Latest Resources

This document discusses strategies and experiences in developing training materials and approaches for the implementation of health worker training programs for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) and pediatric HIV care.

The need to strengthen health-care worker capacity was identified by the Botswana Ministry of Health and confirmed by a training needs assessment conducted in 2001. In response, Botswana embarked on the first phase of a national antiretroviral training program, which this document outlines. [adapted from author]

Building capacity within the health systems of communities that face the task of scaling up HIV therapy in settings of high disease prevalence and/or limited resources is a tremendous challenge. This document will discuss the development of training programs for health-care personnel to meet this challenge. [from author]

This document reviews challenges and approaches to popular methodologies and applications of clinical HIV training in order to address the question of what is the optimal approach to training the health workforce for an expanding HIV-treatment program in a resource-limited setting. [adapted from author]

This article shares experiences and insights gained, primarily in Zambia but also in Malawi, from the implementation of the “Caring for Caregivers” projects in Zambia and Malawi. [from author]

This article presents information and approaches for estimating human resource needs and identifies approaches and innovations to take into consideration as antiretroviral programs are developed, implemented, and monitored. [from author]

This document outlines the primary causes of the human resources for health crisis and the need to address both institutional and individual factors to cope with these challenges. [adapted from author]

A birth attendant training program that has been shown in a multinational trial to reduce stillbirth and perinatal mortality rates among neonates weighing at least 1.5 kilograms - most of them born outside of hospitals, also reduced mortality among infants of all weights born in Zambian clinics. [from author]

This study examined whether a pictorial set of job aids could improve the quality of maternal and newborn care counseling by skilled providers and whether similar performance levels could be achieved by clinic-based lay providers as part of a task shifting initiative to expand their role. [from author]

As part of the collaborative to improve the efficiency of HIV service delivery, the authors conducted a baseline assessment of HIV/AIDS provider productivity, efficiency, and engagement in Uganda. [adapted from author]

This brief outlines a collaborative to improve health worker performance and improve the quality and efficiency of maternal care services by building the capacity of local management and health workers to implement sustainable improvements in maternal care provided in Tahoua. [adapted from author]

This report considers the available evidence about the relationship between staffing levels and deployment practices and safety of care for mothers and babies. In so doing, the report considers different staffing models and approaches.

This report discusses and analyzes labor market dynamics and outcomes (including unemployment, worker shortages, and urban-rural imbalances of categories of health workers) from a labor economics perspective to address undesirable outcomes (including urban-rural HRH imbalances) more effectively. [adapted from summary]

This article discusses Thailand’s mandatory health service system. Under this system, all early-career health workers from public professional schools serve in rural areas as a governmental worker to maintain the rural health workforce. The system has ameliorated the shortage of physicians in rural areas by substantially decreasing the emigration of Thai physicians to foreign countries.

This report estimates the number of mental health workers required to treat mental, neurological and substance use disorders, which account for an estimated 14% of the global burden of disease. The workforce shortage is estimated based on comparing this needed number of mental health workers with the supply. [from summary]

This issue of CapacityPlus Voices highlights the role of human resources management for FBOs in the health sector. Dr. Samuel Mwenda, ACHAP chairman and Christian Health Association of Kenya general secretary, and Doris Mwarey, ACHAP’s regional HR specialist, share their views and explain how countries are learning from each other. [from author]

This paper reviews the evidence on costing interventions to improve health workforce recruitment and retention in remote and rural areas, provides guidance to undertake a costing evaluation of such interventions and investigates the role and importance of costing to inform the broader assessment of how to improve health workforce planning and management. [from abstract]

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the professional expectations of medical students during the 2007-2008 academic year at the public medical schools of Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, and to identify their social and geographical origins, their professional expectations and difficulties relating to their education and professional future. [from abstract]

This article aims to describe how governance issues have influenced HRH policy development and to identify governance strategies that have been used, successfully or not, to improve HRH policy implementation in low- and middle-income countries. [from introduction]

This study assesses the effectiveness of a tailored evidence-based practice (EBP) training program for Filipino physiotherapists in improving knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviour, and capacity to engage with referring doctors to determine the most effective treatments for their patients. [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study is to assess the contribution of shared communication and decision making processes in patient-centered health care teams to the generation of innovative concepts and consequently to improvements in patient satisfaction. [from abstract]

The aim of this study was to determine the use of different types of HIV testing services and to investigate perceptions and experiences of these services with a particular emphasis on the provider initiated testing in three selected districts in Kenya, Tanzania, and, Zambia.

The purpose of this brief is to highlight the importance of service providers in contraceptive security and identify recommended entry points at various levels of the health system to strengthen the role of service providers in contraceptive security. [from author]

This review focuses on the impact of HRH interventions on health care professionals defined as skilled birth attendants to decrease maternal mortality and morbidity. It derives lessons, gaps and recommendations based on the studies conducted on HRH implementations in developing countries. [adapted from author]

This training manual is a resource to build the leadership, advocacy and management skills of grassroots women leaders and others working in HIV. It is a scaled-down adaptation of the training curriculum used to build the leadership skills and technical expertise of women working on the frontlines in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and to strengthen the capacity of their organizations to advocate for stronger HIV and AIDS policies, programs and resources that meet the distinct needs of women.