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Formalized task shifting structures have been used to rapidly scale up antiretroviral service delivery to underserved populations in several countries, and may be a promising mechanism for accomplishing universal health coverage. However, studies evaluating the quality of service delivery through task shifting have largely ignored the patient perspective, focusing on health outcomes and acceptability to health care providers and regulatory bodies, despite studies worldwide that have shown the significance of patient satisfaction as an indicator of quality.

Public health services in sub-Sahara Africa countries face severe health workforce shortages exacerbated by both outward migration and internal public-to-private sector migration—Tanzania is no exception. This review was conducted to characterize the extent of health workforce shortages in Tanzania, and the factors impacting on the shortage. [from abstract]

In post-conflict settings, severe disruption to health systems invariably leaves populations at high risk of disease and
in greater need of health provision than more stable resource-poor countries. The health workforce is often a direct
victim of conflict. Effective human resource management (HRM) strategies and policies are critical to addressing the
systemic effects of conflict on the health workforce such as flight of human capital, mismatches between skills and
service needs, breakdown of pre-service training, and lack of human resource data.

There has been a resurgence of interest in national Community Health Worker (CHW) programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). A lack of strong research evidence persists, however, about the most efficient and effective strategies to ensure optimal, sustained performance of CHWs at scale. To facilitate learning and research to address this knowledge gap, the authors developed a generic CHW logic model that proposes a theoretical causal pathway to improved performance. The logic model draws upon available research and expert knowledge on CHWs in LMICs.[from abstract]

Performance-Based Financing (PBF) has been advanced as a solution to contribute to improving the performance of health systems in developing countries. This is the case in Benin. This study aims to analyse how two PBF approaches, piloted in Benin, behave during implementation and what effects they produce, through investigating how local stakeholders perceive the introduction of PBF, how they adapt the different approaches during implementation, and the behavioural interactions induced by PBF. [from abstract]

The purpose of this narrative review was to synthesize the evidence on effective strategies for global health research, training and clinical care in order to identify common structures that have been used to guide program development. [from abstract]

Burma/Myanmar was controlled by a military regime for over 50 years. Many basic social and protection services have been neglected, specifically in the ethnic areas. Development in these areas was led by the ethnic non-state actors to ensure care and the availability of health services for the communities living in the border ethnic-controlled areas. Political changes in Burma/Myanmar have been ongoing since the end of 2010. Given the ethnic diversity of Burma/Myanmar, many challenges in ensuring health service coverage among all ethnic groups lie ahead. [from abstract]

Bangladesh is facing a lot of challenges in quality healthcare management. The recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) could play vital role in improving healthcare services and reaching them to the doorstep of the marginalized people. This research aims to evaluate the present health status of the country and explores the applicability of e-Health as well as the challenges and issues of electronic healthcare development. This study has conducted a survey on patient’s views and expectations toward e-Health for quality healthcare management.

Very few studies have assessed performance of Botswana public hospitals. We draw from a large research study assessing performance of the Botswana Ministry of Health (MoH) to evaluate the performance of public hospital system using the World Health Organization Health Systems Performance Assessment Framework (WHO HSPAF).

In the 20 years since South Africa underwent a peaceful transition from apartheid to a constitutional democracy, considerable social progress has been made toward reversing the discriminatory practices that pervaded all aspects of life before 1994.1-5 Yet the health and well-being of most South Africans remain plagued by a relentless burden of infectious and noncommunicable diseases, persisting social disparities, and inadequate human resources to provide care for a growing population with a rising tide of refugees and economic migrants. [from abstract]

The development of comprehensive community based health information systems is increasingly becoming important for measuring and improving the quality of health services. Many developing countries including Kenya have made efforts to strengthen their national health information systems to provide information
for decision-making in managing health care services. The purpose of this paper is to explore how data collected at the community level is utilised by various stakeholders within the community in order to produce actionable information for decision making. [from abstract]

This predominantly quantitative research paper interrogates the attraction and retention of health professionals at eleven randomly selected health centres in Gweru municipality, Zimbabwe. [from abstract]

Accessing maternal health information by the women can easily make community members
make their own informed decisions that can lead to improving their health. Women are usually
disadvantaged as far as accessing health information is concerned. It is against this background
that this study is therefore concerned with studying the sources of maternal health information
amongst the rural women of reproductive age in. [from abstract]

It is in the context of Ghana’s persistently high number of maternal deaths that the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) is simulating two policy scenarios: (1) Training and deploying Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs) at health centers in the five worst affected regions of Ghana by the year 2015 and (2) Training and deploying SBAs at district hospitals in the five worst affected regions of Ghana by the same year to find out if one or both will help Ghana achieve, or be close to achieving, the MDG 5 target of a maternal mortality rate of 185 per 100,000 live births by 2015.

The last decade has witnessed massive growth in the African economy, accompanied by an unprecedented uptake of novel communications technologies across the five sub-regions. At the same time, the burden of various diseases – both communicable and non-communicable – is also escalating. Thus, the objective of this research was to analyze and highlight uncommon applications of novel technologies toward healthcare delivery in Africa. [from abstract]

This booklet communicates fundamental concepts about the importance of health inequality monitoring, using text, figures, maps and videos. This report illustrates four general principles pertaining to health inequalities are highlighted: health inequalities are widespread; health inequality is multidimensional; benchmarking puts changes in inequality in context; and, health inequalities inform policy. [Adapted from introduction]

Health navigation is an approach to improving healthcare delivery that helps individuals access the care they need.People called navigators work with each client to identify and reduce any barriers they may face that make it difficult for them to get quality, timely care. Services are tailored to each individual and may include appointment scheduling, transportation, accompaniment, referrals, health education, and counselling. [from introduction]

Developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, the correct adaptation and implementation of the global guidelines on prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV is critical. This study explored the challenges that health workers face implementing WHO’s PMTCT guidelines, and the experiences of HIV-positive clients receiving these services. [from abstract]

International migration of health workers is a controversial issue globally. It has both negative and positive impact on both source and destination countries. The shortfall of health workers in the developed countries has led to the accusation of poaching health workers from the developing countries where health care systems are struggling. The causes and consequences of health workers’ migration vary in different countries. This study explored the reasons why a group of Nepalese health workers migrated to the United Kingdom (UK).[from abstract]

Despite the development of national community-based health worker (CBHW) programmes in several low- and middle-income countries, their integration into health systems has not been optimal. Studies have been conducted to investigate the factors influencing the integration processes, but systematic reviews to provide a more comprehensive understanding are lacking. [from abstract]

Volunteer community health workers (VCHW) are health care providers who are trained but do not
have any professional certification. They are intended to fill the gap for unmet curative, preventative, and health promotion health needs of communities. This study aims to investigate the non-financial incentives for VCHWs and factors affecting their motivation. [from abstract]

Qualified and motivated human resource (HR) is essential for a qualitative and robust health care delivery. Understanding the constraints and difficulties of health managers is essential for effective and efficient management of health care services. The present study is aimed at understanding the various constraints and difficulties of human resource management (HRM) in the public health sector. [from abstract]

Pharmacist participation in ward rounds is of increasing interest for better pharmaceutical care, yet most pharmacists do not engage in this activity. The objective was to obtain public sector pharmacists’ views and perceptions on their involvement in ward rounds. [from abstract]

Unfortunately, with its current estimated population of 150 million and estimated total of 23,640 health facilities operated via a three – tiered governance structure, Nigeria is still ranked by World Health Organization at 187th position in its health system among 191 member states. This article reviewed related relevant literature which revealed that, for more than two decades ago, African countries including Nigeria have been plunged into economic crisis which seriously affected a large portion of their populations and raised social and political tensions.

Making the final decision to terminate a pregnancy can be influenced by different circumstances involving various individuals. This paper describes the key players involved in the decision-making process regarding abortions among women who elected to undergo an induced abortion in a cosmopolitan urban setting in Ghana. [from abstract]

Pay for performance schemes are increasingly being implemented in low income countries to improve health service coverage and quality. This paper describes the context within which a pay for performance programme was introduced in Tanzania and discusses the potential for pay for performance to address health system constraints to meeting targets. [from abstract]

Rural acute care nursing requires an extensive breadth and depth of knowledge as well as the ability to quickly reason through problems in order to make sound clinical decisions. This reasoning often occurs within an environment that has minimal medical or ancillary support. Registered nurses (RN) new to rural nursing, and employers, have raised concerns about patient safety while new nurses make the transition into rural practice. [from introduction]

Performance-based incentives (PBIs) are currently receiving attention as a strategy for improving the quality of care that health providers deliver. Experiences from several African countries have shown that PBIs can trigger improvements, particularly in the area of maternal and neonatal health. The involvement of health workers in deciding how their performance should be measured is recommended. Only limited information is available about how such schemes can be made sustainable. [from introduction]

Successful teamwork is being recognized as a necessity for many aspects of effective healthcare and team training has proved effective in improving teamwork in healthcare. Therefore it is important to recognize the competencies of teamwork relevant to undergraduate medical education. This review of the literature draws on the teamwork competencies as discussed through diverse contexts of healthcare practice and health professions education and summarizes the competencies that are required with emphasis on undergraduate medical education. [from abstract]

Teams are larger and more dispersed in time and space, and there are now many more types of teams. They vary from teams whose members repeatedly work together over many years (eg, highly specialised cardiac surgery teams) to teams that are formed quickly and temporarily to resuscitate a patient. Teams are also formed for quality improvement (QI) projects, and they may work together for a few months or a few years. Unfortunately, education for healthcare professionals in most parts of the world still assumes that healthcare teams are like those during my grandfather’s time.