Journal Articles

Integration of Gender-Transformative Interventions into Health Professional Education Reform for the 21st century: Implications of an Expert Review

The paper’s broad aim is to encourage HPE [Health Professional education] leaders to make gender-transformative reforms in the current way of doing business and commit to themselves to countering gender discrimination and inequality. Interventions to counter gender discrimination should be seen as integral parts of institutional and instructional reforms and essential investments to scale up quality HPE and recruit and retain health workers in the systems that educate and employ them. Implementation challenges spanning financial, informational, and cultural barriers need consideration.

How Do Malawian Women Rate the Quality of Maternal and Newborn Care? Experiences and Perceptions of Women in the Central and Southern Regions

Our objective was to measure women’s perceived quality of maternal and newborn care using a composite scale and to identify individual and service delivery factors associated with such perceptions in Malawi. [from abstract]

Assessment of Quality and Relevance of Curricula Development in Health Training Institutions: A Case Study of Kenya

The study recommended reviews of curricula to ensure their responsiveness to emerging issues in the health sector, the formation of curriculum committees to review curricula, development of official curricula review standards and an integrated mechanism to disseminate policies and guidelines. [from abstract]

Mobile Technology in Cancer Control for Emerging Health Systems: Digital Divide or Digital Provide?

There is a great deal of excitement around the use of mobile technology to overcome infrastructural limitation across all fields — business, health, education, agriculture and governance. There is however a contrasting view that mobile services and mobile technology solutions are not yet validated sufficiently to merit their use in strengthening or replacing existing public health delivery programs, and have no standard operating systems. [adapted from abstract]

Birth Location Preferences of Mothers and Fathers in Rural Ghana: Implications for Pregnancy, Labor and Birth Outcomes

Maternal deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa are largely preventable with health facility delivery assisted by skilled birth attendants. Examining associations of birth location preferences on pregnant women’s experiences is important to understanding delays in care seeking in the event of complications. We explored the influence of birth location preference on women’s pregnancy, labor and birth outcomes. [from abstract]

Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction of Nurses in Public Hospitals

Nurses play a crucial and important role in hospitals . Job satisfaction among any profession helps the individuals to perform better. In profes sion of nursing, job satisfaction has supreme importance, as they will perform better which ultimately af fect the condition of patients. The study aim s to examine satisfaction of job ( i.e. salary, working hours and work environment ) among nurses working in public hospitals [from abstract]

Trends in Task Shifting in HIV Treatment in Africa: Effectiveness, Challenges and Acceptability to the Health Professions

Task shifting has been suggested to meet the demand for initiating and managing
more patients on antiretroviral therapy. This paper will appraise current trends in task shifting related to HIV treatment programmes in order to evaluate evidence related to the effectiveness of this strategy in addressing human resource constraints and improving patient outcomes, challenges identified in practice and the acceptability
of this strategy to the health professions. [adapted from abstract]

Career Intentions Of Final Year Medical Students in Uganda After Graduating: The Burden of Brain Drain

Uganda has severe shortage of human resources for health despite the heavy disease burden. The country has one of the highest fertility, and population growth rates in the world and is in dire need of trained health workers. The aim of the study was to determine the career intentions of the final year medical students to leave the county and health field after graduating and the associated factors. [from abstract]

Strengthening Tactical Planning and Operational Frameworks for Vector Control: The Roadmap for Malaria Elimination in Namibia

Namibia has made tremendous gains in malaria control and the epidemiological trend of the disease has changed significantly over the past years. In 2010, the country reoriented from the objective of reducing disease mor bidity and mortality to the goal of achieving malaria elimination by 2020. This manuscript outlines the processes undertaken in strengthening tactical planning and operational frameworks for vector control to facilitate expeditious malaria elimination in Namibia. [from abstract]

Effect of Applying Performance Improvement Model on Ante-Natal Care Nurses Performance in Family Heath Centers in Qena City

This study attempts to identify the effect of applying performance impr ovement model on antenatal care nurses’ performance in family health centers. [adapted from abstract]

Moving Toward Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage: A Review of Comprehensive Primary Health Care in Suriname

This study’s objective is to provide an overview of comprehensive primary health care (CPHC) development and implementation in Suriname in peer-reviewed literature. [adapted from abstract]

Knowledge about HIV/AIDS, Among Health Workers in Three Provinces in Northern Vietnam: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study aims to explore the knowledge about HIV/AIDS among health workers in three provinces in Northern
Vietnam. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 610 health workers. [from abstract]

Utilization of Community-Based Health Information Systems in Decision Making and Health Action in Nyalenda, Kisumu County, Kenya

The purpose of this paper is to explore how data collected at the community level is utilised by various stakeholders within the community in order to produce actionable information for decision making. [from abstract]

Specialist Services in the Indian Rural Public Health System for Maternal and Child Healthcare – A Study of Four States

The present study attempts to examine the role of specialist services in rural public health system of India in the areas of maternal and child healthcare. The study uses primary data collected through a survey of doctors and paramedical staff working at public health facilities regarding availability and quality of the specialist services in gynaecology, paediatrics and anaesthesia.

Understanding the Roles of Faith-Based Health-Care Providers in Africa: Review of the Evidence with a Focus on Magnitude, Reach, Cost, and Satisfaction

As the fi rst report in the Series on faith-based health care, we review a broad body of published
work and introduce some empirical evidence on the role of faith-based health-care providers, with a focus on Christian
faith-based health providers in sub-Saharan Africa (on which the most detailed documentation has been gathered). [from abstract]

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Research Utilization among Nurses at a Teaching Hospital in Kenya

In the era of evidence based practice ( EBP), health care delivery should be grounded on new or validated knowledge and evidence from research. The aim of the study was to assess research utilization by nurses and the influencing factors at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the largest teaching hospital in Kenya. [From abstract]

Lean Management in the South African Public Health Sector: A Case Study

This chapter gives an account of one relatively modest but effective intervention in an orthopaedic outpatient clinic at the New Somerset Hospital (NSH) in Cape Town in 2013. This project aimed to reduce patient waiting times in the clinic, and improve patient satisfaction.

Stressing the Need for Team Building Composition amongst Health Workers in Nigeria

This study examined the need for team building composition amongst health worker in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to measure the resemblance on knowledge and factors affecting team building composition in two health facilities in Nigeria. [from abstract]

Rapid Assessment of Health Services in Punjab using a Mixed Method Approach

The out-of-pocket expenditure is quite high in Punjab. Hence, a rapid review of health facilities was undertaken to suggest remedial measures.[from abstract]

Training and Deploying Human Resources for Health for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health in Rural Africa: An In-Depth Policy Analysis

The majority of African countries lack sufficient human resources for health (HRH) to deliver basic maternal, newborn, child health (MNCH) care, particularly in rural areas. To inform planning for the scarce HRH available, specifically as it pertains to the Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 agenda, a rapid systematic review of evidence on training and deployment policies for doctors, nurses and midwives for MNCH in rural Africa was undertaken. [from abstract]

Effectiveness of Community-Based Health Services by Nurse Practitioners: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

As non-communicable diseases become a major health burden requiring long-term healthcare in community settings, this systematic review aims to assess the equivalence of NP services to standard care provided by MDs, and to determine whether their practice is an effective alternative to that of MDs in community settings. [from abstract]

Use of Mobile Phone Consultations During Home Visits by Community Health Workers for Maternal and Newborn Care: Community Experiences from Masindi and Kiryandongo Districts, Uganda

Home visits by Community Health Workers [In Uganda Community Health Workers are given the collective term of Village Health Teams (VHIs). This is recommended to improve maternal and newborn care. We investigated perceived maternal and newborn benefits of home visits made by VHTs, combined with mobile phone consultations with professional health workers for advice. [adapted from abstract]

Maximizing the Impact of Training Initiatives for Health Professionals in Low-Income Countries: Frameworks, Challenges, and Best Practices

The best practices adopted by these initiatives are: alignment to local priorities, country ownership, competency-based training, institutional capacity building, and the establishment of long-lasting partnerships with international stakeholders. Based on these best practices, we outline a framework for health professional training initiatives that can help better address the health workforce shortage in low-income countries.[from introduction]

Qualitative Assessment of Rural Health Workers’ Management of Malaria in Sick Children

This study explores the perceptions of health managers and health care providers on the case management of uncomplicated malaria among under-fives in selected primary health care (PHC) facilities of two Local Government Areas (LGAs), Katcha and Gbako, as part of baselines for capacity-building interventions planned in Niger State, Nigeria. [from abstract]

A Multi-Country Assessment of Providers of Community Based Maternity Care in Resource Limited Countries

This review explored providers of community maternal and newborn care in resource poor countries. The objectives were to identify community based maternity carers, their roles and functions, how they can complement the current global focus on skilled birth attendance, and to identify the enablers and barriers to their involvement in the continuum of care. [from abstract]

Assessment of Provider Competence and Quality of Maternal/Newborn Care in Selected Latin American and Caribbean Countries

To obtain a snapshot of the maternal and newborn care provided by different types of maternal and child health providers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to 1) better inform advocacy and programmatic strategies and interventions to improve the quality of those services in the region, and 2) determine the need for more rigorous study of the issues. [from abstract]

Soccer and Sexual Health Education: A Promising Approach for Reducing Adolescent Births in Haiti

This paper explores the effect of an innovative, integrative program in female sexual reproductive health (SRH) and soccer (or fútbol, in Haitian Creole) in rural Haiti by measuring the rate of births among program participants 15–19 years old and their nonparticipant peers. [from abstract]

Information Management for Essential Medicines Supplies in Public Primary Care Facilities in Nairobi County, Kenya

Available pharmaceutical information is often characterized by inadequacy, and inaccuracy, which
compromise its quality and usefulness. This study was carried out to examine staff characteristics,
organizational and technical aspects that affect the quality of pharmaceutical information. [from abstract]

Assessments of Health Services Availability in Humanitarian Emergencies: A Review of Assessments in Haiti and Sudan Using a Health Systems Approach

To improve the consistency of health facilities assessments, the World Health Organization has proposed the use of the Health Resources Availability Mapping System (HeRAMS) developed in Darfur, Sudan as a standardized assessment tool for use in future acute and protracted crises.This study provides an evaluation of HeRAMS’ comprehensiveness, and investigates the methods, quality and comprehensiveness of health facilities data and tools in Haiti, where HeRAMS was not used.

Effects of Peer Education on the Knowledge and Use of HIV Counselling and Testing Services Among Young Persons in Ibadan, Nigeria

A peer education intervention was implemented to promote use of HCT among secondary school
students and apprentices in Ibadan, Nigeria. Baseline data were collected from 1281 students from six schools and 100 apprentice workshops in four Local Government Areas of Ibadan. [from abstract]