from abstract]

This study investigates how physical space, level of staffing, staff burnout, staff absenteeism, staff experience and facilities’ experience with ART provision are associated with levels of adherence to clinical protocol as part of Zambian HIV care and treatment program. [adapted from author]

Violence at work is one of the major concerns in health care activities. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of physical and non-physical violence in a general health care facility in Italy and to assess the relationship between violence and psychosocial factors, thereby providing a basis for appropriate intervention.[from abstract]

The West African Health Organization is implementing a regional approach to strengthening human resource information systems that is closely aligned with key principles of the US Government’s Global Health Initiative—supporting country ownership and country-led plans, encouraging sustainability through health systems strengthening and capacity-building, and leveraging partnerships. This CapacityPlus technical brief provides an overview of this approach, highlights lessons learned, and provides recommendations for other regions and countries to adopt the approach.

A better understanding of how public sector midwives in Senegal are experiencing their work and how it is affecting them is needed in order to better address their needs and incite them to remain in their posts. This study aims to explore their job satisfaction and its effects on their burnout, intention to quit and professional mobility. [from abstract]

This policy brief explores actual performance of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) and other related maternal and newborn health services by Nurses, nurse-midwives, and non-physician clinicians who provided at least one of the EmOC signal functions in the previous three months preceding data collection in hospitals and health centres throughout Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. [adapted from author]

This report contains the results of an in-depth training needs assessment of Lesotho health workers foces on workers at the central and district level. [adapted from summary]

The purpose of this document is to act as a master plan for all the resources, methodologies, priorites and monitoring & evaluation processes to implement a program for continuing education for Lesotho health workers and serve as a point of reference for all stakeholders and beneficiaries. [adapted from author]

A team of nursing leaders collaborated to identify essential nursing competencies to address the HIV and AIDS epidemics in the sub-Saharan African region. This document includes: evidence supporting the need to establish core competencies in HIV and AIDS; concepts related to the core competencies for nursing related to HIV and AIDS; and the essential core competencies for nursing related to HIV and AIDS.

This article describes the need behind and the process used by nursing leaders from six sub-Saharan African countries who collaborated to develop the essential nursing competencies related to HIV and AIDS. [adapted from author]

Nursing leaders from six sub-Saharan African countries collaborated to develop the essential nursing competencies related to HIV and AIDS. These competencies can help to guide pre-service education related to HIV and AIDS, to strengthen in-service or capacity-building programs designed for already qualified nurses, and to guide policy and regulatory reform in the context of taskshifting, task-sharing, and scope of nursing practices. [from author]

Drawing on livelihood studies in health and sociological theory of capitals, this study develops and evaluates the new concept of workhood. As an analytical device the concept aims at understanding health workers’ capacities to access resources (human, financial, physical, social, cultural and symbolic capital) and transfer them to the community from an individual perspective. [from abstract]

The aim of this study was to explore contemporary lay health worker policy development processes and the extent to which issues of gender are taken up within this process. [from abstract]