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Pay for performance (P4P) is an innovative approach that explicitly links financial investment in health to health results. However, the mechanics of its implementation need to be planned very carefully to elicit the desired behavior change in a given country. This guide offers the reader a systematic framework to document and structure a P4P initiative. [adapted from foreword]

This handbook contains the complete set of resources and tools required to introduce and maintain a performance and quality improvement process at primary health care centers in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan including: facilitator’s guide; performance improvement review process and tools; monitoring and support guide; and monitoring tools and forms handbook. [adapted from introduction]

This study sought to gain understanding of the motivations of community service (CS) officers to continue working at the same district hospital for a subsequent year after their obligatory year was over. The objectives were to determine the number of CS officers who actually remained at the same district hospital after completing their CS in 2002, the major factors that influenced them to remain and factors that would encourage the 2003 cohort of CS officers to remain at the same district hospital for an additional year. [from abstract]

The aim of the study was to investigate the profile of South African qualified physicians who had emigrated from South Africa. [from abstract]

This article discusses the prevalence of traditional health practitioners and what South Africa has done to support the cadre, including formalized recognition and licensing through the South African Traditional Health Practitioners Act.

A postabortion care program was implemented in 11 primary and secondary health facilities in rural Tanzania in order to decentralize comprehensive postabortion care to community level by upgrading midlevel providers to perform manual vacuum aspiration. [from abstract]

In Tanzania maternal and perinatal mortalities and morbidities are problems of public health importance, and have been linked to the shortage of skilled staff. We quantified the available workforce and the required nursing staff for perinatal care in 16 health institutions in Dar es Salaam. [from abstract]

The maldistribution of physicians between urban and rural areas has long been an important political issue in Japan. The aim of this study was to evaluate long-term transition in the geographic distribution of physicians, and to reveal which rural physician characteristics predict their retention in rural areas. [adapted from abstract]

This paper brings into focus the magnitude of the problem in terms of the number of nurses migrating to and from various countries and its impact on developing countries. The paper also examines some of the ongoing efforts in developing countries to mitigate the problem and sheds light on the prospects for improvement in the foreseeable future. [from abstract]

Access to HIV treatment in sub-Saharan Africa is constrained by the scarcity of physicians as they are the only providers legally allowed to initiate antiretroviral therapy in HIV-positive patients. This particularly impacts rural clinics staffed entirely by non-physician health workers. This article presents a pilot study from Uganda assessing agreement between non-physician clinicians and physicians regarding their decisions regarding the initiation of antiretroviral therapy. [adapted from abstract]

Rural and remote areas of Australia are facing serious health workforce shortages. While a
number of schemes have been developed to improve recruitment to and retention of the rural
health workforce, they will be effective only if appropriately targeted. This study examines
the factors that most encourage students attending rural clinical placements to work in rural
Australia, and the regions they prefer. [from abstract]

This article presents the results of a study analyzing national trends in Japan regarding the distribution and career transitions of physicians among types of facilities and specialties over a 30-year period. [adapted from abstract]

This article describes an empirically derived top-down/bottom-up strategic planning process to foster community engagement and coordination of efforts across institutional levels with the goal of creating a competence-based curriculum design in establishing a public health program. [adapted from abstract]

This article discusses the issues facing the district training program for emergency obstetric surgery teams in Senegal. [adapted from abstract]

A program to create a cadre of skilled birth attendants for home births was launched by the Government of Bangladesh Bangladesh in 2004. This article suggests that the task-shifting program can only serve as an interim measure rather than a long-term solution as more women decide to seek institutional delivery and professional midwifery care. [adapted from abstract]

This paper provides a literature review and documents existing programmes for task shifting anaesthesia services to mid-level providers in South Asia to increase access to emergency obstetric care and reduce maternal mortality. [adapted from abstract]

This article describes an attempt at developing a community-based model of stroke care based on the discharge planning of stroke patients, available resources and continuity of care between hospital and community in a remote rural setting in South Africa. [adapted from introduction]

This document discusses the outcomes of a qualitative study to describe the knowledge and practices of private clinic and laboratory service providers regarding HIV and HIV counseling and testing.

The study also identifies the characteristics of the stigma that private service providers place on female sex workers, men who have sex with men, people living with HIV/AIDS and describes the experiences of these groups regarding private counseling and testing services. [adapted from executive summary]

This document details the results of a study to determine whether a quality improvement package designed to enable small-scale commercial reproductive health service providers to improve the quality of services provided through self-assessment, action-planning, and supervisors’ support is effective in improving service quality. [adapted from sbatract]

This study seeks to assess the role of private health facilities and pharmacies in HIV/AIDS service delivery in Ethiopia, and specifically to identify factors that could enable greater involvement of this sector in addressing the HIV epidemic.

Because of the demographic changes, appropriate measures are needed to prevent early exit from work and to encourage workers to prolong their working life. The aims of this study were to examine the reasons for voluntary early retirement, the reasons for continuing working life after the official retirement age and the predictive value of the reasons mentioned. [adapted from abstract]

Current estimates indicate that between 30% and 70% of health care services in Africa are operated by faith-based organizations. However, these resources are not effectively integrated into national health information systems. While most partners providing health care in sub-Saharan Africa agree that FBOs play an important role in providing health services, there are few comprehensive data about the scope and scale of their contribution. This document details a project to collect facility location and personnel information to support the mapping and database development processes.

Few countries require that physicians demonstrate explicitly that they remain fit to practice. The term revalidation is defined as an evaluation of a medical practitioner’s fitness to practise. Although this definition focuses on assessment, it is recognized that the process leading up to it should be formative, encouraging professional development as well as identifying those unfit to practice. [adapted from author]

To increase access to antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings, several experts recommend task shifting from doctors to clinical officers, nurses and midwives. This study sought to identify task shifting that has already occurred and assess the antiretroviral therapy training needs among clinicians to whom tasks have shifted. [from abstract]

The proportion of international medical graduates (IMGs) serving as primary care physicians in rural underserved areas (RUAs) has important policy implications. We analyzed the 2000 American Medical Association Masterfile and Area Resource File to calculate the percentage of primary care IMGs, relative to U.S. medical graduates, working in RUAs. [from abstract]

Foreign nurses are increasingly being sought, creating a lucrative business for new recruiting agencies both at home and abroad. This paper examines past and current foreign nurse use as a response to nurse shortages and its implications for domestic and global nurse workforce policies. [from abstract]

The GO Tool is a comprehensive resource connecting health professions students to domestic and international reproductive health training opportunities. [from author]

CORE is an open access, cutting edge tool for building presentations on the full spectrum of reproductive health topics. It has sample slides for easy insertion into a presentation that users can download as well as fact sheets, activities, studies and other resources. [adapted from publisher]

In resource-limited settings, serious healthcare worker shortages that contribute to weak health systems exist alongside the drive to scale up ART and other HIV services to reach those in need. The global health community thus needs to reassess current delivery models and pilot new ones that could expand needed healthcare and be more cost effective, while preserving the quality of services. This book provides a roadmap for conceptualizing and initiating the expansion of the nursing scope of practice to include ART prescription and management. [adapted from author]

This article reports on cross-sectional survey documenting staff/population ratios in public sector mental health services in South Africa. [from abstract]