Sub-Saharan Africa

This document reviews the current human resources for health situation in Ethiopia, summarizes the evidence on population use of select health services, and offers relevant policy options to assist the government finalize its new human resources strategy and address remaining health challenges. [from summary]

This survey is a descriptive study of Sub-Saharan African medical schools to increase the level of understanding and expand the baseline data on medical schools in the region. [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.

This research evaluated the PALM PLUS (Practical Approach to Lung Health and HIV/AIDS in Malawi), a training and job-aid intervention designed to simplify and integrate existing Malawian national guidelines into a single, simple, user-friendly guideline for mid-level health care workers. [from abstract]

This study documented staffing levels and productivity in peripheral health facilities in southern Tanzania. [from abstract]

This account from one of the highly-qualified nurses and midwives who returned to Somaliland after the civil war relates what has been done to train a new generation of nurses and midwives, to improve standards of patient care, to develop relevant training programs and to foster regulation of the health sector. [from author]

This study examined the feasibility of using community health workers to implement cardiovascular disease prevention programs within faith-based organizations in Accra, Ghana. [from abstract]

This study carries out a microeconomic labor analysis of health worker career choice and of job behavior. It shows how common problems related to distribution or performance of HRH are driven by the behavior of health workers themselves and are determined largely by select monetary and nonmonetary compensation. [from abstract]

Verah Nkosi, a nursing-midwifery student at the Kamuzu College of Nursing in Malawi, shares her perspective and illustrates some common challenges for increasing the quantity and quality of graduates from health professional schools. [from author]

This project brief describes the HRH challenges in Kenya, and the work being done to strengthen HRH policies and practices, build the knowledge and skills of health workers, and improve workforce performance systems. [adapted from author]

The objective of this study was to compare compliance with national paediatric HIV treatment guidelines between nurse prescribers and doctors at a paediatric referral centre in Gaborone, Botswana. [from author]

This paper describes the way the HRH establishment is distributed in the different provinces of Zambia, with a view to assess the dimension of shortages and of imbalances in the distribution of health workers by province and by level of care. [from introduction]

This study investigated the career intentions of graduating students attending medical schools in sub-Saharan Africa to identify interventions which may improve retention of African physicians in their country of training or origin. [from abstract]

This article describes 3 staff care programs that provide convenient, confidential, and holistic care for HIV-infected health care workers and health care workers affected by caring for HIV-infected patients. [from author]

In Zambia, a study was carried out with the aim to: explore the impact of HIV/AIDS on health workers, describe their coping mechanisms and recommend supportive measures. [from author]

As the primary link between the formal health care sector and the household level in South Africa, community health workers (CHWs) provide a critical perspective on barriers
that exist in rural health care delivery. The results of this study suggest that CHWs recognize the need for HIV/AIDS- and TB-related interventions but are unable to provide a response commensurate to this need. [from abstract]

Based on a small inquiry to a number of experienced mental health professionals in sub-Saharan Africa, the authors discuss what a community concept of mental health care might mean in Africa. [from author]

This case study explores the process between donors and the government of moving pay for performance (P4P) from concept to design to implementation. It describes key areas of disagreement, and highlights the political tensions inherent in translating high-level interest in P4P into on-the-ground action. [from author]

The objective of this study was to assess the use determinants of skilled attendants at delivery in Mtwara rural district. The information obtained will help the district health management team to develop interventions to improve use of delivery care services and ultimately achieve the millennium goal to reduce the high rates of maternal mortality. [from author]

This review examines the use of various categories of community health workers as first line health workers in dealing, for example, with maternal and child health, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other issues throughout Africa. [from author]

A community-based project to increase community awareness about primary prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was implemented in an urban township of Cape Town. The aims of project were to utilise community health workers as change agents in their community and to develop a NCD model for an urban township community. [adapted from author]

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the quality of nursing service and care in three health districts in the KwaZulu Natal Province and to identify deficiencies which could be addressed by education and training for nurses. [adapted from abstract]

This short film shows the human face of the conflict affected health care. Entire villages have been destroyed and health-care centres looted in western Cote d’Ivoire, and mobile clinics provide the only health care for many villages in the area. [adapted from publisher]

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.

Two studies were conducted to assess modes of male circumcision (MC) service delivery to support the scale-up of MC for HIV prevention in Kenya in the public sector. Both studies examined clinical outcomes of and client satisfaction for MC services provided through task shifting performed by nonphysician clinician and by trained itinerant clinical officers. [adapted from author]

The Federal Ministry of Health, recognizing the complementary role of the market based private sector in the provision of quality health services at competitive price especially in the underserved areas, developed this policy document to define the role of private v/s public sector, to institute mechanisms for the regulation of health services delivery, setting up and monitoring of the minimum standards of care, and bring into fold the private sector in reporting within the defined parameters. [from author]

This paper examined the association of the family planning service delivery environment with contraceptive outcomes among males and females in five states of Nigeria, including the impact of health worker training in family planning, and the effect of the provider-client interaction on uptake of modern methods. [adapted from abstract]

Based on lessons learned from Tanzania, this resource advocates for the integration of community health workers (CHWs) into the revised HRH strategic framework, including the development of new strategies to enable CHWs to contribute more effectively to improved maternal and newborn health outcomes. [adapted from author]

This report details an eLearning intervention for nurses in Kenya to improve the standards of nursing care by equipping enrolled nurses with the skills to manage new and re-emerging diseases, address the shortage of qualified nurses in Kenya, improve quality of care and achieve health-related Millennium Development Goals. [adapted from author]

The overall goal of the post-graduation tracer survey was to determine the proportion of graduates still working in Southern Sudan, where they have been deployed, their specific duties, and the perceptions of the graduates on the effectiveness of the training program in preparing them for their duties. [adapted from author]