Namibia

This paper addresses an important practical challenge to staff management. We use a case study based on semi-structured interview data to explore the steps that Namibia, a country facing severe health problems that include an alarmingly high AIDS infection rate, has taken to manage its health workers. [from abstract]

The study was conducted with the aim of generating evidence needed to enhance the Ministry of Health and Social Services’ (MoHSS) endeavours to redressing inequities in resource allocation in Namibia. It specifically purports to develop a needs-based allocation formula that will assist the MoHSS to shift its resource allocation mechanism away from the historical incrementalist type. [from executive summary]

This is a guideline to replicate and scale-up a human resources promising practice documented by the Capacity Project for outsourcing human resources services (HRS) to obtain a rapid increase and deployment of the health workforce, making HIV services available in a short period of time, especially in underserved areas.

This book provides a comprehensive view of health services in Namibia for the period 1995 to 1999, using data from the Namibia Health Information System. Chapters include an introduction to the health system, a survey of Namibia’s population; issues of access and utilization of water, sanitation, and health facilities; the prevalence and burden of disease for outpatients, inpatients, and mortality; the four priorities of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and maternal and child care; twelve additional maladies; and national and regional profiles. Because of full-color maps and graphics, each chapter is separated into a downloadable pdf file.

This study was implemented as part of the EQUINET theme work on Human Resources for Health coordinated by Health systems Trust. The study set out to explore and describe the influence of conditions of service on the movement and retention of the health professionals in Namibia. It is a qualitative study targeting mainly professional nurses, doctors, social workers and health inspectors at both operational and managerial levels, in public and private sectors. [from executive summary]

In response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, Namibia’s public health sector is carrying out a comprehensive strategy to rapidly hire and deploy professional and non-professional health workers with the aim of providing comprehensive care, counseling and testing, as well as antiretroviral therapy (ART) and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). [from executive summary]

The Report on Efficiency of Public Hospitals in Namibia is produced to provide information on the status quo in efficiency of district hospitals. The report provides information on the state of the technical efficiency of district hospitals in Namibia using ratio and frontier techniques, namely data envelopment analysis. It indicates the efficiency savings that are expected from all the district hospitals and the required input use if each of the inefficient hospitals function as efficiently as their peers on the frontier. Furthermore, the basic concepts and methods of hospital efficiency measurement are discussed, thus, greatly contributing to the much needed capacity in the area of efficiency assessment in health care.