Latest Resources

To help build the health workforce in Uganda, the Capacity Project is assisting the Ministry of Health to strengthen its human resources management and ability to gather and use accurate data for strategic planning. Drawing on key policy questions developed by the Health Workforce Advisory Board, the Capacity Project installed a certification and licensing information system at the four health professional councils and a human resources management system at the Ministry of Health.

This technical brief describes in some detail the human resources managment (HRM) problems that contribute to the health worker crisis, as these have often been underplayed, or not addressed at all. The brief also identifies specific strategic actions that ought to be taken to address these HRM challenges, and concludes with some examples of broad futuristic thinking and innovations to stimulate donor and programmatic funding opportunities for strengthening HRH. [from author]

Several high-profile meetings have focused global attention on critical human resources for health (HRH) issues, providing much needed high-level support and calls for action to address the HRH crisis. The Capacity Project’s HRH Action Workshop series was intended to extend this work by focusing on specific HRH actions and experiences, what is being done in countries, what is working and what is not.

This summary of the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses findings and recommendations from this event, as well as issues covered at the conference including development and planning of rural HRH strategy; strengthening community and rural health workers and primary healthcare; and fostering regional cooperation on HRH.

This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses the supply, demand and distribution of nurses in Thailand, as well as a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) to ascertain the assignment preferences of recent nursing graduates.


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This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses the potential impact of globalization and the challenges this presents to Sri Lankan health workers.


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This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses training effectiveness in the Pacific island countries.


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This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses the need for the development of a disaster management course for healthcare workers in Sri Lanka.


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This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses the current issues confronting the nursing and paramedic professions in Bangladesh [adapted from presentation].


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This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses the need to revisit public heath core competencies at the country levels, as well as which core competencies are required and how to proceed with implimentation [adapted from presentation].

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This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference provides a policy analysis case study on mitigating the impact of nurse migration in the philippines as well as an evaluation of the UK-Philippines Bilateral Labor Agreement [adapted from presentation].

This case study of the Indian state of Rajasthan highlights the challenges and draws lessons for effective implementation of District Health Action Plans. [from presentation]

This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses the role of primary healthcare (PHC) in the WHO Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), specifically regarding non-communicable diseases (NCD) [adapted from presentation].


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This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses the potential impact of global governance on the international health workforce crisis [adapted from presentation].


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This presentation by the Global Health Workforce Alliance from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses global governance as a means of addressing the international health workforce crisis [adapted from presentation].


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This presentation by the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region Office from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses the regional perspective on matters affecting HRH including health worker distribution and vulnerable populations [adapted from presentation].


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This World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses regional HRH-related problems and their causes, as well as potential health workforce planning options [adapted from presentation].


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This presentation from the 2008 Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resource for Health Conference discusses aspects of the global HRH situation including the global maldistribution of health workers and scaling up health workforce production [adapted from presentation].


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According to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, there were only 0.589 physicians per 1000 population in 2006 This ratio is well below that of many countries with equivalent income levels. In order to determine the optimum level of production of medical graduates within the country, it is necessary to understand the extent of entry of foreign medical graduates into the national workforce, as well as the proportion lost to the workforce through overseas migration. [from abstract]

One of the most significant impacts of globalization on India’s healthcare industry has been the direct trade in health-related goods, services and health professionals. This paper examines the opportunities and challenges for medical tourism in India and attempts to assess its potential impact on the country’s health workforce and health system. [adapted from introduction]

Thailand has considerable inequity in the geographic distribution of doctors. The population-per-doctor ratio is highest in some of the country’s poorest regions. This paper discusses the internal brain drain of physicians in Thailand. [adapted from abstract]

This paper discusses the current health situation in eastern Indonesia and the problems facing health workers at health centers in the remote country border areas of that region. [adapted from abstract]

While the recruitement of rural doctors is steadily rising, there is concern about their long-term retention. In response, an orientation course for recently established rural doctors was set up in 2003, based on a training needs assessment. This paper draws lessons from this experience, focusing on processes and mechanisms operating in the relation between training and retention in rural practice. [adapted from author]

This article reports on an initiative in a rural New Zealand community to meet the need for after hours care. First contact for patients is with a community nursing team operating from the local health centre, complemented by on-call advice from GPs and GP clinics twice daily at weekends. The article reports on the demand for after hours services generated by a geographically defined community in New Zealand. [from introduction]

There is a widely held belief that states with more specialists have poorer-quality health care, while quality is better in states with more family physicians. This is myth. Quality is better in states with more physicians, both specialists and family physicians. Access depends on total physician supply, irrespective of specialty. Population density, per capita income, and regional factors all influence this relationship, but the data are unequivocal. [abstract]