Sub-Saharan Africa

This final report documents achievements and lessons learned from the activity and includes the findings from a desk review and training needs assessment that informed the development of the new training module and supplemental training and performance support materials. [from resource]

Our objective was to measure women’s perceived quality of maternal and newborn care using a composite scale and to identify individual and service delivery factors associated with such perceptions in Malawi. [from abstract]

The study recommended reviews of curricula to ensure their responsiveness to emerging issues in the health sector, the formation of curriculum committees to review curricula, development of official curricula review standards and an integrated mechanism to disseminate policies and guidelines. [from abstract]

Maternal deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa are largely preventable with health facility delivery assisted by skilled birth attendants. Examining associations of birth location preferences on pregnant women’s experiences is important to understanding delays in care seeking in the event of complications. We explored the influence of birth location preference on women’s pregnancy, labor and birth outcomes. [from abstract]

Task shifting has been suggested to meet the demand for initiating and managing
more patients on antiretroviral therapy. This paper will appraise current trends in task shifting related to HIV treatment programmes in order to evaluate evidence related to the effectiveness of this strategy in addressing human resource constraints and improving patient outcomes, challenges identified in practice and the acceptability
of this strategy to the health professions. [adapted from abstract]

Uganda has severe shortage of human resources for health despite the heavy disease burden. The country has one of the highest fertility, and population growth rates in the world and is in dire need of trained health workers. The aim of the study was to determine the career intentions of the final year medical students to leave the county and health field after graduating and the associated factors. [from abstract]

Namibia has made tremendous gains in malaria control and the epidemiological trend of the disease has changed significantly over the past years. In 2010, the country reoriented from the objective of reducing disease mor bidity and mortality to the goal of achieving malaria elimination by 2020. This manuscript outlines the processes undertaken in strengthening tactical planning and operational frameworks for vector control to facilitate expeditious malaria elimination in Namibia. [from abstract]

The purpose of this paper is to explore how data collected at the community level is utilised by various stakeholders within the community in order to produce actionable information for decision making. [from abstract]

As the fi rst report in the Series on faith-based health care, we review a broad body of published
work and introduce some empirical evidence on the role of faith-based health-care providers, with a focus on Christian
faith-based health providers in sub-Saharan Africa (on which the most detailed documentation has been gathered). [from abstract]

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In the era of evidence based practice ( EBP), health care delivery should be grounded on new or validated knowledge and evidence from research. The aim of the study was to assess research utilization by nurses and the influencing factors at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the largest teaching hospital in Kenya. [From abstract]

This chapter gives an account of one relatively modest but effective intervention in an orthopaedic outpatient clinic at the New Somerset Hospital (NSH) in Cape Town in 2013. This project aimed to reduce patient waiting times in the clinic, and improve patient satisfaction.

This study examined the need for team building composition amongst health worker in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to measure the resemblance on knowledge and factors affecting team building composition in two health facilities in Nigeria. [from abstract]

Home visits by Community Health Workers [In Uganda Community Health Workers are given the collective term of Village Health Teams (VHIs). This is recommended to improve maternal and newborn care. We investigated perceived maternal and newborn benefits of home visits made by VHTs, combined with mobile phone consultations with professional health workers for advice. [adapted from abstract]

The objectives of this study were to establish the extent to which information science schools in Kenya offered courses that imparted competencies and skills required by health information professionals; and to establish a range of competencies, skills and attitudes required by health librarians in Kenya in order to be effective in the changing health environment. [from introduction]

This study explores the perceptions of health managers and health care providers on the case management of uncomplicated malaria among under-fives in selected primary health care (PHC) facilities of two Local Government Areas (LGAs), Katcha and Gbako, as part of baselines for capacity-building interventions planned in Niger State, Nigeria. [from abstract]

Available pharmaceutical information is often characterized by inadequacy, and inaccuracy, which
compromise its quality and usefulness. This study was carried out to examine staff characteristics,
organizational and technical aspects that affect the quality of pharmaceutical information. [from abstract]

To improve the consistency of health facilities assessments, the World Health Organization has proposed the use of the Health Resources Availability Mapping System (HeRAMS) developed in Darfur, Sudan as a standardized assessment tool for use in future acute and protracted crises.This study provides an evaluation of HeRAMS’ comprehensiveness, and investigates the methods, quality and comprehensiveness of health facilities data and tools in Haiti, where HeRAMS was not used.

A peer education intervention was implemented to promote use of HCT among secondary school
students and apprentices in Ibadan, Nigeria. Baseline data were collected from 1281 students from six schools and 100 apprentice workshops in four Local Government Areas of Ibadan. [from abstract]

Ineffective district health management potentially impacts on health system performance and service delivery. However, little is known about district health managing practices and time allocation in resource-constrained health systems. Therefore, a time use study was conducted in order to understand current time use practices of district health managers in Ghana. [from abstract]

This article outlines the process of identifying tools that, with modification, could assist in the evaluation of Community-Based Education programmes in participating Medical Education Partnership Initiative schools, funded by PEPFAR.

In Benin, CRS has been piloting a health microinsurance (HMI) product since March 2012. We have been delivering it to members of Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) through NSIA (a local insurance company) and Caritas Natitingou in northern Benin. From March 2012 to December 2014, coverage has nearly doubled from 715 to more than 1,300 SILC members and their dependents. The project team recently conducted an evaluation of progress. The evaluation included 12 SILC focus groups to learn more from their experiences in using the health microinsurance product. [from introduction]

To assess knowledge, attitude and practice toward HIV voluntary counseling and testing among students of Jimma Teachers Training College, in Jimma town, Oromia regional, state south western Ethiopia. A cross sectional study was conducted at Jimma teacher training college from February 10-12, 2014. The students were selected
by simple random sampling after; proportion allocation to the streams and departments was done by taking the stream
and departments as strata.

In 2012, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW), Tanzania, approved national guidelines and training materials for community health workers (CHWs) in integrated maternal, newborn and child health (Integrated MNCH), with CHWs trained and deployed across five districts of Morogoro Region soon after. To inform future scale up, this study assessed motivation and satisfaction among these CHWs. [from abstract]

Community-based strategies that foster frequent contact between caregivers of children under five and provide credible sources of health information are essential to improve child survival. Care Groups are a community-based implementation strategy for the delivery of social and behavior change interventions. This study assessed if supervision of Care Group activities by Ministry of Health (MOH) personnel could achieve the same child health outcomes as supervision provided by specialized non-governmental organization (NGO) staff. [from abstract]

Recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa have put viral hemorrhagic fever diseases in the spotlight. Uganda has had several outbreaks throughout the years, which have successfully been managed. Nurses’ patient education plays an important role in the work to increase public awareness about viral hemorrhagic fever diseases. The objective of this study was to assess how nurses at the emergency department educate the patients and relatives about the viral hemorrhagic fever diseases. [from abstract]

Nurses comprise the largest portion of the health care workforce in most countries; they interact closely with patients and communities, they work throughout the day and within all sectors of health care. Their breath of practice gives them a broad understanding of requirements of the health care system, of how factors in the environment affect the health outcomes of clients and communities. Nurses’ involvement in health policy development ensures that health services are: safe, effective, available and inexpensive. [from abstract]

To reduce healthcare worker shortages in sub-Saharan Africa, medical schools have increased enrolment. However, this
expansion has not been accompanied by adequate increases in faculty size or physical infrastructure.
Consequently, classes are overcrowded, and may lead to reduction in the quality of training, especially during clinical clerkships. Aiming to expose medical students to rural working environments and reduce overcrowding at the
main teaching hospital, in 2012 Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College(KCMUCo) introduced a 12-week clerkship
rotation.

Health workers’ knowledge of contraceptive side effects increased substantially after the refresher training. The mobile phone approach was convenient and flexible and did not disrupt routine service delivery. Clear limitations of the medium are participants can’t practice clinical skills or have interactive discussions. Also, some participants had trouble with network reception. [from abstract]

The purpose of this guide is to assist the Appraising Officer (Supervisor) and the Appraisee in the effective implementation of the PAS in the Civil Service and Local Authorities. [from introduction]

This paper summarizes the outcome of a rapid baseline survey and reveals critical gaps in the policy framework for HRH as well as resource constraint that must be addressed through additional budgets and better articulation of health workforce issues beyond personnel emoluments. The study shows the need for civil society organizations to join hands with development partners, Faith based organizations to advocate and support implementation of specific measures to address well documented HRH challenges. [from introduction]