East Asia & Pacific

This paper provides a literature review and documents existing programmes for task shifting anaesthesia services to mid-level providers in South Asia to increase access to emergency obstetric care and reduce maternal mortality. [adapted from abstract]

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 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 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 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]

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]

This report reviews the current HRH status in eighteen targeted countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It focuses primarily on health education and training; the distribution and retention of health workers; and community health workers. [adapted from abstract]

Well-functioning health information systems are required to ensure the production, analysis, dissemination and use of reliable and timely essential human resources for health (HRH) information needed for workforce planning, management and evaluation. This project aims to produce a set of indicators and domains with definitions and associated fact-sheets to establish a minimum data set to record, share, analyse and apply HRH data.

The objectives of this paper are to highlight the situation of health workers in Pacific and Asian countries to gain a better understanding of the contributing factors to health worker motivation, dissatisfaction and migration; examine the regional and global evidence on initiatives to retain a competent and motivated health workforce, especially in rural and remote areas; and suggest ways to address the shortages of health workers in Pacific and Asian countries by using incentives. [from abstract]

Growing awareness of the need for improved accommodation between health systems and priority health programs is now prompting health systems to actively adopt measures that can help integrate and maximize the impact of Global Health Initiatives. At the same time, the Global Health Initiatives are starting to make a more active investment in systems strengthening. A concerted global effort is now required if the world is to take full advantage of these opportunities.

The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean held a regional consultation on the accreditation of health professions education. The objectives of the meeting were to enable countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region to exchange experience in establishing national systems of accreditation, identifying strengths and constraints, and to formulate region- and country-specific plans of action for establishing accreditation of health professions education. [from author]

Countries need high-quality human resources if they are to achieve more efficient, equitable sustainable health services. Teacher training, basic training and continuing education for health professionals, and upgrading of knowledge and skills (including health care management as well as clinical and public health skills) are a key strategic investment. In many countries, the need for skilled human resources is particularly acute because populations and health workers are dispersed and isolated. In such circumstances, the provision of effective high-quality continuing education through open learning may help to stem the migration of health workers to urban centres or abroad.

Health Systems in Transition (HiT) profiles are country-based reports that provide a detailed description of each health care system and of reform and policy initiatives in progress or under development. [publisher’s description] Each report contains a section on human resources for health including an overview of the situation and specific health workforce statistics.

Many countries around the world are now facing a huge brain drain of highly skilled professionals to well-paid jobs in developed countries. One of the worst affected sectors is healthcare, an area in which developing countries are struggling to keep professionals at home and encourage others to return. [auhor’s description]

This summary report provides information on nurse wages and the comparitive buying power of these wages in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The data are results from a survey of 11 National Nurses’ Associations. [from introduction]

It is envisaged that these common competencies will support the role of nurses within the region, provide direction for recognition of qualifications and for multi-country licensure programs and guidance for those countries that have not yet developed their specific competencies for nurses. This document details background information, the competency development process, the proposed WPSEAR Common Competencies, suggestions for their application and a glossary of terms. [author’s description]

This report is from a workshop on HRD for mental health in Pacific island countries. The objectives of the workshop were to evaluate the mental health training needs and resources in the Pacific island countries; to achieve consensus on guiding principles in the developmenet of national mental health education and training programs in the local context; and to identify mechanisms to support countries in developing and strengthening mental health training programs. [from summary]

The 2006 edition of CHIPS comprises the country profiles and the health databanks for the countries and areas of the WHO Western Pacific Region. The country profiles provide a general description of the sociodemographic and health conditions of each country, as well as the political and health care systems, including a description of the organization and financing of the health sector, including the role of the private sector and any key problems/limitations/ issues with funding, infrastructure, human resources, quality of services or inequalities in access to and use of services. The country

This is an overview of the Asian Action Learning Network on Human Resources for Health. Its objectives were: to share and discuss country problems, experiences, and priority actions required on human resource for health, to build up commitment on the establishment of the Asian Action Learning Network on HRH as a probable regional hub of the Global HRH platform, to develop the shared vision on the common goal of the Asian Action Learning Network on HRH, and to o develop a work plan for the Asian Action Learning Network on HRH, which covers the areas of information, research, capacity building and networking.

The Asian Action Learning Alliance is a response to international recognition of the need for global and regional action to strengthen country planning and action. There have been several key events and meetings, which have highlighted the issue. The meeting of key global and regional health development experts held in Oslo in February 2005 is an important global landmark which called for Global and Regional Platforms of action to be formed. [author’s description]

This report, Action against Sexual Harassment at Work in Asia and the Pacific, is intended to serve as a technical report for discussion at the ILO Regional Tripartite Seminar on Action against Sexual Harassment at Work, to be held in Penang, Malaysia from 2 to 4 October, 2001. The aims of the technical report, prepared for the ILO Regional Tripartite Seminar, are to familiarize participants with the phenomenon of sexual harassment at work and to give an overview of initiatives and good practice for its prevention and elimination as taken by governments, employers’, workers’ and women’s organizations.

The purpose of these Guidelines is to assist Member Countries in strengthening the management of their nursing and midwifery workforce and, through this, to assist in strengthening health care delivery and strategies for improving health. In particular, they aim to assist Member Countries by assisting them to effectively manage nursing and midwifery issues, including the problems of continuing shortage and maldistribution of nursing and midwifery personnel along with an inappropriate skill mix. [from introduction]

Migration and remittances are of considerable importance in the small Pacific island states. There has been a significant migration of skilled health workers in recent decades to metropolitan fringe states, including Australia and New Zealand. This paper reports the findings of a re-analysis of a survey of Samoan and Tongan migrants in Australia where the sample is split between nurse households and others.

This paper reviews lessons learned regarding getting decision-makers to recognise the nexus between workforce planning, overall health service development and operational policy; data collection and collation; moving beyond a simple personnel to population ratio approach; and adjusting the model to suit local circumstances. The project has identified some emerging and worrying trends in health workforce development. The need for consistent, sustained technical assistance which reflects long and wide experience in health service development and management is underlined. [abstract]