Documents & Reports

This final report documents achievements and lessons learned from the activity and includes the findings from a desk review and training needs assessment that informed the development of the new training module and supplemental training and performance support materials. [from resource]

The group developed a set of guiding principles for working with para professionals to form a base from which to develop programs and activities related to how these workers can be trained, developed, deployed and supported. The group also decided that an important contribution to this area of work would be the development of a competency framework for para professionals that would outline the functions and competencies of para professionals and could be used to provide program guidance, accountability and ultimately inform both training and supervision. [from resource]

This report sets out the evidence that, even when people are counted, the counting is frequently not good enough. What is assumed to be an empirical fact – a statistic – is too often the result not of direct observation but of inference, assumptions or extrapolation, or political negotiation. In sub-Saharan Africa, some 133,000 women may have died from childbirth-related causes in 2013, or twice as many. We cannot be sure. [from introduction]

This report is the first of its kind to measure health service coverage and financial protection to assess countries’ progress towards universal health coverage. It shows that at least 400 million people do not have access to one or more essential health services and 6% of people in low- and middle-income countries are tipped into or pushed further into extreme poverty because of health spending. [from introduction]

The model of “health partnerships” or “twinning” between hospitals or health-care training institutions in high-income countries and those in low- or middle-income countries (LMIC) has a role to play in addressing global deficiencies in the quantity, quality and accessibility of human resources for cancer control. [from abstract]

The scoping paper focuses primarily on interventions and policies that lie at the intersection of immunisation and community engagement approaches. [from abstract]

This publication sets out to examine the major challenges for indigenous peoples to obtain adequate access to and utilization of quality health care services. It provides an important background to many of the health issues that indigenous peoples are currently facing. Improving indigenous peoples’ health remains a critical challenge for indigenous peoples, States and the United Nations. [from forward]

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain hospital nurses’ work motivati on and the factors associated with it. The study was performed between 2009 and 2014. [from abstract]

This report, based on a review of systematic reviews of the effects on health of Health System Strengthening (HSS), presents a significant body of evidence linking HSS interventions to measureable impact on health for vulnerable people in low- and middle-income countries. Making decisions on who delivers health services and where and how these services are organized is important to achieve priority health goals. The findings of this report document the value of investing in HSS. [adapted from resource]

This eleventh edition of Progress for Children is UNICEF’s final report on the child-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It presents latest data that show while the MDGs helped drive tremendous advances in the lives of the world’s children, development efforts in the past 15 years failed to reach millions of the most disadvantaged. The report spotlights where the international community must now focus attention and action to reach the most vulnerable children and achieve sustainable growth. [from abstract]

These WHO guidelines provide recommendations for programmes as to how they can ensure that human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled, while services are scaled up to reduce unmet need for contraception. Both health data and international human rights laws and treaties were incorporated into the guidance. [from abstract]

This study intends to provide an update of the status of the human resources for health (HRH) subsystem in six countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)—Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay. The study’s discussion centers around five questions: how the health workforce is financed, how it is organized, how it is managed, how it is regulated, and how it performs. Further, the study strives to understand what role, if any, performance management policies and incentives play in these countries’ HRH subsystems.

In Benin, CRS has been piloting a health microinsurance (HMI) product since March 2012. We have been delivering it to members of Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) through NSIA (a local insurance company) and Caritas Natitingou in northern Benin. From March 2012 to December 2014, coverage has nearly doubled from 715 to more than 1,300 SILC members and their dependents. The project team recently conducted an evaluation of progress. The evaluation included 12 SILC focus groups to learn more from their experiences in using the health microinsurance product. [from introduction]

We review studies assessing the health-related impacts of mobile health (mHealth) on NCDs in low- and middle-income countries (LAMICs) with the aim of giving recommendations for their further development. [from introduction]

There is a growing demand from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to understand the conditions and requirements for achieving UHC. Following the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Japan’s own achievement of UHC(in 1961), the World Bank Partnership Program on Universal Health Coverage (the Program) was conceived as a joint effort by the government of Japan and the World Bank to respond to this growing demand from LMICs for technical advice and investment support for designing and implementing UHC policies and strategies. [from introduction]

This report sheds light on key social service workforce data and trends in 2014, showcases innovative and effective workforce strengthening initiatives, and highlights the impact of a lack of data in this fairly new area
of focus. This first annual report is envisioned as a first step among many other global, regional, and national
efforts to better describe, depict, and analyze efforts to strengthen the social service workforce. [from executive summary]

The field of mobile health (mHealth) is experiencing a real need for guidance on public–private partnerships
among players as diverse as the mobile industry, technology vendors, government stakeholders and mHealth service providers. This guide provides a practical resource for mHealth service providers (e.g.

Recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa have put viral hemorrhagic fever diseases in the spotlight. Uganda has had several outbreaks throughout the years, which have successfully been managed. Nurses’ patient education plays an important role in the work to increase public awareness about viral hemorrhagic fever diseases. The objective of this study was to assess how nurses at the emergency department educate the patients and relatives about the viral hemorrhagic fever diseases. [from abstract]

The objective of this guidance is to issue evidence-based recommendations to facilitate universal access to key, effective maternal and newborn interventions through the optimization of health worker roles. These recommendations are intended for health policy-makers, managers and other stakeholders at a regional, national and international level. [from introduction]

This paper summarizes the outcome of a rapid baseline survey and reveals critical gaps in the policy framework for HRH as well as resource constraint that must be addressed through additional budgets and better articulation of health workforce issues beyond personnel emoluments. The study shows the need for civil society organizations to join hands with development partners, Faith based organizations to advocate and support implementation of specific measures to address well documented HRH challenges. [from introduction]

This position paper highlights the outcome of a recent mapping exercise in Turkana, Machakos and Kibera. Insights
from this study indicate that communities have embraced the Community Health Strategy and its contribution to improved
health status. [from introduction]

The main objective of the evaluation was to conduct a review of the support given by the Capacity Kenya Project at the selected demonstration sites and their contribution to the health worker productivity and/or retention. [from introduction]

This study sought to assess the staff requirements, work load and performance with respect to the CH work force
using workload indicator of staffing need (WISN) tool. The ultimate objective was to provide information to guide the organization, management and development of the work force. [from abstract]

The meeting was organized under three themes: (i) rural retention of health workforce; (ii) transforming and scaling up health professionals’ education and training; and (iii) human resources for health in the context of universal health coverage(UHC). [from abstract]

This paper presents global estimates on rural/urban disparities in access to health-care services. The report uses proxy indicators to assess key dimensions of coverage and access involving the core principles of universality and equity. Based on the results of the estimates, policy options are discussed to close the gaps in a multi-sectoral approach addressing issues and their root causes both within and beyond the health sector. [from abstract]

This brief is a summary of the West Africa private health sector assessment conducted by the SHOPS project. The assessment looked at six countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Niger, and Togo. The brief presents the assessment methods, findings, and both regional and country-specific recommendations. The recommendations aim to strengthen family planning and HIV service delivery by leveraging the unique capabilities of the West Africa Health Organization as well as each country’s private health sector. [from resource]

In many developing country settings, limited resources constrain the development and expansion of certain technology infrastructures — such as high-speed Internet — that could facilitate more efficient data collection and reporting in the health sector. Mobile technologies may offer an affordable alternative to (or alongside) other electronic health applications in many low-resource settings. In this paper, current uses of such mobile technologies in the developing world are discussed, and how these approaches can be applied to improve national monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems.

The use of mHealth interventions withinin health systems research is increasing, with few taking into account the connections between gender and mHealth. This policy brief attempts to fill this gap by exploring key connections between mHealth and gender that need to be taken into account when conducting or implementing mHealth research and interventions.

The Regional strategy on strengthening health workforce education and training in the South-East Asia Region specifically identifying priority activities to be initiated by WHO and Member countries, will guide and facilitate country initiatives on strengthening health workforce. WHO is totally committed to play the lead role in catalysing the implementation of this regional strategy. [from abstract]

The Health Financing sustainability policy is based on the overall health sector policy which is also in compliance with the Vision 2020 of the Government of Rwanda. The health sector has been characterized by successful innovations in health financing such as the Community Based Health Insurance Schemes (CBHIS), the Performance Based Financing (PFP) approach for both health facilities and the Comm unity Health Workers (CHW) cooperatives whose positive impact has been documented. [from forward]