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This article posits that out-migration of health workers is not a critical contributor to health workforce shortages in Nigeria’s rural and remote areas and that more important factors include: contraction of government health spending as a percentage of GDP despite deteriorating health conditions, public health management systems that operate by default rather than by design, spartan living conditions outside urban areas, inadequate training of appropriate cadres of health staff, limited facilities and medications for effective delivery of clinical services, and burnout of overworked and unde

This presentation was a part of a 2009 Global Health Mini-University and covers acheiving health information for all; defining knowledge for health; information needs, capacity and delivery preferences of health professionals; and extending the reach and use of health information. [adapted from author]

This article describes human resources in nursing and the role and status of nurses within the health care system. It also deals with government measures and the foreseeable impact on nursing and health care services. [adapted from introduction]

This report summarizes the findings from research examining the role of the private sector in health systems in developing countries and emphasizes the importance of effective stewardship by governments of their country’s health system, especially given the reality that the private (nonstate) part of the system is large and complex, with major challenges and significant opportunities. [adapted from author]

Financial incentives have been used for many years internationally to improve quality of care in general practice. The aim of this pilot study was to determine if offering general practitioners a small incentive payment per test would increase chlamydia testing in women aged 16 to 24 years, attending general practice. [from abstract]

In this study, we aimed to determine the cost and cost-effectiveness of involving health extension workers in tuberculosis treatment in Southern Ethiopia. This paper presents an ancillary cost-effectiveness analysis of data from a randomized control trial. [adapted from introduction]

Around the world, only a few health care providers deliver integrated care effectively. Their experiences offer useful lessons for organizations that want to pilot integrated-care programs. [from author]

Interactive methods like role play, recorded video scenarios and objective structured clinical exam are being regularly used to teach and assess communication skills of medical students in the western world. In developing countries however, they are still in the preliminary phases of execution in most institutes. Our study was conducted in a naive under resourced setup to assess the impact of such teaching methodologies on the counseling skills of medical students. [from abstract]

This brief outlines the barriers to overcome to improve the functioning of the private health sector, the impact, the pros and cons of engaging the privat sector, myths of using provate providers and policy options. [adapted from author]

This study presents evaluation findings of two different programs targeting private medicine retailers for malaria control in Kenya. Key components of this evaluation were measurement of program performance, including coverage, knowledge, practices, and utilization based on spatial analysis. [from abstract]

The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative evaluation of two internet-based continuing medical education delivery formats and the effect on satisfaction, knowledge and confidence outcomes. [from abstract]

This study evaluated whether the provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling approach increased HIV testing amongst patients with a new episode of sexually transmitted infection, as compared to standard voluntary counseling and testing at the primary care level in South Africa, a high prevalence and low resource setting. [from abstract]

This successful program highlights how improving HIV care strengthened the primary health care system and validates several critical areas for task shifting that are being considered by other countries in the region, including nurse-driven ART for adults and children, and lay counsellor supported testing and counselling, adherence and case management. [from abstract]

This study evaluated the effect of an educational program including peer discussions on the providers’ knowledge and reported performance in family planning services. [from abstract]

This article aims to produce theory driven criteria to guide the development and evaluation of internet-based medical courses. [from abstract]

This article reviews the available evidence on private sector utilization and quality of care. It provides a framework for analysing the private sector’s influence on child health outcomes. [from abstract]

The objective of this research was to form a partnership of healthcare providers, managers, and researchers to review randomized controlled trials assessing the effects of computerized decision support for six clinical application areas: primary preventive care, therapeutic drug monitoring and dosing, drug prescribing, chronic disease management, diagnostic test ordering and interpretation, and acute care management; and to identify study characteristics that predict benefit. [from abstract]

This paper identifies key considerations for countries and policymakers planning the financing of their health workforce, and is based on an extensive review and synthesis of the literature, research findings, and experience on the financing and economic aspects of health workforce scale-up and improvement. [from author]

This document explains seven financing and economic issues that matter for health workforce scale-up and financing. It then states twenty-nine actions that policy-makers could take right away to address the issues, independent of any long-term HRH interventions in progress. [from introduction]

This article uses the realist evaluation method to determine the effect of human resource management on hospital performance using a regional facility in Ghana.

This report documents the efficiency of the Learning for Performance approach in the implementation of new pre-service reproductive health/family planning and child health training modules aimed at local health technicians working in Northern Mali. [adapted from introduction]

The Capacity Project used the Learning for Performance (LFP) approach to develop the family planning (FP), HIV/AIDS and gender components included in the competency-based A1 nursing and midwifery pre-service curricula. LFP was also used to adapt the Rwanda national FP curriculum to an on-the-job training approach. This study documents the implementation of the and the lessons learned from its application in preservice education and in-service training in Rwanda. [from summary]

In direct response to the country’s human resources for health needs, the Capacity Project helped to develop the capacity of the district hospital clinical workforce to expand access to a full range of quality family planning methods through a pilot vasectomy in-service training program for physicians and nurses at two district hospitals. [adapted from introduction]

This evaluation presents the results of a Kenyan emergency hiring plan (EHP) to quickly hire, train and deploy workers to high-need areas. The report presents the tracked hiring, training and deployment of all new hires compared to identified gaps. It also contains facility statistics and new hire and coworker feedback in a sample of ten facilities at baseline and every six months for period of three years. [adapted from summary]

The Capacity Project worked to strengthen HRIS in several low-resource countries to assist decision-makers and human resources managers in identifying and responding to critical gaps in HRH. The findings and recommendations in this report cover the Capacity Project’s implementation of HRIS in Swaziland, Rwanda and Uganda. [from summary]

This technical brief describes several approaches used to achieve needed changes in reproductive health service delivery practice, and provides recommendations for actions at the local level. [from introduction]

In September 2005, a pilot program of nurse-centered antiretroviral treatment (ART) prescription was launched in three rural primary health centers in Rwanda. We retrospectively evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of this task-shifting model using descriptive data. [from abstract]

In Mozambique, a country with a high HIV burden and a staggering workforce deficit, the Ministry of Health looked to past experience in workforce expansion to rapidly build ART delivery capacity, including reliance on existing nonphysician clinicians (NPC) to prescribe ART and dramatically increasing the output of NPC training. [from abstract]

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been suggested as a key educational method of knowledge acquisition to improve medical education. This study sought to evaluate the differences in medical school education between graduates from PBL-based and conventional curricula and to what extent these curricula fit job requirements. [from abstract]

The Ministry of Health introduced a leadership development program in Aswan Governorate. The program aimed to improve health services in three districts by increasing managers’ ability to create high performing teams and lead them to achieve results. The program introduced leadership and management practices and a methodology for identifying and addressing service delivery challenges. [adapted from abstract]