Browse by Geographic Focus

This article describes a community intervention conducted aimed at improving early malaria case management in under five children. Health workers were trained to train community-based women groups in recognizing malaria symptoms, providing first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria and referring severe cases. [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study was to assess whether the development and implementation of a community health worker project in rural Kenya was associated with an increase in knowledge about malaria and the use of insecticide-treated nets in children under five years of age. [from abstract]

This article outlines a study designed to measure knowledge changes among healthcare workers who participated in a tuberculosis training programme and to make recommendations about future tuberculosis training for healthcare workers in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health. [adapted from abstract]

This paper presents a short preliminary report of how the Italian National Institute of Health has, since 2003, applied problem-based learning in a new approach called One Day-One Problem Problem-based Learning in short courses for the staff of the Italian National Health Service. [from abstract]

This paper presents results of an empirical study conducted in Liberia and Vietnam using a discrete choice experiment (DCE) which aimed to predict the likelihood of health workers taking up a rural area job under alternative incentive schemes.

This paper reports on progress in implementing human resources for health policies in Brazil, in the context of the implementation and expansion of the Unified Health System. [from abstract]

This article outlines a project to research the number and needs of specialists and subspecialists within South Africa. [adapted from author]

The overall aim of the plan is to increase the number of appropriately skilled, motivated and equitably distributed health service providers for Rwanda. The main strategic objectives of the plan are: a coordinated approach to planning across the sector based on the best available data; increased number of trained and equitably distributed staff; improved productivity and performance of health workers; and strengthened human resource planning, management and development systems at all levels. [from summary]

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in Indonesia; their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

The guidelines were conceived to help envision, plan, design, implement, evaluate and scale up initiatives that involve collaborating with traditional healers for HIV prevention and care in sub-Saharan Africa. The ultimate goal of this effort is to improve access to, and quality of, health services for the clients of both systems. [from author]

This paper presents a summary of a regional program on incentives for health worker retention. The studies sought to investigate the causes of migration of health professionals, the strategies used to retain health professionals, how they are being implemented, monitored and evaluated, as well as their impact, to make recommendations to enhance the monitoring, evaluation and management of non-financial incentives for health worker retention. [from summary]

This HRH profile: provides a comprehensive picture of the health workforce situation in Ghana; presents the HRH policies and management situation to help in monitoring the HRH stock and trends; provides basis for communication with and between policy-makers and stakeholders; strengthens the HRH information system by establishing evidence for baselines and trends; and facilitates information sharing and cross-country comparisons. [from author]

The aim of this paper is to propose a scientific estimation of Sudan’s need for doctors in strategic terms by: projecting estimated figures to reach the average standards of doctor-population ratios in the region; projecting annual graduation and postgraduate training rates; proposing estimates of the number of doctors the state economy can support; suggesting meastures to optimize distribution in different speacialties and geographic zones and to manage migration. [adapted from author]

This report examines the current and future availability of skilled health workers for safe delivery services and the factors influencing their retention in government health facilities, particularly in rural areas of Nepal. [from author]

This review describes the current situation of health leadership and management capacity at the sub-divisional level in Fiji. [from summary]

This issue of Voices describe an effort to assess health workers’ preferences in order to determine the most effective incentives for rural service. [adapted from author]

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that two training programs for midwives in Zambia would reduce incrementally 7-day neonatal mortality rates for low-risk institutional deliveries. [adapted from abstract]

In order to gain a general picture of the intercultural challenges faced by Geneva physicians and inform the development of targeted training activities, we conducted a large-scale survey of physicians’ and medical students’ knowledge, attitudes and skills related to care of immigrant patients. This paper reports on respondents’ self-assessments of their clinical and intercultural skills. [from author]

This paper attempts to explore the migration of nurses from India in the context of nursing shortages in the country. It looks at the relationship between the development of the nursing profession in India, shortage of nurses in the country and international migration of Indian nurses. [from introduction]

This work was undertaken to inform the debate on the relationship between working conditions and the provision of health care. We found that the work environment impacts on health care workers as they try to provide a more equitable form of health care. [from abstract]

This review explores the implications of expansion of the private for profit
health sector for equitable health systems in East and Southern Africa, explores whether there are signs of increasing for-profit private sector activity in the region, and identifies issues of concern on private for profit activity in the health sector. [adapted from summary]

The Ministry of Health, in partnership with CapacityPlus, conducted a discrete choice experiment survey among current students in health training programs as well as health workers practicing in rural districts to investigate preferences for potential attraction and retention strategies. The results constitute an important input to the policy-making process related to the identification, costing, and selection of possible retention interventions for implementation. [from publisher]

Kabelo Bitsang, iHRIS administrator at the Botswana Ministry of Health, explains how the Ministry is using CapacityPlus’s free, open source software to track and manage the country’s health workforce. [from publisher]

This article discusses the Health Extension Program, an innovative community-based health program in Ethiopia. It is based on the assumption that access to and quality of primary health care in rural communities can be improved through transfer of health knowledge and skills to households.

In South Africa, limited human resources are a major constraint to achieving universal antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage. Decentralization or “down-referral” (wherein ART patients deemed stable on therapy are referred to their closest Primary Health Clinics (PHCs) for treatment follow-up) is being used as a possible alternative of ART delivery care. This cross-sectional qualitative study investigates attitudes towards down-referral of ART delivery care among patients currently receiving care in a centralized tertiary HIV clinic. [from abstract]

A task analysis survey of health workers in Liberia was conducted to determine how often recently graduated health workers perform tasks from the basic package of health services, and whether training was received for these tasks either in school or on the job. This paper focuses on nurse and midwife cadres and describe the: implementation of the study in Liberia; key findings and analysis of select clinical tasks; and recommendations for improving and integrating educational programs. [adapted from abstract]

This review describes the state of health leadership and management capacity in Papua New Guinea. [from summary]

This article reports on the successful development of a postgraduate medical training system through a series of international partnerships in Loas over the past decade.

Recruiting, retaining and meeting increasing demand for experienced, qualified nurses is an issue of concern for all health care systems. This paper considers the factors that sustain or curtail workforce innovations through the case example of a cohort of nurse consultants established in one community health service in England.

This analysis seeks to quantify differences in the quality of family planning (FP) services at public and private providers in three representative sub-Saharan African countries (Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana), to assess how these quality differentials impact upon FP clients’ satisfaction, and to suggest how quality improvements can improve contraceptive continuation rates.