Sub-Saharan Africa

The focus of this study has been to identify the most common causes for the health worker high attrition rate and poor motivation within the health sector, and look at the various solutions that are possible. It brings together the findings of many relevant studies by other authors and identifies the most common reasons for high attrition rates. [adapted from summary]

This report is based on the accounts of 90 Ugandan health workers at the front line. The research explored with them the rewards and the challenges, explanations for perceived poor practices and promising solutions. The interim findings focus on the rewards of being a health worker and how low pay affects them. [from introduction]

This study was undertaken to make a clear needs assessment, define priorities and identify resources to plan appropriate continuing education programs and prepare reference materials for health workers, particularly with the deployment of 30,000 health extension workers which will create additional information access needs in Ethiopia. [adapted from abstract]

The study focuses on the first batch of Ethiopian Health Extension Workers (HEWs) with the overall objective of assessing the working conditions of HEWs and their job satisfaction. [from abstract]

The report takes a look at the haemorrhaging general pracitioner and specialist cadres and the skeletal, ageing and special skills-starved nursing sector in what it describes as South Africa’s “failing health system.” [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a quality improvement initiative for reproductive health providers on service qualtiy and related outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

This article outlines a project and its evaluation that used ICT equipment to increase the uptake of continuing professional development training in Uganda. [adapted from abstract]

This article explored the lessons learned by health workers involved in the provision of prevention of mother-to-child transmission services in eastern Uganda to better understand what more needs to be done to strengthen the program. [adapted from abstract]

The impact of HIV-specific funds and programmes on non-HIV-related health services and health systems in genera has been debated extensively. Drawing on evidence from Malawi and Ethiopia, this article analyses the effects of ART scale-up interventions on human resources policies, service delivery and general health outcomes, and explores how synergies can be maximized. [from abstract]

To help support the introduction of adult maled circumcision (MC) for HIV prevention in Kenya, this study was conducted to gather information about the current MC policy and program environment regarding HRH planning to support adult MC scale-up in four districts in Kenya. [from author]

This report on South Africa is part of a global research project on the origin and destination countries for migration of health workers around the world. It contends that the health and social worker migration must be considered in the broader context of the human right to health and decent work, ethical migration and recruitment processes, global human resources for health and the health related Millennium Development Goals.

This paper seeks to analyze the import of distance education for promotion of proficiency skills in the health sector and review ongoing professional development programmes for health workers in Ghana, and come out with strategies to offer training avenues leading to the professional growth of the individuals and economic growth of the country. [from abstract]

The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive, engaging, and visible framework of HRH system development. This has been further developed from the lessons distilled from Japanese experiences of supporting HRH system development in three fragile and post-conflict health systems: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cambodia. [from author]

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 paper describes the evaluation of a tailored HIV curriculum for village AIDS committees (VACs) within a rural area to determine if the curriculum increased levels of HIV knowledge among the VAC members through conducting baseline and post-training surveys. [adapted from author]

This paper uses ethnographic methods to document health workers’ antenatal care practices with reference to the national Focused Antenatal Care guidelines and identifies factors influencing health workers’ performance. Potential implications for improving antenatal care provision in Tanzania are discussed. [from abstract]

A study from rural Tanzania shows that health workers usually don’t do the investigations that are required to identify some of the deadly illnesses that could be diagnosed and treat. [adapted from author]

This brief outlines a study from rural Tanzania that shows that there is a huge potential for improving service quality with the existing workforce, by reducing the large gap between knowledge and practice. [adapted from author]

This brief reports the main results from a study aiming to compare worker effort levels in church-based and government health clinics in Tanzania. [from author]

The focus of this brief is on nurses’, clinical officers’ and assistant medical officers’ job preferences and their willingness to work in rural and remote areas in Tanzania. [from author]

Community case management of malaria is an established route for distribution of anti-malarial drugs in rural areas, but this study examined the feasibility and acceptability of the approach through Community Medicine Distributors (CMDs) in urban areas using before and after implementation studies in five African cities in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Malawi. [adapted from introduction]

This article evaluates an intensive three-month course developed to train non-physician clinicians for remote health centres to address the unmet need for emergency obstetrical care in rural areas.

This paper discusses the background of HRH shortages in the listed countries, as well as plans for steps to resolve the issue. [from publisher]

This study examines the ability of political, legal, health, and communities to respond to gender-based violence in Kigali, Rwanda. [from publisher]

Human resource shortages are viewed as one of the primary obstacles to provide effective services to growing patient populations receiving antiretroviral therapy and explanding access further. This article examined the relationship of patient volume, human resource levels, and patient characteristics with attrition from HIV treatment programs in central Mozambique. [adapted from abstract]

Traditional healers shoulder a large burden of care of patients with mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to describe the profiles and outcome of traditional healing practices for severe mental illnesses in Jinja and Iganga districts in the Busoga region of Eastern Uganda. [adapted from author]

This article argues that the combination of the widespread use of traditional healers and the shortages of biomedical human resources highlights the need for innovative experiments in making traditional healers potential co-partners in mental health care.

This study evaluated the feasibility of health worker training on and use of an abuse screening tool for women attending an outpatient department as a health care intervention to address gender-based violence. [adapted from author]

Given the very limited professional health care human resources in these settings, it is important to examine the evidence for the effectiveness of community health worker (CHW) programs as a delivery strategy for health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. This review focuses on the impact CHWs have when delivering curative interventions. [adapted from author]

This article outlines the pilot of a low-cost multi-component intervention for depression and other common mental disorders, locally adapted from problem-solving therapy and delivered by trained and supervised female lay workers, to learn if was feasible and possibly effective and how best to implement it on a larger scale. [adapted from abstract]