HRH Overview Documents

The shortage of human resources in health (HRH) in Africa remains severe and continues to be a major impediment to increasing coverage of HIV-related services. This eToolkit is meant to serve as a resource for those dealing with aspects of the HRH crisis, including individuals and organizations who wish to familiarize themselves with the various components of HRH, focusing primarily on Southern Africa. [adapted from author]

This document reviews the current human resources for health situation in Ethiopia, summarizes the evidence on population use of select health services, and offers relevant policy options to assist the government finalize its new human resources strategy and address remaining health challenges. [from summary]

This paper considers current HRH issues within pacific island countries from the perspectives of people who manage HRH within their country health ministry. The aim of this paper is to document and highlight their key areas of common concern. [from introduction]

This project brief describes the HRH challenges in Kenya, and the work being done to strengthen HRH policies and practices, build the knowledge and skills of health workers, and improve workforce performance systems. [adapted from author]

This short film, produced by the Global Health Workforce Alliance, portrays Mary, a midwife from Kenya and Elina, a trainee doctor from Nepal, two outstanding health workers who dedicate their lives to serving people in rural and remote areas of their respective countries. [from publisher]

This issue brief details the importance of investing in frontline health workers and officially launches the Frontline Health Workers Coalition. [from publisher]

This article reviews the progress countries have made in addressing their health workforce crisis. It also features the experiences of Malawi, Peru, Ethiopia, Brazil, Thailand, Philippines, Zambia and Mali. [from abstract]

This report makes the case for immediate and concrete action, both at the highest
international political level and at the national level in every country with a health worker shortage. [from preface]

Topics covered by this presentation include: the global backdrop; HRH in context; key HRH policy issues; interpreting the evidence base; HRH in the Pacific; and key priniciples for addressing HRH. [adapted from author]]

This document outlines the multifaceted and complex causes of the health worker shortage and makes the case for the United States and other developed countries to seriously address the problem of the global human resource shortage, particularly in the most disadvantaged countries. [adapted from summary]

This paper discusses the background of HRH shortages in the listed countries, as well as plans for steps to resolve the issue. [from publisher]

This technical brief discusses the potential impact of population growth on countries’ efforts to improve their populations’ access to skilled health workers. [from author]

This overview brief outlines the basic issues of HRH and the importance of boosting the capacity of the health workforce as part of health systems strengthening and as a priority need for achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.

This document outlines the primary causes of the human resources for health crisis and the need to address both institutional and individual factors to cope with these challenges. [adapted from author]

This special edition of the journal is dedicated to human resources for health.

This paper explors the intersections between the universal health coverage paradigm and the current health workforce challenges and opportunities through an analysis of all the interconnected aspects of the planning, production and management of human resources for health, across the working lifespan of health workers. [adapted from summary]

This paper provides information about the efforts and commitments by WHO member states and the various opportunities created by regional and global partners, including the progress made. It also explores issues and challenges
related to the underlying factors of the HRH crisis. [from author]

This article defines the present HRH situation, factors causing the present problems, available strategies to address human resource difficulties, staff retention and support, and which strategies offer the most promise. [adapted from author]

With increased globalization and interdependence among countries, sustained health worker migration and the complex threats of rapidly spreading infectious diseases a strong health workforce is essential. This article outlines the issues surrounding and the approaches to address the HRH crisis. [adapted from abstract]

This highly acclaimed 3:22 minute video from the Global Health Workforce Alliance emphasizes the importance of health workers and calls for a health workers for everyone, everywhere. [adapted from publisher]

This 7:50 minute documentary video is part of the BBC World News documentary series, “Kill or Cure.” In many countries around the globe, people live and die without ever seeing a health worker. It is a problem that is exacerbated by trained workers seeking better pay and conditions abroad, leaving already weakened health services in crisis. [from publisher]

This presentation defines health workers, their importance, the shortage, geographical distribution, the HRH situation, health workforce policies and planning aspects (financing, education, management systems, leadership, policy, partnership, critical success factors), and projection approaches. [adapted from author]

This overview dossier outlines the issue of the HRH challenge and the evolution and progress made in addressing it. It also includes key resources, key links and case studies.

This report provides a snapshot of the HRH policy and governance situation in the priority countries affected by severe HRH challenges. A one-page country brief has been prepared for each of the priority countries to give an update on their HRH status and progress. The briefs contain background demographic, health, health system and HRH statistics, as well as scores for responses to a tracking survey. [from author]

The aim of this paper is to assess the relationship between health workers and disability-adjusted life years, which represents a much broader concept of health outcome, including not only mortality but also morbidity. [from abstract]

This report compares the foreign and domestic policies regarding health workers in five European Union countries, which have some of the highest densities of doctors and nurses in the world. It looks at the reasons for health shortages in both source and destination countries, exploring what needs to change or to be put into practice in order to fulfil the requirements of the WHO Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel and to strengthen health systems in the developing world. [from summary]

This background paper to the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health discusses the critical role of human resources in meeting the MDGs. Human resources are the backbone of health systems, but if crucial HRH bottlenecks are not addressed it will not be possible to achieve the health MDGs. [adapted from author]

This paper examines the role of health workers in achieving MDGs 1, 4, 5, and 6. It calls for greater domestic and global attention – and the funding required – to comprehensively and effectively address health workforce issues in the context of the MDGs and developing equitable and accountable health systems. [from introduction]

This framework on how to accelerate the implementation of the regional strategy for the development of human resources for health has been prepared to provide guidance and focus on priority actions that could lead to real and positive changes in countries in the WHO African region. [adapted from summary]

A technical meeting on strengthening health workforce information systems was held on 10–12 March 2010 in Montreux, Switzerland. The aim of this meeting was to initiate discussion on how to promote a coordinated, harmonized and standardized approach to strengthening country health workforce information and monitoring systems to support policy, planning and research. [from summary]