Journal Articles

This paper describes and analyses the perceptions and opinions of managers and workers about the benefits and challenges of the contracting model for health services to private providers that has been in place for almost 10 years in Mexico. [adapted from abstract]

Lower-income countries face severe health worker shortages. Recent evidence suggests that this problem can be mitigated by task-shifting or delegation of aspects of health care to less specialized health workers. We estimated the potential impact of task shifting on costs of antiretroviral therapy and physician supply in Uganda. [from abstract]

This study examines US osteopathic residents’ and medical students’ attitudes and willingness to practice in rural medicine. The multiple aims of this study were to determine: if there are any significant differences in interest in rural medicine among various levels of training; the relative age, gender, and race of those who are intending to pursue a career in rural health; and whether a number of demographic characteristics or participation in a rural elective significantly impacted interest in practicing in a rural area. [adapted from abstract]

Some critics have claimed that disease-specific global health initiatives (GHIs) burden health systems that are already fragile in countries with few resources, whereas others have asserted that weak health systems prevent progress in meeting disease-specific targets. We use a review and analysis of existing data, and 15 new studies to describe the complex nature of the interplay between country health systems and GHIs. There are sections that specifically address the human resources for health and health information systems impacts. [from author]

The purpose of this review paper is to provide information and guidance to those in the health care setting about why it is important to combat HIV-related stigma and how to successfully address its causes and consequences within health facilities. [from abstract]

This paper provides a participant-observer perspective of the evolution of community health workers from vertical and isolated activities for TB, HIV and other specific diseases to an integrated community health team approach for tackling the main disease burden in a rural district of Mozambique. [from introduction]

This paper presents the roles of traditional healers in HIV/AIDS prevention and scopes for including them in the national AIDS prevention and control program.

Japan has experienced two large changes which affect the supply and distribution of physicians. They are increases in medical school enrollment capacity and in the proportion of female physicians. The purpose of this study is to estimate the future supply of physicians by specialty and to predict the associated impact of increased female physicians, as well as to discuss the possible policy implications. [from abstract]

The objective of this article was to determine the current practices of private practitioners for the management of STIs in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, evaluation of pharmacotherapy for STIs in private clinics and to ascertain the management of STIs compared to standard guidelines. [from author]

The aim of this study was to provide a baseline assessment in PMTCT in the traditional health sector to determine the views of women who have used the services of traditional practitioners before, during and/or after pregnancy; and to conduct formative research with traditional health practitioners (THPs), i.e. herbalists, diviners and traditional birth attendants on HIV, pregnancy care, delivery and infant care. [adapted from abstract]

Brain drain impedes maternal, neonatal, and child health and the fight against HIV/AIDS, and translates into loss of potential employers, teachers, and role models. Improving the health workforce database, wages, health resources and working conditions, task shifting, pay-back from recipient countries and migrant health professionals, securing additional investment in the health workforce, and the development of locally relevant medical training and research are useful measures to combat this problem. [from abstract]

The Integrated Management of Childhood Illness strategy can improve the quality of care for pneumonia and other common illnesses in developing countries, but adherence to these guidelines could be improved. We evaluated an intervention in Benin to support health worker adherence to the guidelines after training, focusing on pneumonia case management. [from abstract]

We conducted a survey among nurses and midwives working at district level in Sudan and Zambia to determine their roles and functions in polio eradication and measles elimination programs. [from abstract]

Quality of care in general practice may be affected by the team climate perceived by its health and non-health professionals. This study aimed to explore individual and practice factors that were associated with team climate, and to explore the relationship between team climate and quality of care. [from abstract]

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a community pharmacist intervention developed to improve adherence and outcomes of primary care patients with depression. [from abstract]

Evidence Based Practice (EBP) involves making clinical decisions informed by the most relevant and valid evidence available. Adopting an evidence-based approach to practice requires differing competencies across various domains including literature searching, critical appraisal and communication. This paper examines the current tools available to assess EBP competence and compares their applicability to existing assessment techniques used in medicine, nursing and health sciences. [from abstract]

The mandatory interprofessional education program - a process by which students and practitioners from various health professions learn together with the goals of interaction and collaboration in providing health promotion, disease prevention, curative services, rehabilitation and palliation - was initiated in 1999 at Gunma University. This paper is a statistical evaluation of the programme from 1999 to 2007. [adapted from abstract]

This study’s purpose is to compare how physicians, working for both public and privatized hospitals, rate their respective psychosocial working conditions and job satisfaction. [from abstract]

Poor public health indicators in Tanzania have led to the upgrading of nursing and clinical personnel who currently have just core training. This article reports on a project to assist the upgrade of clinical officers working around sexually transmissible infections within the context of healthcare, education and policy developments in Tanzania. [adapted from abstract]

This paper aims to describe the design, methods and approaches used to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the skilled care initiative in reducing pregnancy-related and perinatal mortality in Ouargaye district, Burkina Faso. [from summary]

The aim of this paper is to assess to what extent a skilled care initiative was associated with pregnancy-related mortality in Ouargaye district, Burkina Faso. [from summary]

This study sought to gain understanding of the motivations of community service (CS) officers to continue working at the same district hospital for a subsequent year after their obligatory year was over. The objectives were to determine the number of CS officers who actually remained at the same district hospital after completing their CS in 2002, the major factors that influenced them to remain and factors that would encourage the 2003 cohort of CS officers to remain at the same district hospital for an additional year. [from abstract]

The aim of the study was to investigate the profile of South African qualified physicians who had emigrated from South Africa. [from abstract]

This article discusses the prevalence of traditional health practitioners and what South Africa has done to support the cadre, including formalized recognition and licensing through the South African Traditional Health Practitioners Act.

A postabortion care program was implemented in 11 primary and secondary health facilities in rural Tanzania in order to decentralize comprehensive postabortion care to community level by upgrading midlevel providers to perform manual vacuum aspiration. [from abstract]

In Tanzania maternal and perinatal mortalities and morbidities are problems of public health importance, and have been linked to the shortage of skilled staff. We quantified the available workforce and the required nursing staff for perinatal care in 16 health institutions in Dar es Salaam. [from abstract]

The maldistribution of physicians between urban and rural areas has long been an important political issue in Japan. The aim of this study was to evaluate long-term transition in the geographic distribution of physicians, and to reveal which rural physician characteristics predict their retention in rural areas. [adapted from abstract]

This paper brings into focus the magnitude of the problem in terms of the number of nurses migrating to and from various countries and its impact on developing countries. The paper also examines some of the ongoing efforts in developing countries to mitigate the problem and sheds light on the prospects for improvement in the foreseeable future. [from abstract]

Access to HIV treatment in sub-Saharan Africa is constrained by the scarcity of physicians as they are the only providers legally allowed to initiate antiretroviral therapy in HIV-positive patients. This particularly impacts rural clinics staffed entirely by non-physician health workers. This article presents a pilot study from Uganda assessing agreement between non-physician clinicians and physicians regarding their decisions regarding the initiation of antiretroviral therapy. [adapted from abstract]

Rural and remote areas of Australia are facing serious health workforce shortages. While a
number of schemes have been developed to improve recruitment to and retention of the rural
health workforce, they will be effective only if appropriately targeted. This study examines
the factors that most encourage students attending rural clinical placements to work in rural
Australia, and the regions they prefer. [from abstract]