Journal Articles

Migration of health professionals is an important policy issue for both source and destination countries around the world. The majority of migrant care workers in industrialized countries today are women. However, the dimension of mobility of highly skilled females from countries of the global south has been almost entirely neglected for many years. This paper explores the experiences of high-skilled female African migrant health-workers (MHW) utilising the framework of Global Care Chain (GCC) research. [from abstract]

Ineffective district health management potentially impacts on health system performance and service delivery. However, little is known about district health managing practices and time allocation in resource-constrained health systems. Therefore, a time use study was conducted in order to understand current time use practices of district health managers in Ghana. [from abstract]

This article outlines the process of identifying tools that, with modification, could assist in the evaluation of Community-Based Education programmes in participating Medical Education Partnership Initiative schools, funded by PEPFAR.

To assess knowledge, attitude and practice toward HIV voluntary counseling and testing among students of Jimma Teachers Training College, in Jimma town, Oromia regional, state south western Ethiopia. A cross sectional study was conducted at Jimma teacher training college from February 10-12, 2014. The students were selected
by simple random sampling after; proportion allocation to the streams and departments was done by taking the stream
and departments as strata.

In 2012, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW), Tanzania, approved national guidelines and training materials for community health workers (CHWs) in integrated maternal, newborn and child health (Integrated MNCH), with CHWs trained and deployed across five districts of Morogoro Region soon after. To inform future scale up, this study assessed motivation and satisfaction among these CHWs. [from abstract]

Community-based strategies that foster frequent contact between caregivers of children under five and provide credible sources of health information are essential to improve child survival. Care Groups are a community-based implementation strategy for the delivery of social and behavior change interventions. This study assessed if supervision of Care Group activities by Ministry of Health (MOH) personnel could achieve the same child health outcomes as supervision provided by specialized non-governmental organization (NGO) staff. [from abstract]

Knowledge and effective interventions exist to address many current global health inequities. However, there is limited awareness, uptake, and use of knowledge to inform action to improve the health of disadvantaged
populations. The gap between knowledge and action to improve health equity is of concern to health researchers and practitioners. This study identifies and critically examines the usefulness of existing knowledge to action models or frameworks for promoting health equity. [from abstract]

Nurses comprise the largest portion of the health care workforce in most countries; they interact closely with patients and communities, they work throughout the day and within all sectors of health care. Their breath of practice gives them a broad understanding of requirements of the health care system, of how factors in the environment affect the health outcomes of clients and communities. Nurses’ involvement in health policy development ensures that health services are: safe, effective, available and inexpensive. [from abstract]

Health workers’ knowledge of contraceptive side effects increased substantially after the refresher training. The mobile phone approach was convenient and flexible and did not disrupt routine service delivery. Clear limitations of the medium are participants can’t practice clinical skills or have interactive discussions. Also, some participants had trouble with network reception. [from abstract]

The Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Health Management, launched by the Govt. of India under the aegis of the National Rural Health Mission in 2008, aims to enhance the managerial capabilities of public health professionals to improve the public health system. The Govt. of India invested enormous resources into this programme and requested an evaluation to understand the current processes, assess the graduates’work performance and identify areas for improvement. [from abstract]

In labour market policy and planning, it is important to understand the motivations of people to
continue in their current job or to seek other employment. Over the last decade, besides the increasingly medical
approach to pregnancy and childbirth and decreasing home births, there were additional dramatic changes and
pressures on primary care midwives and midwifery care. Therefore, it is important to re-evaluate the career plans
of primary care midwives and their intentions to leave their current job. [from abstract]

To systematically review literature on priorities in nursing research on health systems and services in the Region of the Americas as a step toward developing a nursing research agenda that will advance the Regional Strategy for Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage. [from abstract]

The health systems in the Americas region are characterized by fragmentation and segmentation, which constitute an important barrier to expanding coverage, achieving integrated primary health care, and reducing inefficiency and discontinuity of care. [from abstract]

Given the large scale adoption and deployment of mobile phones by health services and frontline health workers (FHW), we aimed to review and synthesize the evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of mobile-based services on healthcare delivery. [from abstract]

In many African countries, user fees have failed to achieve intended access and quality of care improvements. Subsequent user fee reduction or elimination policies have often been poorly planned, without alternative sources of income for facilities. We describe early implementation of an innovative national health financing intervention in Kenya; the health sector services fund (HSSF). [from abstract]

Improving the capacity of local researchers in Africa is a recognised way to advance health and development. Numerous approaches to health research capacity strengthening (health RCS) exist, including training for individuals, improving research systems within institutions, and international collaborations among health research agencies. But how do we know if these approaches work and
which are the most effective

This article proposes a performance appraisal based on competency models of leadership for a larger professional group working across several different organizations, yet in similar professional and institutional environments. The empirical data in this article are based on two surveys that were conducted in 15 Slovenian public hospitals. [from abstract]

The Chinese health system was once held up as a model for providing universal health care in the developing world in the 1970s, only to have what is now considered one of the least equitable systems in the world according to the World Health Organization. This article begins with a brief look at what equity in health services entails, and considers the inequities in access to health services in China among different segments of the population. [from abstract]

The aims of this study were to examine the relationship between campaign awareness and four socio-cognitive variables on changes in physical activity levels among a cohort of adults exposed to a physical activity campaign. Find Thirty every day® was a population-wide, serial mass media campaign delivered in Western Australia. [from abstract]

The objective of this study is to find the effect of institutional factors on the quality of care. The institutional factors examined were mainly the extent of decentralization between government and health facilities, as well as between health workers and facility administration, the hiring procedure, and job satisfaction. [from abstract]

Recent studies done in central Uganda have shown that there is need for a critical assessment of adolescent friendly services (AFS) to gain insights on current practice and inform future interventions. This study aimed to assess the sexual reproductive health needs of the adolescents and explored their attitudes towards current services available. [from abstract]

Good knowledge is essential to prevent disease and improve health. Knowledge management (KM) provides a systematic process and tools to promote access to and use of knowledge among health and development practitioners to improve health and development outcomes. KM tools range from publications and resources (briefs, articles, job aids) and products and services (websites, eLearning courses, mobile applications), to training and events (workshops, webinars, meetings) and approaches and techniques (peer assists, coaching, after-action reviews, knowledge cafés). [from abstract]

Inadequate, inequitable distribution of the medical workforce remains a challenge across the globe, and India is no exception. Odisha, a state in India faces a major shortage of doctors particularly in rural and remote areas. In order to address this challenge, it is essential to understand medical students’ career plans, specialization preferences, choices of job location and sector, and views on working in rural and remote areas.

To evaluate the effort, data was collected at graduation and 10 months later from pre-revision (initial) and revised curriculum TMGs to determine the following: (1) Did cohorts trained in the revised curriculum score higher on measurements of clinical knowledge, physical exam procedures, and solving clinical case scenarios than those trained in the initial curriculum; (2) Did TMGs in both curricula retain their knowledge over time (from baseline to follow-up); and (3) Did skills and knowledge retention differ over time by curricula? Post-graduation and over time results are presented.

The aims of this study were to design a participatory antenatal care (ANC) strengthening intervention and assess the implementation process and effectiveness on quality of ANC in Jimma, Ethiopia. [from abstract]

This review of the literature offers a commentary and appraisal of the current MNCH [maternal, newborn and child health] situation in South Sudan. It explores the barriers and challenges of promoting MNCH gains, and identifies priorities that will contribute to addressing the Millennium Development Goals and the emerging health priorities for the post-2015 development agenda. [from abstract]

Despite progress in developing more effective training methodologies, training initiatives for health workers continue to experience common pitfalls that have beset the overall success. To improve the quality of healthcare service, the shortage of healthcare workers must be addressed by giving quality training and education needed to fill the gap to increase the output of qualified healthcare workers. [from abstract]

This paper evaluates the open educational practices (OEP) of three global health projects operating outside academia—the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP), the Virtual Campus of
Public Health (VCPH), and Physiopedia. [from abstract]

Successfully motivating and retaining health workers is critical for the effective performance of health systems. In Mozambique, a shortage of health care professionals and low levels of staff motivation in rural and remote areas pose challenges to the provision of equitable health care delivery.

Kenya’s healthcare devolution was introduced to enhance the quality of care, user satisfaction, equity, and efficiency in service delivery. However, it has since been facing plethora of challenges mostly because healthcare workers (HCWs), who play a significant role in achieving health objectives, were neglected during implementation. This dissertation tries to identify the potential impact of devolution on motivation and satisfaction of HCWs in a politicised Kenyan context. [from abstract]