Browse by Geographic Focus

This policy brief highlights results from unannounced visits made to a sample of public health facilities in Machakos District with the intention of documenting the proportion of critical health care workers who were absent from their stations of operation. It also presents policy options to address the problem of absenteeism of critical health providers in the health sector. [from author]

This document describes an approach to developing competencies that can guide interprofessional education and collaborative practice for all professions in a variety of contexts and is the first attempt to develop a Canadian model of interprofessional competencies that is applicable to all health professions. [from author]

This report aims to outline the composition of the nursing workforce in Kenya, including recent trends and dynamics, and describes the involvement of stakeholders, both within and beyond Kenya, in the development of nursing and the nursing workforce. [from summary]

This study aimed to assess patient satisfaction with health care provider interactions and its influencing factors among out-patients at health centers in West Shoa, Central Ethiopia. [from abstract]

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]

Ethiopia’s health extension workers (HEW) deliver preventive interventions and treat childhood diarrhea and malaria, but not pneumonia. Most of Ethiopia’s annual estimated 4 million childhood pneumonia cases go untreated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of volunteers in providing community case management for diarrhea, fever and pneumonia in a pre-HEW setting in Ethipia. [adapted from abstract]

This article aims at evaluating the traditional healers’ contribution as providers of care to HIV/AIDS patients and other chronically ill persons. [from abstract]

The aim of this article is to document the levels of HIV stigma reported by persons living with HIV infections and nurses in Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Tanzania. HIV stigma has been shown to negatively affect the quality of life for people living with HIV infection, their adherence to medication, and their access to care. Few studies have documented HIV stigma by association as experienced by nurses or other health care workers who care for people living with HIV infection. [from abstract]

This qualitative paper reports on the experience of three community health worker (CHW) supervisors who were responsible for supporting infant feeding peer counsellors. The findings highlight the complexities of supervising and supporting CHWs. [adapted from abstract]

This review shows how lessons that have been learned from international experiences have been improved further in China by realignment of the incentives for providers towards prevention and primary care, and incorporation of a treatment protocol for hospital services. [from summary]

Ensuring skilled attendant at birth is acknowledged as one of the most effective interventions to reduce maternal deaths. Exploring the potential of community-based interventions in increasing the utilization of obstetric care, the study aimed at developing, testing and assesses a community-based safe motherhood intervention in Mtwara rural District of Tanzania. [from abstract]

This report outlines a training program for health extension workers in long-acting family planning methods in Ethiopia.

India has the highest incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the world. The Government’s TB programme uses Directly Observed Treatment Short course to supervise patients’ treatment. However an estimated 40-50 per cent of TB treatment is accessed through private pharmacists. A challenge is to engage these pharmacists in TB control. [from author]

In Indonesia, a bottom-up workforce planning tool used with health workers directly has changed practice, realigned health workers’ roles, and increased motivation among staff. It shows how effective empowerment can be in the workplace. Workload Indicators of Staffing Need, or WISN, is straightforward and easily applied. [from author]

Very few innovations look at providing services for health care workers and the creation of wellness centres is a real innovation. The centres have opened the door to improved retention practices, better health and an increased sense of being valued for African health workers, who toil daily on the front lines of the battle against HIV and AIDS, TB and other infectious diseases. [from author]

In Ghana, faith-based organisations play an essential role in providing health care services, especially in rural areas. For a variety of reasons, it can be difficult to retain health care workers, putting essential services under threat. The National Catholic Health Service carried out some vital research to find out how to address the problem. [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]

Who will you need, when will you need them, can you afford them? This toolkit, recently developed for use in Liberia, can substantially assist the process. [from author]

Africa is in the grip of a medical crisis because its doctors are being lured away by lucrative jobs in Europe. This video reviews the situation in Malawi, which now only has one doctor for every 50,000 people. [from author]

The critical shortage of qualified health professionals, especially in the developing world, leaves patients without access to care for even the most basic health issues. In this video, created by the Health Rights Advocacy Forum (HERAF) and PHR, health workers at Mbagathi District Hospital in Kenya talk about how they rise to the challenges they face every day. [from author]

Today, community pharmacists play an important role in any country as they take responsibility for patient’s medicine related needs for access to healthcare. This article seeks to discuss the genesis of Indian community pharmacy, the majority of which are privately owned, and sketches its education, training and future prospects. [from abstract]

This study contends that increasing coverage of skilled delivery care and achieving the full implementation of Tanzania’s Focused Antenatal Care Package in Ngorongoro depends upon improved training and monitoring of health care providers, and greater family participation in antenatal care visits. [adapted from abstract]

A number of recent developments in medical and nursing education have highlighted the importance of communication and consultation skills (CCS). Although such skills are taught in all medical and nursing undergraduate curriculums, there is no comprehensive screening or assessment programme of CCS. This study was designed to test the content, process and acceptability of a screening programme in CCS with Irish medical and nursing students. [adapted from abstract]

This article describes a health management delivery program in which north and south institutions collaborated to integrate classroom and field-based training in health management and to transfer the capacity for sustaining management development in Liberia. [adapted from abstract]

Gaps in the midwifery tutors’ knowledge on comprehensive abortion care (CAC) have resulted in most midwives in Ghana not knowing the legal indications under which safe abortion care can be provided, and lacking the skills and competencies for CAC services. The aim of this study is to assess the capacity and willingness of midwifery tutors to teach contraception, post abortion care and legal termination in Ghana. [from abstract]

The aim of this study was to examine the frequency and consequences of aggressive behaviour towards nurses and health care workers in different health sectors in Germany and to assess the need for preventive measures. [from abstract]

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the leading cause of liver disease and liver cancer and a major source of health-related discrimination in China. To better target HBV detection and prevention programs, it is necessary to assess existing HBV knowledge, educational resources, reporting, and preventive practices, particularly among those health professionals who would be responsible for implementing such programs. [from abstract]

Propõe-se um ensaio das questões que envolvem o planejamento de recursos humanos de enfermagem na área hospitalar em nossa realidade, abordando possíveis temas para futuras pesquisas. Traça-se uma retrospectiva da evolução das pesquisas sobre dimensionamento de pessoal no país e a incorporação de novos instrumentos para avaliação da carga de trabalho com base no grau de dependência dos pacientes e nas ações de cuidado.

This paper reports on a research study to investigate the introduction of new information management strategies intended to promote an informational approach to management at the operational health service level in low-income countries. It aims to understand the process taking place when externally developed training materials, which are intended to strengthen health management information systems, are introduced to potential users in an east African country. [from author]

In this article we analyse Brazil’s 80 year old public health course via its history, disciplines, organization and characteristics of the student body in order to gain an insight into the development of public health in Brazil and to highlight the progress of education for professionals in this field. [adapted from author]