Sub-Saharan Africa

This quantitative research study used a computerized structured survey containing a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to quantify the importance of different incentives and policies to encourage service to deprived, rural and remote areas by upper-year midwifery students following graduation. [from abstract]

This study documents different factors influencing models of integration within clinics of HIV care into nurse-led primary care services to increase access to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS in high HIV burden countries. [adapted from abstract]

Since 2004, Healthy Child Uganda (HCU) has trained volunteer community health workers in child health promotion in rural southwest Uganda. This study analyses the retention and motivation of volunteer community health workers trained by HCU. It presents retention rates over a 5-year period and provides insight into volunteer motivation. [from abstract]

The authors describe the design of a cluster-randomized controlled study to investigate the role of sustainable institutional incentives to improve management of malaria in peripheral health facilities. This study will demonstrate whether facility-based rather than individual incentives are compelling enough to change provider behavior and whether these incentives lead to cost savings as a result of targeted drug consumption. [from author]

The aim of this study was to describe the weaknesses in the provision of acceptable and adequate quality care through the accounts of women who have suffered obstetric fistula, nurse-midwives at both BEmOC and CEmOC health facilities and local community members. [from abstract]

This article reports recent national data on mobile phone ownership and use among health workers and patients in Kenya and examine factors influencing ownership and SMS use to help guide the policy implications of mHealth. [from author]

This study addressed an important knowledge gap in the literature by identifying the information needs of physicians during their daily clinical practice and understanding the information-seeking behavior they adopt to satisfy these needs at the major public hospital in Tanzania. [from author]

Despite advances, insufficient progress has been made in implementing HRH interventions to improve access to qualified health workers. This qualitative study was conducted to determine the factors that define the enabling environment for successful implementation of HRH interventions in three countries: Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. [from publisher]

This CPD framework provides guidelines that create an environment for nurses to keep abreast with, and improve competencies in service delivery in an effort to satisfy the needs and expectations of patients and clients in Kenya. [adapted from author]

This paper explores the nonfinancial factors that influence health workers’ choice of employer (public, private or nongovernmental organization) or their choice of work location (urban, rural or overseas). [adapted from author]

This study explores the role of provider motivation in the quality of maternal and neonatal care. The main research questions were: which factors motivated these respondents to join the health professions; what is understood by the term motivation; what influences their motivation, job satisfaction and the quality of their care; and which incentives do these providers themselves suggest. [adapted from author]

A recent trial in Kenya showed that text-message reminders on adherence to malaria case-management sent to health workers’ mobile phones improved management of pediatric outpatients by 25 percentage points. This paper examines costs and cost-effectiveness of this intervention. [from abstract]

This paper applies a health systems perspective to guide analysis of potential challenges of scaling up mHealth for the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of community-based health services (CBS) in South Africa. This formalisation of CBS is expected to bring greater standardisation of M&E and supervision systems for community health workers. [adapted from author]

This study identifies the implications of different types of supervision for healthcare worker job satisfaction and intention to leave the workplace in Malawi, Tanzania, and Mozambique. [adapted from author]

This study was collected data from caregivers who work directly with vulnerable children to explore how care decisions are made by community-based volunteers, and the utility of the Child Status Index at the community level as a job aid. [adapted from summary]

In this study, decentralisation of anitretroviral treatement (ART) initiation by professional nurses through the Nurse Initiatied Management of Antiretroviral Treatment (NIMART) program was shown to increase ART uptake and reduce workloadat referral facilities, enabling them to concentrate on complicated cases. [adapted from author]

This review evaluates whether task shifting of ART initiation and management from physicians to nurses increases access to antiretroviral therapy, the primary purpose cited for the implementation of task shifting policies. [from introduction]

To address the lack of information to guide the development of policies and programs on HRH, this book aims to paint a comprehensive picture on HRH, consolidating new and existing evidence. The book highlights in particular new evidence on some of the underlying determinants impacting stock, distribution and performance of health workers in Ghana, including health worker production and attrition, management and accountability structures, the capacity of health training institutions, and health worker compensation. [from author]

This paper describes the history of how an experimental study set the stage for a national program for promoting community-based primary health care—the Community-Based Health Planning and Services initiative, which deployed nurses to the community and engaged local leaders, reducing child mortality and fertility substantially. [adapted from author]

This controlled study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a personalized HIV risk-reduction intervention delivered by community health workers to people who know they have HIV and who are not on treatment. [from author]

This report outlines a project to apply a quality improvement approach to Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program, which was designed to improve access and utilization of quality preventive, promotive and curative health care services in an accessible and equitable manner to reach all segments of the population, with special attention on mothers and children. [adapted from author]

This book sheds light on the status of health worker need, supply, and distribution across Africa. It analyzes regional and country data to address six key issues: the specific levels of human resources for health in Africa; differences in human resources for health across countries; changing roles of the public and private sector in the healthworker market; motivation for health worker performance; health worker training; and producing health workers. [adapted from author]

This study examines the supply of, demand for, and policy
environment of private nurse production in four selected countries. [from abstract]

This study examined the Botswana lay counselor cadre, a task shifting initiative, to explore effectiveness and contribution to the health workforce. [from abstract]

This article describes a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Peter C. Alderman Foundation and Ugandan government institutions that demonstrated the feasibility of delivering low cost, evidence-based mental health care to massively traumatized populations in northern Uganda through PPPs. [adapted from author]

This report describes key pharmaceutical human resource issues, the proceeding of the pharmaceutical human resources consultation meeting, steps leading to the development of the human resources strategy and the pharmaceutical human resources strategy framework which sets out a strategic agenda for action to address capacity issues in the pharmaceutical sector. [adapted from introduction]

This strategic plan for HRH in Sudan is introduced with the aim of guiding the efforts and further work in developing human resource plans at different levels of the health system in a comprehensive approach that considers all dimensions of HRH. The plan defines the priorities of HR issues; and accordingly recommends strategic goals and objectives to revive and improve HRH policies, planning, production, distribution and HR management systems to improve individual performance and training services. [from summary]

The main objective of this assessment was to determine human resources availability in the pharmaceutical sector in Sudan. The assessment was done in six states and included the Ministry of Health and its agencies, pharmacy education providers, public health facilities, private retail pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and local pharmaceutical companies. [adapted from author]

This document aims to serve as a policy guide for the provision of continuing professional development (CPD) to health care professionals affiliated with Federal and State ministries of Health in Sudan. This policy framework sets regulations, standards and norms. [adapted from author]

The authors undertook a qualitative study, along with a large census and health-provider survey in to understand priorities for quality in health care from the perspectives of health workers and community members in Tororo District, Uganda and factors potentially amenable to change that could enable these qualities to be enacted to increase equitable access to quality health care for the local population. [adapted from author]