Reviews

This paper reviews the situation and trend in human resources for health and its priority problems in Thailand. It also highlights the issue of the inequitable distribution of doctors. Through several brainstorming sessions among stakeholders, it summarizes a package of recommendations for the future continuous and sustainable knowledge-based human resources for health development. [from abstract]

This review of experience in accreditation and external quality assessment systems was produced at the request of the UK Department for International Development in India. The purpose of this review is to describe where External Quality Assessment fits in the broader set of levers that exist for engaging with health care providers and organisations in developing countries in order to improve quality and affordability of care. This information is partially based on theory, but primarily presents lessons learned and experience with accreditation and other assessment methods in both OECD and developing countries.

The focus of McKinsey’s research effort is on the HRH constraint, faced by many
developing countries, in absorbing development aid and scaling up urgently
needed health programs. HRH in this context is defined as the health workers
at the front line of healthcare service delivery. The field work necessary to
diagnose the problem and identify possible solutions has been initiated in
Tanzania. We believe these findings, accounting for certain differences, will be
broadly applicable to several developing countries.

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]

This case study describes how five Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) trainers and supervisors conducted an assessment of provider knowledge and skill to carry out IMCI at 38 facilities in two districts in Kenya. [author’s description]

Mental health care is an essential but often forgotten component of health care. Nurses are core health-care providers and they need to be able to contribute effectively to mental health care. [This document] presents results of a global survey on the availability, education, training and role of nurses in mental health care. [from foreword]

Childhood immunization is a major public health concern in Cambodia. Given the high infant and child mortality rates and the low uptake rate of immunizations, a study of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of communities and health workers was conducted to identify barriers to immunization and inform future information, communication and education (IEC) strategies. Quantitative and qualitative research was conducted to discover the KAP of communities and health workers towards immunization services and the introduction of hepatitis B vaccine. This paper reports on qualitative research with villagers and health workers.

While the scale of the [health worker shortage] crisis is huge, solutions do exist. Many countries and communities around the world have begun to develop and implement innovative initiatives to sustain and build the health workforce. Several such examples are highlighted here. They address such issues as retention in rural areas, AIDS treatment for health workers, and the deployment of paraprofessionals to extend health care access deeper into communities. Many of these examples focus on rural areas, which typically have only a fraction of the number of health workers as urban areas due to more difficult living conditions, social and professional isolation, and weaker health infrastructure. [publisher’s description]

Significant numbers of African-trained health workers migrate every year to developed countries including Canada. They leave severely crippled health systems in a region where life expectancy is only 50 years of age, 16 per cent of children die before their fifth birthday and the HIV/AIDS crisis continues to burgeon. The population of Sub-Saharan Africa totals over 660 million, with a ratio of fewer than 13 physicians per 100,000. [from introduction]

This report discusses the impacts of malaria on business. It reviews the academic literature on the impacts of malaria on economies and businesses, presents data from survey on the business impacts of malaria, discusses the actions the private sector can take to combat malaria, and reviews examples of business malaria programs. The final section makes some recommendations for businesses considering engagement in malaria control. [adapted from author]

This publication is part of a series that highlights some of the key challenges, opportunities and practical examples that were identified in dialogues among over 400 leaders in business, government, development agencies, civil society, and academia to share good practices and identify practical and feasible models of collective business action and public-private partnership aimed at achieving more systemic and scalable solutions to global challenges. It makes recommendations for ways that companies can get directly engaged in specific initiatives on-the-ground. [adapted from author]

This report aims to provide assistance to business and associated partners in recognising the business case for further action against HIV/AIDS in the workplace and beyond. This is achieved through providing evidence of the impact that HIV/AIDS has on business activities and by highlighting the lessons learned from past and current responses. Guidance is provided in the form of policy tools, case studies and an examination of how to undertake successful partnerships in response to HIV/AIDS. This publication does not seek to provide standard models but tools to guide effective, efficient and needs-specific responses to HIV/AIDS.

This paper, which was prepared as background for the Working Group on Performance Based Incentives, looks at a particular type of financing intervention that has been applied in several different ways around the world to address the joint problems of underutilization and low quality of health services. The focus is on demand- and supply-side financial and material (examples: food, travel vouchers) incentives that can be used to improve utilization and quality of ambulatory health care services, especially for the poor. [from introduction]

This paper is a systematic literature review on the effectiveness of working with private for-profit providers to reach the poor. [adapted from abstract]

In this policy brief, we review approaches to capacity planning, a crucial component of health care governance. By concentrating on a diverse selection of countries, we aim to show a range of approaches to health care financing and organization, since both of these factors have an impact on approaches to capacity planning. [adapted from introduction]

The aims of this study are: to examine to what extent critical care and advanced practice nurses’participation in an online listserv constituted a community of practice, and to explore how the nurses use electronic media to communicate with one another. Findings suggest that the online listserv environment, as a whole, did function as an online community of practice, where participation not only served as an avenue for knowledge sharing situated in the actual context of the nurses’ everyday work experience, but also helped to reinforce identity of the nursing practice itself. [from abstrac

The paper describes the primary health care achievements of the country with respect to the current status of the community health care workers, factors which contributed to their achievements and how their roles and responsibilities can be modified to face the future challenges. [from abstract]

This resource paper uses a simple framework to provide an analytical review of human resources for health (HRH) strategic plans that have been generated over the last few years by countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are faced with an HRH crisis. The author collected and analyzed HRH strategic plans for the following countries: Eritrea, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia. The paper explores some of the key dynamics and steps in the evolution of these plans, including the plan development process and content, implementation bottlenecks and the frequency with which the plans are reviewed or evaluated.

In this paper we attempt to provide an overview of the concepts and practice of community health workers (CHWs) from across a range of (developing and developed) countries, and draw some insights into policy challenges that remain in designing effective CHW schemes, particularly in the Indian context. In the subsequent sections, we provide a review of the various ways in which community health workers have been deployed in different settings. [from introduction]

This review paper revisits questions regarding the feasibility and effectiveness of community health worker programmes. This review aims to assess the presently existing evidence. It constitutes a desktop review, which draws together and assesses the evidence as it can be found in the published and selected grey literature since the late 1970s. [from executive summary]

Guidance for integrated postpartum care at the community/household level that reduces maternal and newborn mortality and encourages health in the immediate postpartum period is lacking. This report identifies and summarizes descriptive and research studies of existing community-based postpartum programs which provide counseling and services along with education on self-care. The literature review identified three models of community-base postpartum care: home visits by professional health care providers, home visits by community workers and home visits by community workers with referral or health facility support.

Facilitator-led training of 20 healthcare providers in IMCI requires 11 days of lectures/practice and 6 facilitators, while the QA Project’s computer-based training requires 9 days and 4 facilitators. This study compared the cost-effectiveness of the two methods and found that both courses had equal effects on participants’ knowledge and skills, and retention after three to four months. The computer course was about 25 percent less expensive, excluding the cost of developing the software and for the computers used in the training. [publisher’s description]

This report provides inforation on the potential establishment of regulatory bodies for allied health professionals in the ECSA region. It introduces the concept of regulation and the traditional methods of regulation, discusses the contextual issues, outlines five possible regulatory models, provides some draft model legislative provisions to regulate AHPs, and describes how to establish and implement a regional body. [adapted from author]

This primer introduces key aspects of contracting and summarizes key lessons from countries’ experiences in contracting-out. In doing so, it is intended to serve the practical needs of contracting practicioners in developing countries that are considering contracting as a way to deliver RH/FP services. Intended users include country-level decision makers, contract operation managers, and mission officers and advisers from donor agencies. [publisher’s description]

There is a growing conviction among policy-makers that the availability of adequate numbers of well-trained and motivated human resources is a key determinant of health system’s capacity to achieve their health, responsiveness and fairness-improving goals. The objective of this study was to estimate the cost, effectiveness and incremental cost effectiveness ratios of various distance-education strategies for the health sector in Swaziland; and recommend the most cost-effective option. [abstract]

The migration of health professionals from developing countries in general, and sub-Saharan African countries in particular, has become the subject of considerable theoretical and case study research attention in international migration and human resources for health (HRH) literature. This report is a review of all available literature on the costs and benefits of the migration of health workers from East and Southern African (ESA) countries to developed nations. [from executive summary]

The township health system in Myanmar is regarded as means to achieve the end of an equitable, efficient and effective health system based on the principles of primary health care approach. A township hospital caters medical care at the second referral level. Under the leadership and management of a Township Medical Officer in each township, para-professionals deployed at Rural Health Centers (RHCs) and Sub-centers under each RHC’s jurisdiction play key roles for providing primary health care services for rural population. There had been an expansion of township hospital beds, RHCs and Sub-centers during the past 15 years.

The intent of the report is to stimulate creative discussions among [British Colubia’s] health system stakeholders about opportunities for coordinated action on employee and workplace health. The best available evidence suggests that the scope and depth of workplace health challenges today require solutions that go beyond traditional workplace health promotion programs.

The nurse is the single most important frontline health worker. Without nurses the clinics, community health centres and hospitals cannot function. It is therefore critical that nurse education and the supply of nurses form an integral part of transformation of health services in South Africa. According to the Department of Health there is a need to significantly increase the production of all categories of nurses in order to fulfil the requirements of South Africa. Attracting new recruits to the profession is an integral part of increasing production. It is for this reason that a study was undertaken to assess the attitudes of school leavers towards taking up nursing as a profession, and the reasons for these attitudes.

In response to increased global public health funding initiatives to HIV/AIDS care in Africa, this study aimed to describe practice models, strategies and challenges to delivering end-of-life care in sub-Saharan Africa. A survey end-of-life care programs was conducted, addressing the domains of service aims and configuration, barriers to pain control, governmental endorsement and strategies, funding, monitoring and evaluation, and research. Both closed and qualitative responses were sought. [author’s description]