Sub-Saharan Africa

Community case management of malaria is an established route for distribution of anti-malarial drugs in rural areas, but this study examined the feasibility and acceptability of the approach through Community Medicine Distributors (CMDs) in urban areas using before and after implementation studies in five African cities in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Malawi. [adapted from introduction]

This article argues that the combination of the widespread use of traditional healers and the shortages of biomedical human resources highlights the need for innovative experiments in making traditional healers potential co-partners in mental health care.

Given the very limited professional health care human resources in these settings, it is important to examine the evidence for the effectiveness of community health worker (CHW) programs as a delivery strategy for health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. This review focuses on the impact CHWs have when delivering curative interventions. [adapted from author]

In an effort to facilitate the social service workforce to meet the needs of a larger population, a number of training models have been developed to equip local community members with basic social work skills and support them to work with vulnerable children and families under the supervision of social work professionals. This webinar presented several promising training models currently implemented in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. [from summary]

The guidelines were conceived to help envision, plan, design, implement, evaluate and scale up initiatives that involve collaborating with traditional healers for HIV prevention and care in sub-Saharan Africa. The ultimate goal of this effort is to improve access to, and quality of, health services for the clients of both systems. [from author]

This paper presents a summary of a regional program on incentives for health worker retention. The studies sought to investigate the causes of migration of health professionals, the strategies used to retain health professionals, how they are being implemented, monitored and evaluated, as well as their impact, to make recommendations to enhance the monitoring, evaluation and management of non-financial incentives for health worker retention. [from summary]

This review explores the implications of expansion of the private for profit
health sector for equitable health systems in East and Southern Africa, explores whether there are signs of increasing for-profit private sector activity in the region, and identifies issues of concern on private for profit activity in the health sector. [adapted from summary]

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 paper uses a forecasting model to estimate the need for, supply of, and shortage of doctors, nurses, and midwives in thirty-nine African countries for 2015, the target date of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. [from abstract]

This presentation for the 2008 AIDS Conference outlines the issues in providing HIV treatement with an HRH shortage, task shifiting to lay providers and community health workers (CHWs), trends in lay workers in sub-Saharan Africa, and lessons learned for successful task shifting.

This chapter of “Developing Pathways and Partnerships” outlines the dimensions of and describes the characteristics of FBO HIV/AIDS initiatives, utilizing where possible evidence from published studies. It explains why FBO initiatives remain poorly understood and receive insufficient support from government sectors and development organizations. It concludes with lessons learned in mainstreaming FBO HIV/AIDS initiatives, suggesting ways in which external agencies can strengthen faith-based HIV/AIDS initiatives and help them align with accepted best practices and public-health strategies.

This supplement to “Sexual and Reproductive Health: Core Competencies in Primary Care” presents of the results of a survey to identify what sexual and reproductive health provision is offered in primary health care, the delivery points and which health workers are providing it especially relevant to the African Region. [adapted from introduction]

While per diems appear to have been originally used to compensate for the loss of time and income caused by such participation, today they have become political instruments that taint research and intervention activities. The author believes per diems are contributing to expected failure of Africa to meet the Milliennium Development Goals by 2015 because they reduce the potential effectiveness of interventions and dilute health sector resources. [from author]

This paper provides information about the efforts and commitments by WHO member states and the various opportunities created by regional and global partners, including the progress made. It also explores issues and challenges
related to the underlying factors of the HRH crisis. [from author]

This article outlines the need for establishing contextually appropriate competencies in HIV and AIDS nursing as a fundamental step toward ensuring success in addressing the pandemic in Southern Africa.

This study is an examination of the state of medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa including all countries, all identified and recognized schools, and all languages of instruction. The study was undertaken to help provide a platform of understanding regarding the status, trends and present and future capacity building efforts for educators, policy makers, and international organizations. [from summary]

The report provides available data on the health workforce in Potuguese-speaking
African countries to support the responsible staff and partners in identifying the needs for intervention to improve the national and regional capacity for the development of human resources for health. [adapted from summary]

This article examines the context of intimate partner violence in Sub-Saharan Africa, outlines the intersections between partner violence and reproductive health, and considers the opportunities for linkage at the program and service levels. [adapted from author]

The Sub-Saharan African Medical School Study examined the challenges, innovations, and emerging trends in medical education in the region. [from summary]

This paper reviews reports on maternal, neonatal and child health, as well as HIV care and treatment services that look at program incentives. [from abstract]

This report focuses on AIDS donors and on how they can better use their funding to address health workforce issues. It introduces the HRH crisis, the evolving approaches of AIDS donors, how these approaches to health workforce strengthening and development have played out in practice in Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia and makes recommendations meant to inform the ongoing deliberations of AIDS donors as they work out the implementation details of their health system strengthening commitments. [adapted from author]

This framework on how to accelerate the implementation of the regional strategy for the development of human resources for health has been prepared to provide guidance and focus on priority actions that could lead to real and positive changes in countries in the WHO African region. [adapted from summary]

There is currently limited published evidence of health-related training programmes in Africa that have produced graduates, who remain and work in their countries after graduation. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority of graduates of field epidemiology training programmes in Africa stay on to work in their home countries, many as valuable resources to overstretched health systems. [from abstract]

The data presented here in 46 country fact sheets for all countries in the African Region was collected in a comprehensive HRH data collection exercise in 2005. The HRH country fact sheets presented here are intended to give a brief summary of the HRH situation in each country. [publisher’s description]

The purpose of the present paper is to shed light on the treatment of health workforce issues under health sector investments by the World Bank and its African country borrowers and their project agencies. [from introduction]

The aim of this article is to document the levels of HIV stigma reported by persons living with HIV infections and nurses in Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Tanzania. HIV stigma has been shown to negatively affect the quality of life for people living with HIV infection, their adherence to medication, and their access to care. Few studies have documented HIV stigma by association as experienced by nurses or other health care workers who care for people living with HIV infection. [from abstract]

Very few innovations look at providing services for health care workers and the creation of wellness centres is a real innovation. The centres have opened the door to improved retention practices, better health and an increased sense of being valued for African health workers, who toil daily on the front lines of the battle against HIV and AIDS, TB and other infectious diseases. [from author]

This paper reports on a research study to investigate the introduction of new information management strategies intended to promote an informational approach to management at the operational health service level in low-income countries. It aims to understand the process taking place when externally developed training materials, which are intended to strengthen health management information systems, are introduced to potential users in an east African country. [from author]

This article evaluates a training initiative that has been established to help address the problem of skills shortage in pharmaceutical management in East Africa. [adapted from abstract]

This background paper to the World Health Report 2006 discusses the fiscal and macroeconomic implications associated with scaling up health workforce capacity. While these general issues and concepts are relevant in all setting, the focus of the discussion is on low-income countries and sub-Saharan Africa in particular. [from publisher]