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The Centre for Health and Population Research, Dhaka, looked at the experiences of midwives attending homebirths in the rural region of Matlab. In Bangladesh, 91 percent of births still take place at home and only 13 percent are assisted by a doctor or midwife. In 1987, almost 20 years ago, a health initiative was introduced in Matlab to allow midwives to attend women in the home. Researchers conducted interviews and group discussions with 13 midwives in Matlab in 2003 and 2004 to learn what difficulties they faced during their work. [author’s description]

To evaluate the quality of maternal clinical care, Immpact, a global research initiative, developed an innovative method, called TRACE, to trace adverse and favourable events in pregnancy care. It is based on the confidential enquiry technique, whereby expert panels of health care professionals assess the quality of health care provided to clients in an
adverse event, such as a maternal death. [author’s description]

Whether one is ill, in need of urgent care but denied access to essential services due to the absence of a health worker – or looking from the perspective of an over-stretched health worker who is inadequately equipped and supported, and brings barely poverty-level wages back to the family – the crisis in human resources for health (HRH) is an old problem which has developed right in front of us, and has now been exposed and accentuated by fresh forces. [author’s description]

The RCN commissioned a survey of 6,000 members in 2000 to explore nurses’ wellbeing and working lives. The results subsequently helped shape RCN policy and materials for members on topics such as bullying and harassment, violence, needlestick injury and employee-friendly working practices. Five years later, the RCN has commissioned a second survey looking at a similar range of issues. This report documents the findings of that survey, and describes differences between the 2000 and 2005 survey findings. [introduction]

This report is the result of a regional meeting held March 17-19 in Arusha, Tanzania and presents the regional context for work on migration and retention; an overview of the current situation, integrating evidence from background papers and country experiences; and summarizes the discussions held on follow-up work on migration and retention. [adapted from introduction]

The intent of the report is to stimulate creative discussions among [British Colubia’s] health system stakeholders about opportunities for coordinated action on employee and workplace health. The best available evidence suggests that the scope and depth of workplace health challenges today require solutions that go beyond traditional workplace health promotion programs.

This report outlines information from a literature review and field research pertaining to the key differences and similarities between the hospice ICHC model and other home-based care models used in South Africa; reviews the core elements of the ICHC model; and highlights best practices of the model. [adapted from introduction]

This paper examines the design and limitations of incentives for health care providers to serve in rural areas in developing countries. [from summary]

This resulted in a collection of papers with very different viewpoints and formats, reflecting the different professional and geographical backgrounds of the participants. First a set of papers describes the performance of health personnel in a number of countries and attempts to improve it. A second part looks more closely at the various coping strategies health care workers, medical and paramedical, clinical and managerial, actually apply to deal with difficult working and living conditions.

This report presents the finding from an study to determine the impact of HIV/AIDS on the public sector in Malawi. Section E, 3 establishes the impacts of HIV/AIDS on the Ministry of Health and Population and on health workers including statistics of attrition by occupational category in the health sector, morbidity and absenteesim, vacancy levels. It also analyzes effect on health worker workload, discusses the impact on productivity and performance, the financial implications, impact on service provision, and institutional vulnurability to HIV/AIDS.

This is the first in a series of three papers that examines the financing of services in developing countries. This paper focuses on external assistance in the form of aid and debt cancellation to finance the recruitement, training and salaries of health and education workers. It also discusses the factors that contribute to the critical shortage of these workers and explores some approaches to scaling-up the recruitment of health workers and teachers. [adapted from author]

The development of the delivery of reproductive health services is continually confronted by challenges from a changing environment, an important element of which is health sector reform, in particular decentralization, which is being undertaken by most governments in Africa. The general objective of this research is to make health sector decentralisation more effective in the development of appropriate reproductive health services. In Chapter 8 human resource management and development as it has been affected by decentralization is discussed. [adapted from introduction]

The purpose of this policy and guidelines is to ensure that in all violent incidents, appropriate action is consistently taken to protect health service staff, patients and visitors, and health service property from the effects of such behaviour. The guidelines are provided as a reference tool and should be used to develop local policies and procedures that reflect the intent of this document, and that are specifically targeted at and adapted to local workplace cultures, situations and needs. [from introduction]

The incidence and severity of occupational violence varies across health care occupations because risk factors differ between locations and according to job tasks. Patterns of violence also vary because some health workplaces adopt improved prevention. This discussion paper provides an overview of some of the strategies that may reduce the incidence and severity of occupational violence. [adapted from author]

The goal of this policy is to help management and staff minimize the risk of TB transmission in health care facilities and other facilities where the risk of transmission of TB may be high due to high prevalence of both diagnosed and undiagnosed TB such as prisons.

This conference aimed to address the global health care workforce shortage: what has been done and what steps are still needed to solve this critical problem. The meeting linked research, policy and action for global human resources for health. [publisher’s description]

While publications like the World Health Report have described general approaches that can be taken to improve the human resources for health (HRH) situation at the country level, there is a relative paucity of more detailed documentation that describes promising practices that would be useful to HRH leaders and practitioners. As a result, USAID’s Africa Bureau commissioned a study to identify and document promising practices in a way that takes into account the context of the practice, describes lessons learned and puts forth potential implications for replication in other countries. The intent of the promising practices study is to “serve as a practical and much needed resource for governments, partners and donors in promulgating policies and approaches that have successfully mitigated the negative effects of the health workforce crisis.” After consultation within USAID, it was decided that the study would focus on promising practices in four African countries: task shifting in Ghana and Uganda, improving retention in Malawi, and increasing recruitment and rapid deployment in Namibia.

This brief discusses Capacity’s experience with partnering with faith-based organizations (FBO), the critical role these organizations play in improving Africa’s health workforce and some challenges to working with FBOs.

The report of the Africa Working Group (Joint Learning Initiative) is in 4 main parts covering a situation analysis, opportunities that arise and the preconditions for effective strategies.

This handbook explains why a gender and human rights strategy is a better approach for achieving results in curbing the HIV/AIDS epidemic It also shows you how to do it by providing the necessary information and techniques for incorporating gender and human rights into HIV/AIDS training. [from introduction]

This report describes an assessment of reproductive health needs in LAO People’s Democratic Republic. Chapter 2 focuses on birth spacing and the health worker’s role. There is a great demand for and interest in birth spacing among women and men in the community. Training of health providers on the different contraceptive methods seemed adequate where the program had been introduced, but client counselling (for new and repeated clients) was limited.

This report presents global data on the distribution of pharmacists, continuing professional development systems, and migration of pharmacists. [author’s description]

In order to resolve the crisis and address the key issues the Ministry of Health has developed a Human Resources for Health Strategic Plan, in consultation with key stakeholders. The strategies and activities outlined in the Plan attempt to address the concerns of all the stakeholders consulted and to provide a framework to guide and direct interventions, investments and decision making in the planning, management and development of human resources for health. [from foreword]

This paper focuses on the scheme by the Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH) to retain nurse tutors in collaboration with the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM). It chronicles the scheme’s successful elements for purposes of eventual replication, suggests how to address some of the challenges and identifies effective incentives, including salary supplements. [from executive summary]

In response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, Namibia’s public health sector is carrying out a comprehensive strategy to rapidly hire and deploy professional and non-professional health workers with the aim of providing comprehensive care, counseling and testing, as well as antiretroviral therapy (ART) and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). [from executive summary]

The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) administers a home-based program in Uganda that gives people in poor and rural settings access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and services. The program’s innovation lies in shifting delivery of most clients’ follow-up activities at home to field officers, a new cadre of degree and diploma holders from the social sciences and education. Field officers ensure adherence to ART, refill clients’ medications and perform various activities, from voluntary counseling and testing to education to promoting family and community support. [from executive summary]

This review and discussion paper highlights the important role that private practitioners are already playing in providing health services to children in many countries, and the far greater contribution that they could be called upon to make.

This paper examines the experience with using various incentives to motivate and retain community health workers (CHWs) serving primarily as volunteers in child health and nutrition programs in developing countries.

This study uses a new database of health worker emigration from Africa to test whether exogenous decreases in emigration raise the number of domestic health professionals, increase the mass availability of basic primary care, or improve a range of public health outcomes.

The Capacity Project worked with health sector leaders to develop the Emergency Hiring Plan (EHP), an innovative rapid response staffing and training model. Designed to increase the number of qualified health professionals available to work in public health facilities, the EHP is helping the MOH to expand access to treatment and care through the rapid hiring, training and deployment of 830 health workers. [from author]