Tanzania

Supervision plays a key role in performance and motivation, but is frequently characterized by periodic inspection and control, rather than support and feedback to improve performance. This paper explores the perceptions of district health management teams in Tanzania and Malawi on their role as supervisors and on the challenges to effective supervision at the district level. [from abstract]

This article examines and documents the experiences facing the implementation of decentralization of health services from the perspective of national and district officials, including inadequate funding, untimely disbursement of funds from the central government, insufficient and unqualified personnel, lack of community participation in planning and political interference. [adapted from author]

The aim of this study was to assess health workers’ perceptions, practices use of malaria diagnostics, prescription behavior and factors affecting adherence to test results at primary health care facilities in Kibaha District, Coast Region, Tanzania. [adapted from abstract]

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of self-reported occupational exposure to HIV among health care workers and explore factors that influence the practice of managing occupational exposure to HIV by health care workers in Tanzania. [from abstract]

This protocol outlines a controlled before and after study that will examine the effect of a pay-for-performance incentive program on quality, coverage, and cost of targeted maternal and newborn healthcare services and selected non-targeted services at facilities in Tanzania. [adapted from abstract]

This evaluation aims to describe and analyze peer-to-peer learning among health workers and the spread of better care practices within regions and across regions improve care provided to those needing HIV and AIDS services. [adapted from summary]

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]

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

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 presentation from the Irish Forum for Global Health 2012 outlines research that explored the perceptions of district health management teams in Tanzania and Malawi on their role as supervisors and the challenges to effective supervision at the district level. [adapted from author]

This report presents the results of an assessment of the use of distance learning to alleviate the shortage of health care workers in Tanzania. Its objectives include: determine the feasibility of and demand for distance learning in Tanzania to meet the current need for skilled and qualified health care workers; create a detailed inventory of distance learning programs; describe the training that distance learning could provide, and identify the potential cadres that could benefit from new or expanded distance learning programs. [adapted from author]

This paper describes a text message-based solution that harnesses the prevalence of mobile phones coupled with several open source tools to empower para-social workers who carry the primary responsibility in providing essential services to the growing population of orphans and vulnerable children in Tanzania. [adapted from abstract]

This situational analysis of a twinning center’s para-social worker training program in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Nigeria provides a descriptive snapshot of the evolution and current status of the programs, and identifies lessons learned and promising practices across all three programs, especially those that might guide possible program scale-up or replication. [adapted from summary]

The objective of this study was to compare the job satisfaction and intention to leave of different categories of health workers in Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa. The results caution against generalising about the effectiveness of interventions in different contexts and highlight the need for less standardised and more targeted HRH strategies than has been practised to date. [from abstract]

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 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 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]

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]

PCT aims to improve adherence to tuberculosis treatment by giving patients the choice of having drug intake supervised at the health facility by a medical professional or at home by a supporter of their choice. This study assessed whether key elements of the PCT approach were being implemented, evaluated supporters’ knowledge, captured opinions on factors contributing to treatment completion, and assessed how treatment completion was measured. [from abstract]

The objectives of this research were to describe women’s health-seeking behaviour and experiences regarding their use of antenatal and postnatal care; their rationale behind the choice of place and delivery; and to learn about the use of traditional practices and resources applied by traditional birth attendants and how they can be linked to the bio-medical health system. [from abstract]

The authors discuss the overlooked but significant role of universities in collecting, managing, and using human resources data in Tanzania and in other countries struggling to build their health workforce. They present options for Tanzania which are of relevance to other countries developing information systems for human resources for health. [from publisher]

In this article, the authors describe a pilot program developed by a Tanzania university to train its professional students (dentists, doctors, environmental health officers, nurses, and pharmacists) to work collaboratively with each other and with other health staff at the district level to be sure that staff have the specific skills needed to work in rural districts. [adapted from abstract]

The article describes an international collaboration that helped a Tanzanian school of pharmacy to move from preparing graduates who dispense medicines to preparing pharmacy practice leaders attuned to patient-focused, team-based care in hospitals, and education and surveillance in communities. [adpated from publisher]

Muhimbili University launched a transformation of its curricula to better prepare graduates to lead the health system for improved outcomes for Tanzania’s largely rural and underserved population. As the magnitude of curricular change, the process, and implications for improving population health are probably unprecedented in Africa, the authors describe the complex process and specify lessons relevant to health and education. [from publisher]

This article traces the history of health professional education in Tanzania and the development of the nation’s first health sciences university. [adapted from publisher]

This article outlines and reviews a multi-university partnership to address the health workforce crisis in Tanzania by enriching health professional education. [adapted from author]

This introduction to Tanzania’s health system and acute workforce shortage familiarizes readers with the context in which health professions education takes place. [from abstract]

This paper details the experience of developing an eLearning technology as a tool to implement competency-based medical education in Tanzania medical universities, inlcuding the background, early adoption attempts, challenges to implementation and lessons learned. [adapted from abstract]

This study provided an opportunity to assess the influence of health workers’ attitude to the usage of new malaria treatment recommendations. Overall, results showed variations in health workers attitudes and practices regarding new treatment recommendations in terms of type of health facility, ownership and type of health worker at six months post changes and two years later. [from author]