Documents & Reports

The Peruvian Ministry of Health approved the Policy Guidelines on Human Resources in Health to address important aspects such as training tailored to the needs of the country, development of competencies, decentralized management of human resources, motivation, and commitment. This summary outlines the process of implementing this political and strategic framework for carrying out programs to develop human potential with a competency-based approach. [adapted from author]

It is necessary to establish cooperation mechanisms between universities and health services in order to be able to adapt education of the health professionals to a universal and equitable model of service delivery and quality care. This report outlines the design of a competencies-based curriculum plan and syllabus for five universities in Peru. [adapted from author]

Through public-private partnerships, the government of Rwanda can make more efficient use of public resources by targeting and meeting the needs of specific populations and thus help ensure family planning services and products will be available to all Rwandans in the long term. This report aims to inform stakeholders working to strengthen family planning through multisectoral partnerships about Rwanda’s family market.

The focus of this brief is on examining how the lack of availability of trained personnel can constrain the ability of the government of Uganda to meet its strategic goals in scaling up antiretroviral treatment (ART). It utilizes a capacity module tool that estimates human resource requirements for HIV interventions. [from author]

As demand for family planning services in Peru increases, there needs to be a shift in how the public and private sectors respond. Promoting partnerships between the public and private sectors is a strategy for ensuring that unmet needs for services and contraceptives is satisfied, particularly among vulnerable populations in rural and remote regions. [from summary]

Although progress has been made in developing programs to reduce stigma and discrimination, lack of standardized indicators for measuring their effectiveness has inhibited application and scale-up of proven strategies. This working report presents the findings from an internet-based survey designed to validate the items in an health facility and provider stigma measurement tool. The goal was to assess the validity of items designed to measure the key drivers of stigma. [from introduction]

This paper explors the intersections between the universal health coverage paradigm and the current health workforce challenges and opportunities through an analysis of all the interconnected aspects of the planning, production and management of human resources for health, across the working lifespan of health workers. [adapted from summary]

This paper reports results from surveys in which enumerators made unannounced visits to primary schools and health clinics in Bangladesh, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Peru, and Uganda and recorded whether they found teachers and health workers in the facilities. Averaging across the countries, about 35 percent of health workers were absent. [from author]

This paper describes the history of development of a WHO code of practice as well as the legal nature and significance of this proposed international instrument. The paper then highlights some key substantive issues to consider when elaborating the text of a WHO code of practice, and presents the process for moving forward the development of a WHO code of practice. [adapted from introduction]

This code provides guidelines for an ethical approach to the international recruitment of health workers in a manner that takes into account the potential impact of such recruitment on health services in the source country and it seeks to safeguard the rights of recruits, and the conditions relating to their profession in the recruiting countries. [from author]

Recognizing the global human resources for health (HRH) shortage, the Alliance commissioned a task force to examine the HRH implications of scaling up to reach the Millennium Development Goal 6 of universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010. This report shares the results from this work and describes critical interventions to ensure there are sufficient HRH to support the scale up toward universal access. [from summary]

This report oulines the lessons learned from a program designed to to build the capacity of staff in health care centers and hospitals to effectively screen for intra-family violence and refer victims to appropriate services, and to better educate and involve men in sexual and reproductive health through pilot activities in Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. [adapted from author]

This report evaluates what kind of health care and health education were still being promoted five years after the Kisumu Primary Health Care project had ended, and what had happened to all the voluntary health workers that had been trained as part of the project’s focus on community health workers and community involvement in service delivery. [adapted from author]

This report explores the use of mobile devices in the collection and transfer of critical health data at the local, national and international levels. The paper is structured around three core healthcare domains: surveillance systems, supply chain, and human resources. Experts in these domains identify critical gaps in health information flows and offer recommendations on how technology-based solutions can be applied. [from publisher]

Addressing the challenges of the health crisis requires collaboration from multiple sectors and stakeholders with complementary roles. The CCF approach to human resources for health requires establishing and supporting the necessary governance structures for intersectoral coordination and collaboration to plan, implement and monitor health workforce development and retention at the country level, while working through one national HRH plan for an integrated health workforce response. [adapted from foreword]

This report examines approaches for the community management of sick children, specifically antimicrobial treatment, through the use of community health workers or their equivalent. It is based on an extensive review of literature, including peer-reviewed studies, reports, programme descriptions and program evaluations. [from introduction]

In this edition of CapacityPlus Voices, Mary Roroi of the National Department of Health in Papua New Guinea and Dr. Zulfiqar Khan of the World Health Organization in Pakistan discuss how they’re applying the HRH Action Framework to strengthen the health workforce. [from author]

This document describes core competencies related to human resources planning and management. It reflects the context of the challenges faced by the health sectors and the nursing workforce globally, and the important role played by nurses in managing and leading teams of highly skilled health professionals, in providing leadership in the provision of service delivery and care, and contributing at the highest levels to the ongoing development of a health care system that can deliver key improvements in health outcomes. [from summary]

This report summarizes the discussion and final recommendations from a meeting on integrating gender considerations into the curricula for health professional. It presents: an overview of experiences with integrating gender considerations into the curricula for health professionals; case examples; a synthesis of lessons learned about enabling conditions and strategies for integrating gender issues into the curricula of health professionals; and recommendations for core minimum gender competencies for health professionals. [adapted from introduction]

This report considers the degree to which National Health Service workforce planning in England is likely to support the delivery of a workforce that is fit for the future. To inform this assessment, the authors examine current developments at national and regional level, highlight relevant international experience, and propose ways in which planning could be made more effective. [from summary]

Numerous initiatives were undertaken during the third Health Sector Development Programme (HSDP III) to achieve universal access to primary health care, notably through the implementation of the health extension program and the accelerated expansion of health centers. This report highlights the major achievements and challenges of the health sector in 2002 under five major sections: leadership and governance, human resources development and management, essential medical products and technologies, service delivery and quality of care, and health financing.

This report examined the main problems faced by health care professionals in Morocco. In particular the report focuses on working environments, recruitment and staff retention. This report is an essential tool and resource to guide a response to the needs and concerns of health care professionals and drive improvements within healthcare working environments. [adapted from author]

This report provides a snapshot of the HRH policy and governance situation in the priority countries affected by severe HRH challenges. A one-page country brief has been prepared for each of the priority countries to give an update on their HRH status and progress. The briefs contain background demographic, health, health system and HRH statistics, as well as scores for responses to a tracking survey. [from author]

This report compares the foreign and domestic policies regarding health workers in five European Union countries, which have some of the highest densities of doctors and nurses in the world. It looks at the reasons for health shortages in both source and destination countries, exploring what needs to change or to be put into practice in order to fulfil the requirements of the WHO Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel and to strengthen health systems in the developing world. [from summary]

The 2010 edition of the SAHR focuses on two main issues: Reflections on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Perspectives on a National Health Insurance (NHI) for South Africa. As is customary, the Review ends with the Indicators section which provides a range of indicators relevant to the MDGs and NHI. [from summary]

The aim of this policy is to promote high standards of practice in the recruitment and employment of health professionals who are not South African Citizens or permanent residents in the health sector in South Africa. It attempts to preclude the active recruitment of health professionals from developing countries without specific government agreements. [adapted from author]

While purely private sector initiatives can also help to achieve HIV/AIDS objectives, this paper focuses on how public-private engagement can more sustainably contribute to health systems strengthening. [from introduction]

Carmen Dolea of the World Health Organization talks about the challenge of retaining health workers in rural areas, and how CapacityPlus is helping to apply the WHO’s new retention recommendations. [from author]

This Voices features Kayode Odusote’s experiences with helping West African countries to gather and use health worker data. [from publisher]

This paper we discusses the effect of feedback from current antiretroviral (ART) coverage to future ART human resources need on the sustainability of high levels of ART coverage.