Sub-Saharan Africa

Since 2004, health workers that have undergone integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) case management training have also received training in HIV assessment, but follow-up showed that 97% of the health workers assessed did not review or mention the HIV guidelines even though they had received the training. This study aimed to explore reasons for non-adherence to HIV guidelines in the IMCI algorithm and make recommendations on how this can be improved. [adapted from abstract]

A descriptive study was conducted to explore the challenges health workers face in providing HIV counselling and testing services to children in Uganda. [adapted from abstract]

This study aimed to determine the frequency of occupational exposure to HIV, the circumstances and predisposing factors, the high-risk groups, the extent to which exposures are reported and the post-exposure prophylaxis utilized by health-care workers and students in a Ugandan hospital. [from abstract]

This study evaluated two workplace initiatives providing medical services, including HIV care; and a support group for HIV-positive staff to determine the uptake and outcome of HIV testing and counselling among health staff and their dependents; uptake and outcomes of antiretroviral therapy among health staff; and membership and activities of the support group. [adapted from abstract]

This article draws on the experience of Malawi and Ethiopia, which have been able to successfully increase their health workforce over a relatively short period, allowing scaling up of antiretroviral treatment. [from abstract]

This study examined the changes in clients’ health-care ratings before and after hospital workers received an HIV prevention intervention in Malawi, which increased the workers’ personal and work-related HIV prevention knowledge, attitudes and preventive behaviors. [from abstract]

In Mozambique, clinical staging may be the primary determinant of HIV/AIDS treatment decisions, and the task of staging commonly falls to non-physician clinicians. This study evaluated the quality of performance in clinical staging two years after the first Mozambican clinicians were trained in HIV/AIDS care. [adapted from abstract]

This survey was conducted to assess the status of pre-service training on the integrated management of newborn and childhood illness strategy and its ability to equip health workers with essential knowledge and skills to effectively manage sick children with common neonatal and childhood diseases. [adapted from abstract]

This study was conducted to assess the knowledge, practice and factors associated to HIV post-exposure prophylaxis use among health workers of governmental health institutions in the Jimma zone. [from abstract]

This study was undertaken to assess the scope and nature of community-based education for various health worker cadres in Uganda. [from abstract]

This study explored perceived barriers to accessing HIV/AIDS care and prevention services among health workers in Swaziland by asking health workers about their views on how HIV affects Swaziland’s health workforce and what barriers and strategies health workers have for addressing HIV and using healthcare treatment facilities. [from abstract]

This study aimed to examine health care workers’ attitudes toward sexual and reproductive health services to unmarried adolescents in Ethiopia through a descriptive cross-sectional study. [adapted from abstract]

This cross-sectional study was therefore designed to assess the level of knowledge and practice of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy among health workers. [adapted from abstract]

This paper examines the effect of the integrated model for HIV treatment with other primary care services on the organization of clinic services, and explores service providers’ perceptions of the integrated model. [adapted from abstract]

This edition of Hotline, an HRH newletter focused on the needs of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in Africa, highlights resources, trainings and workshops, articles of interest and other information for FBO HRH pracitioners.

Several studies have suggested policy options to reduce brain drain from Africa. The purpose of this paper is to review possible policies which can stem the impact of health professional brain drain from Africa. [from abstract]

Training health workers to use integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) guidelines can improve care for ill children in outpatient settings in developing countries. This article aimed to determine if the performance of IMCI-trained health workers deteriorated over 3 years. [from abstract]

This study aimed to assess health workers’ compliance with the procedures set in the focused antenatal care guidelines in rural Uganda, Tanzania and Burkina Faso; to compare the compliance within and among the three study sites; and to appraise the logistic and supply of the respective health facilities. [from abstract]

Enacting appropriate changes in both regulation and education of nurses requires engagement of national regulatory bodies, and key stakeholders such as government chief nursing officers, professional associations, and educators. The purpose of this research is to describe the perspectives and engagement of these stakeholders in advancing critical regulatory and educational reform in east, central, and southern Africa. [adapted from abstract]

This study tested a home-visits strategy to improve neonatal mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa by assessing the effect on all-cause neonatal mortality rate and essential newborn-care practices after community-based surveillance volunteers were trained to identify pregnant women in their community and to make two home visits during pregnancy and three in the first week of life to promote essential newborn-care practices. [adapted from summary]

This study measured the impact of integration of HIV care into primary care during a randomized controlled trial of task shifting and decentralization of HIV care in South Africa. [adapted from abstract]

This paper assesses the gender-based distribution of the United Republic of Tanzania’s health workforce cadres. [from abstract]

This technical brief presents findings from a study that explored if and how health workforce measures differ between eastern and western Africa, in an effort to identify factors that may have helped some countries to achieve important gains in contraceptive prevalence while other countries have not.

The White Ribbon Alliance in Tanzania have produced this short, 4 minute film to improve the public perception of midwives and mobilize support for advocacy targeting improvements in the working conditions of midwives. [from publisher]

This 6 minute video tells the story of six British health workers that went to Liberia to see what life was like for their African colleagues. In a country recovering from civil war, they met doctors, nurses and midwives doing everything they could to save children’s lives. [adapted from publisher]

This review evaluated the effects of a home- or community-based program for treating malaria in a malaria endemic setting through interventions involving training community health workers or mothers. [adapted from author]

The primary objective of this study was to solicit and identify perspectives on vertical aid among key Mozambican public sector health managers who must coordinate, implement, and manage the myriad projects, agencies, and resource flows that the increase in vertical funding has produced amid continued severe workforce staffing shortages. [from author]

This analysis was conducted with the overall purpose to review the roles and responsibilities of the Ministry staff, including social workers and record clerks at national and regional level, and ascertain the capacity gaps that hinder fulfillment of their obligations towards children and women in the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Namibia. [from introduction]

This study aims to assess the prevalence of voluntary counselling and testing and high risk behaviours among health care workers in Burkina Faso. [from abstract]

In this 7 minute video, UNICEF reports on a programme to train community health workers to provide life-saving services in the hardest-to-reach places in Niger. [adapted from publisher]