Policy

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]

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]

Despite numerous persistent challenges – including low quality of care, continuing inequalities and the substantial impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic – Mozambique provides important lessons to other countries aiming to scale up health provision rapidly in a post-conflict setting. These particularly include the importance of focusing on distance and education as barriers to access, using innovative and low-cost human-resource policies to scale up health personnel quickly, and of moving towards more coordinated systems of aid disbursement. [from abstract]

The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) was established in 2000 as a network of technical institutions, research institutes, universities, international health organisations and technical networks willing to contribute and participate in internationally coordinated responses to infectious disease outbreaks. It reflected a recognition of the need to strengthen and coordinate rapid mobilisation of experts in responding to international outbreaks and to overcome the sometimes chaotic and fragmented operations characterising previous responses. [from abstract]

Lauded for getting specific health issues onto national and international agendas and for their potential to improve value for money and outcomes, public-private global health initiatives (GHIs) have come to dominate global health governance. Yet, they have also been criticised for their negative impact on country health systems. In response, disease-specific GHIs have, somewhat paradoxically, appropriated the aim of health system strengthening (HSS).

In this dissertation an analysis of WHO Global Code (Code) of Practice’s literal and normative content is aligned with interview evidence obtained from internationally educated nurses (IENs) and health policy experts, to test its potential as a scaffold for nurse workforce policy that operationalizes its human rights framework. [adapted from abstract]

Since the need for additional human resources for health (HRH) was not initially considered by Global Health Initiatives, countries implemented short-term HRH strategies to allow antiretroviral scale-up. Such strategies differed from one country to another and slowly evolved to long-term HRH policies. This study examines the processes and content of the resulting HRH policy shifts in 5 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. [adapted from abstract]

This case study discusses the steps taken to revitalize the Ghana Health Workforce Observatory through the application of fuidelines for forming and sustaining human resources for health (HRH) stakeholder leadership groups. The guidelines are aimed at HRH leaders or practitioners at the country level who see a pressing need for a stakeholder leadership group to address a key HRH problem or set of problems. [adapted from summary]

This research aimed to assess how policies reducing demand-side barriers to access to health care have affected service delivery with a particular focus on human resources for health using case studies in five countries (Ghana, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In each the authors reviewed financing and HRH policies, considered the impact financing policy change had made on health service utilization rates, analysed the distribution of health staff and their actual and potential workloads, and compared remuneration terms in the public sectors. [from abstract]

This study investigates how members of advisory groups of National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence conceptualize evidence and experience the process of developing clinical guidelines for health workers to improve clinical and public health practice. [adapted from author]

This article opens a debate about how to think about moving forward with the emerging twin movements of human resources for health and universal health coverage (UHC). The authors argue that not only should the movement for UHC be paired with current efforts to address the human resources crisis, but also, for both to succeed, we need to know more about how health policy works in low and middle income countries. [from abstract]

Several studies have suggested policy options to reduce brain drain from Africa. The purpose of this paper is to review possible policies which can stem the impact of health professional brain drain from Africa. [from abstract]

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 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]

This paper examines health system strengthening as it occurs in the intersection between the health workforce and governance by presenting a framework to examine health workforce issues related to eight governance principles.

This paper creates awareness of the current human resource crisis that Zambia is facing, taking into account the few doctors serving rural communities in the country; and argues that the main driver of doctors’ exodus out of the country is the search for better conditions of service. The paper presents the advantages and disadvantages of various policy options geared toward stemming the tide of doctors leaving the country, primarily through creating greater incentives for doctors to stay. [from author]

Health worker migration from resource-poor countries to developed countries, also known as brain drain, represents a serious global health crisis and a significant barrier to achieving global health equity. Using acceptable methods of policy analysis, the authors assess current strategies aimed at alleviating brain drain and then propose a global health policy based solution to address current policy limitations. [adapted from abstract]

Highlighting the contribution of non-binding instruments to global health governance, this article describes the World Health Organization Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel negotiation process from its early stages to the formal adoption of the final text. [from author]

This document provides guidance on the defining features of health policy and systems research (HPSR), particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and the critical steps in conducting research in this field. It showcases the diverse range of research strategies and methods encompassed by HPSR, and it provides examples of good quality and innovative HPSR papers. [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]

This toolkit offers health policy stakeholders and practitioners online access to a growing collection of information about policies and practices that can help enhance the contribution of the private sector to important health goals in developing countries. [from publisher]

The objective of this review was to ascertain if priority access to HIV and/or TB services should be provided to health care workers as well as whether workplaces should provide programs reducing stigma and/or discrimination for all health care workers. [from abstract]

This article argues that community health workers can connect people to health care and collect information relevant to policy. As a result of direct interaction with the populations they serve, they can recount the realities of exclusion and propose remedies for it, contribute to best practices, and inform public policy. [adapted from abstract]

The Policy Implementation Assessment Tool, user-friendly approach and tool for assessing policy implementation, comprises two interview guides that explore the perspectives of policymakers and program implementers, including community-level health workers, local leaders, and clients. This document provides guidance to help readers adapt the tool to different policies and contexts in their own countries. [adapted from introduction]

The aim of this paper is to demystify policy implementation and provide user-friendly advice on translating policies into action. To do so, the paper presents experiences and lessons learned from the Health Policy Initiative organized around the project’s Policy-to-Action Framework. [from summary]

This paper presents case studies of networks in 11 countries assisted by the POLICY Project to demonstrate how reproductive health advocacy networks were influential actors that played a role in fostering significant policy changes over the past decade. [from summary]

This paper presents the results of a recent research priority-setting exercise that identified regional policy concerns and research priorities related to health financing, human resources and the non-state sector, based on stakeholders in nine low and middle income countries in the region. The countries included were Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. [adapated from abstract]

The authors argue that the influence of governance is undervalued in addressing the HRH crisis, both globally and at country level; and they review a thematic series which aimed to expand the evidence base on the role of governance in addressing the HRH crisis. [adapted from abstract]

This article set out to examine the human resource policy implications of scaling up HIV testing and counselling in Kenya and to analyse the resultant policy against a recognised theoretical framework of health policy reform. [from abstract]

This paper reports on progress in implementing human resources for health policies in Brazil, in the context of the implementation and expansion of the Unified Health System. [from abstract]