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Doctoring the Village Doctors: Giving Attention Where It Is Due

This book outlines the impact of a package of public health interventions aimed at improving the quality of care of informal village doctors in a rural area of Bangladesh, where village doctors are the primary group of informal healthcare providers practising and dispensing modern medicines. [adapted from publisher]

Why Are Tuberculosis Patients Not Treated Earlier? A Study of Informal Health Practitioners in Bangladesh

The objective of this article was to study the role of informal health practitioners in delays in initiating tuberculosis (TB) treatment in new smear-positive TB patients. [from author]

Private Versus Public Strategies for Health Service Provision for Improving Health Outcomes in Resource-Limited Settings

This review is focused on comparing health outcomes in private versus public care settings. It seeks to summarize what is known regarding the relative morbidity or mortality outcomes that result from treatment by public or private providers in low- and middle-income countries. [from abstract]

Who Are 'Informal Health Providers' and What Do They Do?: Perspectives from Medical Anthropology

This paper explores gaps and limitations in the conceptualisation, methodology and policy implications of debates about informal health care providers by examining a cross section of empirical studies. [from summary]

Policy and Programmatic Implications of Task Shifting in Uganda: A Case Study

Uganda has a severe health worker shortage and a high demand for health care services. This study aimed to assess the policy and programmatic implications of task shifting in Uganda. [from abstract]

HIV Self-Testing among Health Workers: A Review of the Literature and Discussion of Current Practices, Issues and Options for Increasing Access to HIV Testing in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines the particular issues of self-testing for HIV among health workers in sub-Saharan Africa, where high levels of interest and motivation for self-testing among health workers has been reported and informal self-testing already practiced. [from summary]

Utilizing eLearning to Strengthen the Capacity of Global Health Practitioners and Institutions around the World

This paper presents eLearning as a solution for strengthening human resources for health as well as organizational capacity of regional and local nongovernmental organizations in developing countries. [from abstract]

Leveraging the Private Health Sector to Enhance HIV Service Delivery in Lower-Income Countries

This article reviews findings on the types of HIV/AIDS services provided by the private health sector in developing countries and elaborates on the role of private providers of HIV services in Ethiopia. [from abstract]

Quantifying the Role of Private Health Providers in HIV Testing: Analysis of Data from 18 Countries

This research study sought to answer questions regarding HIV/AIDS testing in the private sector such as percentage private sector tests, frequency of private sector testing in comparison to other services, and impact of wealth quintile on selection of private sector testing. [adapted from publisher]

Performance Improvement Recognition: Private Providers of Reproductive Health Services in Peru

While pay-for-performance incentives are frequently used in human resource management programs, there is less knowledge of alternative incentives for recognizing provider achievements in improving quality—especially in the private health sector. This report identifies which types of recognition mechanisms private providers prefer and provides recommendations for Peru and other countries on implementing a quality improvement program with a recognition component. [from abstract]

Filling the Gap: Lessons for Policymakers and Donors on Contracting Out Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services

Focusing on the demand-side (governments and donors) of contracting out with the private sector, the primer describes the concept of contracting out, discusses its rationale and process, and summarizes three cases of contracting out programs. [from summary]

Addressing the Need: Lessons for Service Delivery Organizations on Delivering Contracted-Out Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services

This primer aims to provide clear lessons and recommendations to help service delivery organizations
and program managers establish, implement, and strengthen contracting arrangements. The primer draws on Marie
Stopes International’s experience of delivering government-contracted services in Bangladesh, India, and South
Africa. [from summary]

Staff's Perception of Abuse in Healthcare: A Swedish Qualitative Study

The study objective was to apprehend changes in the attitude of healthcare staff to abuse in healthcare after an intervention, based on a program called “Forum Play.” [adapted from author]

Assessing Community Health Workers' Performance Motivation: A Mixed-Methods Approach on India's Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) Programme

This study examined the performance motivation of community health workers and its determinants on India’s Accredited Social Health Activist program. [from abstract]

Nigeria TB Supportive Supervision Pilot Evaluation

This document is an evaluation of the implementation of a tool to assist in supervision, assessment and creation of action plans for quality improvement in facilities where TB is diagnosed and treated. [adapated from introduction]

Assessing Fitness to Practice of Overseas-Trained Health Practitioners by Australian Registration and Accreditation Bodies

Assessment of fitness-to-practice of health professionals trained overseas and who wish to practice in Australia is undertaken by a range of organisations. The purpose of the current paper is to investigate the methods of assessment used by these organisations and the issues associated with conducting these assessments. [from abstract]

Scale-Up of Home-Based Management of Malaria Based on Rapid Diagnostic Tests and Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapy in a Resource-Poor Country: Results in Senegal

In Senegal, an pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of a malaria treatment program in remote villages by volunteer home care providers. This paper reports the results of the scale-up in the targeted communities and the impact of the strategy on malaria in the formal health sector. [adapted from abstract]

HIV and Human Resources Challenges in Papua New Guinea: An Overview

The HIV epidemic in Papua New Guinea (PNG) presents major challenges, including significant human resources challenges. This report presents an overview of the available global literature on HIV and human resources, collates information on the workforce responses to HIV in PNG and highlights human resource issues specific to HIV in PNG. [from summary]

Human Resources for Health and Philippine Policy Options

This literature review attempts to put the phenomenon of HRH migration into context in terms of the underlying factors that prompt workers to relocate, as well as the facilitating effects of globalization and worldwide HRH shortages. [adapted from abstract]

Role of Civil Society in Human Resources for Health

The overall objective of the report is to analyse the role of civil society engagement in enhancing the health service delivery in Nepal. Health service delivery is associated with the efficiency of human resource for health. [from author]

Working Conditions of the Health Workforce in Nepal

This report examines working conditions of health workers in Nepal in relation to income and incentives, work supplies and equipment, issues on safety and security and the role of local authorities and the community. [from summary]

Human Resources for Health Management from Central to District Level in Nepal

The report analyses the Ministry of Health and Population Human Resources for Health Management system in Nepal. It examines the main gaps in the human resources management system in the health sector and makes recommendations for viable mechanisms to strengthen the system. [from summary]

Health Workforce Performance and Accoutability (Availability, Competency, Responsiveness and Productivity)

This report provides insight into health workforce performance in Nepal, looking at the four dimensions of health workforce performance: availability, competency, responsiveness and productivity. It informs policy-makers and managers on interventions to improve health workforce performance in Nepal. [from summary]

Training, Recruitment, Placement and Retention of Health Professionals with an Emphasis on Public Private Partnership (PPP)

This report analyses the current situation of HRH training, recruitment, placement and retention in the health system of Nepal with an emphasis on role of public private partnership to address the HRH related gaps with suitable policy interventions. [from summary]

Distribution and Skill Mix of Human Resources for Health in Nepal

The Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal has identified major challenges in human resources for health, specifically in the shortage, distribution and skill mix of health workers in the country. This report aims to provide insight into specific challenges and policy recommendations for the ministry and concerned stakeholders. [from summary]

Recall of Lost to Follow-Up Pre-Antiretroviral Therapy Patients in the Eastern Cape: Effect of Mentoring on Patient Care

This study sought to prove that mentoring plays an important role in professional nurse training and support and that recall of lost-to-follow-up patients is feasible and effective in improving ART services in rural settings. [adapted from author]

Policy Options to Attract Nurses to Rural Liberia: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment

A discrete choice experiment was used to test how nurses and certified midwives in Liberia would respond to alternative policies being considered by the ministry of health and social welfare to predict the share of nurses and certified midwives who would accept a job in a rural area under different schemes. [from abstract]

Lifecourse Factors and Likelihood of Rural Practice and Emigration: A Survey of Ghanaian Medical Students

The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of experiential factors across Ghanaian medical students’ lifespans on intent to practice in a rural area and intent to emigrate. [from abstract]

Planning, Implementing, and Monitoring, Home-Based HIV Testing and Counselling: A Practical Handbook for Sub-Saharan Africa

Because programming for home-based HIV testing and counselling (HBHTC) services poses a series of practical challenges with design, cost, human resource, and logistical implications, the purpose of this handbook is to provide practical guidance on ways to address these challenges and to outline some of the key considerations when planning, implementing, and monitoring HBHTC. [from author]

Workforce Planning Tool: User's Guide

This tool collects data related to the current size of staff by position and the facility workload for each department. It then uses worker activity standards developed by Egyptian expert panels to calculate the precise workforce required to meet the workload of each facility. The tool’s output capabilities display the size of the gaps between current and required staff, examined across facilities, specialty areas, and types of worker, as well as among specialties within a facility. [from author]