Planning

Imbalances in quantity and quality of human resources for health (HRH) are increasingly recognized as perhaps the most critical impediment to achieving health outcome objectives in most African countries. However, reliable data on the HRH situation is not readily available. Some countries have hesitated to act in the absence of such data; other countries have not acted even when data are available while others have moved ahead in spite of the lack of reliable information. This paper addresses the issue of data use for HRH policy-making. [from summary]

This publication provides a framework for health and information professionals, as well as stakeholders, for improving the use of information to guide policymaking, program design, management, and service provision in the health sector in developing countries. [adapted from introduction]

The International Council of Nurses expressed concerns regarding the aggressive international recruitment of nurses and maintained that internationally recruited nurses might be particularly at risk of exploitation or abuse. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe how recruitment agencies contributed to the emigration of South African nurses. [adapted from abstract]

In response to the critical HRH shortages in Africa, DFID and Office of the US Global Aids Coordinator (OGAC) have been in discussion with a number of African countries to develop strategies and country level actions. The aim is to demonstrate the maximum flexibility of disease specific programmes to support broad based primary care in line with countries’ health plans.

To help build the health workforce in Uganda, the Capacity Project is assisting the Ministry of Health to strengthen its human resources management and ability to gather and use accurate data for strategic planning. Drawing on key policy questions developed by the Health Workforce Advisory Board, the Capacity Project installed a certification and licensing information system at the four health professional councils and a human resources management system at the Ministry of Health.

Several high-profile meetings have focused global attention on critical human resources for health (HRH) issues, providing much needed high-level support and calls for action to address the HRH crisis. The Capacity Project’s HRH Action Workshop series was intended to extend this work by focusing on specific HRH actions and experiences, what is being done in countries, what is working and what is not.

This background report for the World Health Report 2006 details the costs of eliminating critical HRH shortages based on data from the 2006 World Health Organization World Health Report. This was used to determine the minimum number of health workers required to supply sufficient health care to the populations of developing countries, as well as calculating the necessary costs of bridging the gap between current health worker availability and the projected requirements for 2015. [adapted from introduction]

This presentation on the emergency HR program in Malawi was offered during a dialogue hosted by the WHO and OECD.

This introductory presentation on maintaining economically sustainable staffing levels was offered during a dialogue hosted by the WHO and OECD.

This review surveys trends in physician supply in the United States from 1980 to the present. It discusses the composition of the physician workforce; changes in the inflows and outflows of the physician workforce; and how international migration, retirement, part-time practice and alternative employment have impacted the physician workforce. Finally, the paper considers implications of physician shortages and the recruitment of physicians from abroad. [adapted from summary]

Italy’s aging population is placing a strain on the public health system. Care for the aged has increasingly been delegated to informal immigrant workers. However, international migration will not be sufficient to solve Italy’s health care professional needs. [adapted from summary]

This OECD report examines the role played by immigrant health workers in the Canadian health workforce, as well as the interactions between migration policies and education and health workforce management policies. [adapted from introduction]

This paper analyzes China’s current health workforce in terms of quantity, quality, and distribution. Unlike most countries, China has more doctors than nurses. Doctor density in urban areas was more than twice that in rural areas, with nurse density showing more than a three-fold difference. Over the past decade there has been a massive expansion of medical education, with an excess in the production of health workers over absorption into the health workforce.

This report looks at how the landscape of human resources for health (HRH) has evolved and current key challenges. It looks at the complexities of HRH planning and management in the current environment and how various jurisdictions are finding innovative ways to collect and use HHR information. It also talk abouts education and training, workplace environment, distribution and migration, and provides updated data and information on supply-side trends for health professions. [adapted from author]


There is also a reference guide that provides aggregate, supply-based trend information.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been collecting and compiling cross-nationally comparable data on health workers in all WHO Member States. The data available in the Global Atlas of the Health Workforce is the main outcome of this effort. Estimates of the stock (absolute numbers) and density (per 1000 population) of the health workforce are available here for 193 Member States. National-level data refer to the active health workforce, that is, all persons currently participating in the health labour market. [adapted from publisher]

The purpose of this guide is to explain why it is necessary to ground health workforce planning in human rights, and how to develop a plan that does just that. [from summary]

The report aims to document the present health workforce in the country in order to find out their strengths and weaknesses and put forward recommendations for improvement. It lays special emphasis on the profile and density of healthcare providers, quality of services provided by selected groups of providers, training, and production and future challenges for healthcare providers. [adapted from author]

Improving the capacity of developing countries to respond to emerging diseases and especially influenza pandemics is essential to reduce both transmission around the globe and the human toll of outbreaks in the developing world. Investing in this capacity in developing countries is thus increasingly seen as a shared concern within the global community. [from introduction]

This presentation discusses the various aspects of private providers as they pertain to contracting for health services. [from presentation]

The Voluntary Code of Ethical Conduct for the Recruitment of Foreign-Educated Nurses to the United States reflects the mutual recognition of stakeholder interests relevant to the recruitment of foreign educated nurses. It is based on an acknowledgement of the rights of individuals to migrate, as well as an understanding that the legitimate interests and responsibilities of nurses, source countries, and employers in the destination country may conflict.

Health workforce planning is necessary in order to ensure that trained and knowledgeable health workers are available to deliver health care services when and where they are needed. The aim of this technical brief is to provide a rapid review of different health workforce projection approaches. [from author]

This mid-term evaluation report focuses on Capacity Project support to the Government of Kenya’s Emergency Hiring Plan. It assesses the main achievements, challenges and impact on service delivery and health systems improvement, from the plan’s inception through the November 2007 mid-point. The report outlines all aspects of the approach used, providing clear recommendations on how the Ministry of Health may strengthen its existing human resource systems on the basis of lessons learned, and provides additional insights to the process, which may be useful for informing similar country contexts.

Malawi’s health human resources initiatives since the late 1990s provide a good example of a comprehensive national scale-up plan for the health workforce. Its Emergency Human Resources Plan has shown modest but promising results. Health worker attrition remains high and tutor supply low, but training capacity has been substantially expanded and Malawi is expected to begin meeting training output targets in 2008. [from introduction]

Ghana addresses its serious health workforce shortage and consequent issues with health service delivery through a new human resources strategic plan developed to guide scale-up from 2007 to 2011. [from abstract]

Using the most updated information on the supply of physicians over a 20-year period, this paper projects the size of the future global need for, demand for and supply of physicians to year 2015, the target date for the Millennium Development Goals. [adapted from abstract]

World Health Statistics 2008 includes 2008 health statistics for WHO’s 193 Member States. This fourth edition includes 10 highlights in health statistics, as well as an expanded set of over 70 key health indicators. It includes, for the first time, trend data where the statistics are available and of acceptable quality. [adapted from publisher]

Planning the supply of and demand for human resources for health is a significant challenge for most countries. Workforce shortages, underemployment and unemployment, skill-mix imbalances and geographical maldistribution are among some of the critical challenges at national level and within organizations Health human resources planning is essential for countries and systems to ensure the presence of workforces capable of meeting the needs of populations. [from author]

This material contains a suggested workshop design for use by individuals and organizations planning human resources for health (HRH) assessments. These materials can also be used to train supervisors and data collectors to conduct an HRH assessment. [from author]

This brief describes the successful process of working within the government to achieve results in HIV planning. [adapted from author]

This environmental scan of pharmacy technicians is intended to develop an accurate summary of knowledge, issues and activities relating to the roles and responsibilities, curriculum and accreditation, and certification of pharmacy technicians in Canada, from a national, provincial, territorial and international perspective. [from summary]