National Policy

This technical brief looks at the cost of absenteeism, examines governance issues, describes the various stakeholders, and offers a number of recommendations for strengthening governance to reduce absenteeism. [from publisher]

The Federal Ministry of Health, recognizing the complementary role of the market based private sector in the provision of quality health services at competitive price especially in the underserved areas, developed this policy document to define the role of private v/s public sector, to institute mechanisms for the regulation of health services delivery, setting up and monitoring of the minimum standards of care, and bring into fold the private sector in reporting within the defined parameters. [from author]

This report presents the outcomes and resources from a meeting of health workforce crisis countries including information on the crisis in the differenct countries; interventions, challenges and shortages; and progress on the development of strategic HRH plans for each of the crisis countries. [adapted from author]

The aims of this policy include: ensuring the appointment of competent and skilled hospital managers; providing for the development of management accountability frameworks; and ensuring the training of managers in leadership, management and governance. [adapated from author]

This document outlines the Ministry’s policies regarding the role NGOs play in national health policy and health services, outlines strengths and weaknesses of NGO programs and outlines government standards for integrating and evaluating NGO services. [adapted from author]

In order to understand and monitor the progress in developing and implementing HRH policies in the 57 countries experiencing a critical deficit in the health workforce, this tracking survey provides an overview of the current situation in terms of HRH policies, plans, capacities and processes. [from author]

The Peruvian Ministry of Health approved the Policy Guidelines on Human Resources in Health to address important aspects such as training tailored to the needs of the country, development of competencies, decentralized management of human resources, motivation, and commitment. This summary outlines the process of implementing this political and strategic framework for carrying out programs to develop human potential with a competency-based approach. [adapted from author]

The aim of this policy is to promote high standards of practice in the recruitment and employment of health professionals who are not South African Citizens or permanent residents in the health sector in South Africa. It attempts to preclude the active recruitment of health professionals from developing countries without specific government agreements. [adapted from author]

The objective of this study was to model the relative effectiveness of different policy interventions on the recruitment of nurses to rural areas in three different countries. [from introduction]

To confront the common problems in the management and development of human resources for health, the ministry has created policy guidelines for HRH and is defining the competency profiles of health personnel at different levels. This document outlines the process and lessons learned. [adapted from author]

A study across three countries to identify policies which would help recruit and retain health workers in rural areas revealed that there is a danger in one size fits all recommendations when it comes to designing human resource policies. Results also show that there is room for both financial and non-financial incentives in human resource interventions in developing countries. [from author]

This report highlights how changes in the legal and regulatory environment can facilitate expanded access to family planning and reproductive health services through Africa’s private health sector. Using laws and regulations from three Africa countries - Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria - this report presents a road map on how to review the most important laws governing the private sector, as well as key issues to assess. [from introduction]

This draft policy framework is intended to provide an effective and efficient occupational workforce to support a comprehensive multidisciplinary health care service; strengthen partnerships between government, civil society and communities to consolidate, manage and focus the services offered by Community Care Workers; and delineate strategies that address systemic change within the complex systems both within the public sector and its partners. [from introduction]

This paper assesses the development of maternal health services and policies in Bangladesh by reviewing policy and strategy documents since the country's independence in 1971, with primary focus on rural areas where three-fourths of the total population of reside. [adapted from abstract]

Recent years have seen growing awareness of the importance of human resources for health in health systems and with it an intensifying of the international and national policies in place to steer a response. This paper looks at how governments and donors in five countries: Cameroon, Indonesia, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania, have translated such policies into action. [from abstract]

This paper reports on the design and implementation of a completely new pay system in the National Health Service (NHS) in England.Pay and pay systems are a critical element in any health sector human resource strategy. Changing a pay system can be one strategy to achieve or sustain organizational change. [from abstract]

This paper examines health workforce and migration policies in New Zealand, with a special focus on the international recruitment of doctors and nurses. [from abstract]

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

Knowing that quality is never an accident, always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution, and that it represents the wise choice of many alternatives, this abbreviated version of the Policy attempts to provide the strategic direction health facilities and officials need to follow to assure quality in health care and continuous improvement in the care that is being provided. Health care personnel are encouraged to use this copy of the Policy to focus their intentions and guide their efforts. [from foreword].

These guidelines help answer what national health workforce plans should contain and how they should be developed to give them the best chance of significantly improving health outcomes and moving countries as rapidly as possible towards universal access to essential health interventions. The guidelines should serve as overarching principles that will promote the success of health workforce plans, while ensuring that they are consistent with human rights. [adapted from author]

This presentation was given at the First Forum on Human Resources for Health in Kampala. It talks about goverment spending policies on health worker wages and how they affect the health workforce.

This paper examines recent experiences in Zambia, and Ethiopia that illustrate why policy matters for developing the private health sector and underscoring the need for rational regulatory policies and practices. [author’s description]

The goal of the human resources development policy is to ensure availability of suitably qualified appropriately skilled and motivated human resource for health at appropriate geographic level of pre-defined disciplines, for provision of essential health services of acceptable quality at affordable cost to the community. [author’s description]

This HRH policy document addresses the production and utilization of Human Resources within the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone. It also responds to the contemporary challenges and developments including the exodus of human resources and advancement in technology. This policy intends to regulate and direct planning, production, management, utilization and monitoring of HR within the health sector. [from foreword]

The international mobility of health workers is nothing new. In recent years, however, migration of health workers — from highly skilled physicians to those in lesser skilled positions, from the developing world to wealthier destinations — has increased. Moreover, the countries with the most alarming outflows include those sub-Saharan African nations suffering acutely from the HIV/AIDS epidemic and dwindling numbers of health workers. Controversy surrounds the proper role of policy interventions in the global labor market of health care professionals.

The objective of this article is to examine in Peru the nature of dual practice (doctors holding two jobs at once - usually public sector doctors with private practices), the factors that influence individuals decisions to undertake dual practice, the conditions faced when doing so and the potential role of regulatory intervention in this area. [from abstract]

This text presents the context and background, the methodology and some of the main results of the regional consultation on the critical challenges for human resources in health in the Americas. This consultation hopefully documents how the countries in the Americas are facing the main challenges to the development of the health workforce. The main results and suggestions by the actors consulted with regard to the role of international cooperation in the countries of the Region are presented, so that the countries and international agencies can better formulate common strategies of development and strengthening of the work force in health.

The HIPC/PRSP process is intended to be a major instrument for achieving improved service delivery for poor people Crucially, improved service delivery depends on having the right professional, technical and other human resources in the right place at the right time. This review examined for 6 African countries, the country based poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) documentation and the associated World Bank/IMF HIPC documentation for human resources for health content. These documents were supplemented with other relevant country documents such as health strategies.

The authors argue that health for all is not achievable in most countries without health sector reform that incorporates a process of coordinated health and human resources development. They examine the situation in countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the World Health Organization.

The main objectives of this paper are to report on the country and demographic profile, motivations, experiences and career plans of recently recruited international nurses working in London, and to give a detailed insight into why they have come to the UK, and what are their future intentions. In order to put these findings in context, the paper also outlines the overall trends in numbers of nurses coming to the UK, and examines the policy context in which international recruitment activity has been conducted. [from introduction]