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Investing in Tanzanian Human Resources for Health

Using Tanzania as a case study, this report advocates that the only effective means of really addressing the HRH challenge inpoor countries is to begin to immediately scale up training capacity, and that approach is relatively inexpensive when compared to its long-term benefits. [adapted from author]

Mapping of Community Home-Based Care Services in Five Regions of the Tanzania Mainland

The study documents the concerns of [People Living with AIDS] PLWHA, Community Health Workers (CHWs), primary care providers, and other stakeholders to inform Pathfinder’s support to national efforts to scale-up [Community Home-Based Care] CHBC. The proposed project aims to replicate Pathfinder’s successful CHBC model for PLWHA in other areas and improve access to HBC for more Tanzanians. [author’s description]

Integrating TB and HIV Care in Mozambique: Lessons from an HIV Clinic in Beira

In Mozambique, [Health Alliance International] HAI has been working closely with the MOH for more than fifteen years to support the development and implementation of MOH programs in reproductive health, the response to HIV/AIDS, and malaria control… HAI works with the MOH to implement the nationally designed model of HIV care, and has supported the implementation of voluntary counseling and testing centers, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) PROGRAMS, and HIV treatment centers integrated into this public sector model of care. [publisher’s description]

Managing HIV/AIDS in the Workplace: Examples of Nine Non-Governmental Organizations in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe

This study aims to examine the range of impacts the [HIV/AIDS] pandemic has had on selected NGO partners of Oxfam operating in South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and to make recommendations useful to NGOs, including Oxfam, donors, and policy-makers based on its results. [author’s description]

Human and Financial Resource Requirements for Scaling Up HIV/AIDS Services in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is currently one of the countries most seriously affected by HIV/AIDS, with the sixth highest number of infections in the world. This paper discusses how to combat this epidemic. As the country scales up HIV/AIDS services, increased attention is focused on identifying constraints to program expansion. One of the most important constraints is that of human resources. [from publisher’s abstract]

Public Private Partnership for Equitable Provision of Quality Health Services

This report presents the findings of an independent Technical Review that focused on the promotion of Public Private Partnership for equitable provision of quality health services in Tanzania. [author’s description]

Pro-Poor Health Services: The Catholic Health Network in Uganda

This article documents the experiences of the Catholic health network in Uganda and its umbrella organization, the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB) in making health services work for poor people. It demonstrates how the pro-poor ethos-derived from a longstanding tradition and the mission of “healing by treating and preventing diseases, with a preferential option for the less privileged”-supported by “soft” regulation and technical assistance from the umbrella organization can induce a process of change in a network of providers. [author’s description]

Involving Young People in the Care and Support of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Zambia

Horizons, in collaboration with CARE International and Family Health Trust, conducted a quasiexperimental intervention study to determine which care and support needs of people living with HIV and AIDS and their families could be met by trained youth, and to establish whether youth engaged in formalized care and support activities would increase their adoption of protective behaviors or reduce the stigma faced by members of AIDS-affected households.

The study was conducted in semi-urban and rural communities in two provinces of northern Zambia located 700 to 1,000 kilometers from Lusaka.

Action against Sexual Harassment at Work in Asia and the Pacific

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.

Improving Female Recruitment, Participation, and Retention Among Peer Educators in the Geração BIZ Program in Mozambique

In response to the under-representation of female peer educators in the Geração BIZ Program (GBP), an adolescent sexual and reproductive health program in Mozambique, an operational research study was used to test new strategies for improving recruitment, participation, and retention of female peer educators. The study tested an intervention model to increase the involvement and performance of girls in the GBP.

Public Sector Nurses in Swaziland: Can the Downturn be Reversed?

The lack of human resources for health (HRH) is increasingly being recognized as a major bottleneck to scaling up antiretroviral treatment (ART), particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, whose societies and health systems are hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. In this case study of Swaziland, we describe the current HRH situation in the public sector. We identify major factors that contribute to the crisis, describe policy initiatives to tackle it and base on these a number of projections for the future. Finally, we suggest some areas for further research that may contribute to tackling the HRH crisis in Swaziland.

Mainstreaming Gender into Occupational Safety and Health

This report is the outcome of a seminar held in Brussels on 15th June 2004. The aims of the seminar were firstly to share information on gender and occupational safety and health (OSH) issues, including a gender-sensitive approach in OSH and how gender can be mainstreamed into OSH, and secondly to facilitate discussion and debate among EU and national authorities, social partners and experts on how to take forward gender issues in OSH. It includes proposals for taking forward gender issues in OSH. [Publisher’s description]

Modified Population-to-Physician Ratio Method to Project Future Physician Requirement in Thailand

Imbalance in the cadre mix, number, distribution, and quality of health personnel are major concerns for health planners and policy makers. Many methods were developed and used to project future supply and requirement for health personnel. This paper modified the population-to-physician ratio method, by taking into account the specific characteristics of the Thai health care system, and of the future economic scenarios to project requirements of Thai physicians over the next twenty-five years. [from abstract]

Future Policy Options for HRH Production in the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand

Most human resources for health in developing countries are produced by highly subsidized public institutes. Due to inequity in basic education most health science students are from wealthier urban families. They tend to remain in urban areas after graduation, creating inequitable distribution of health personnel. At the same time the public education institutes are subject to strong bureaucratic inefficiency and usually no systematic quality control system. This paper analyses this situation in Thailand. [adapted from abstract]

Human Resource Development Through Continuous Improvement: a Case Study of Yasothorn Hospital, Thailand

Human Resource Development (HRD)is a very important yet very difficult component for effective health care delivery, especially in the public sector. Bureaucratic barriers, discontinuity, ineffective leadership, and lack of systematic approaches are major reasons for failures. A package of HRD strategies were introduced into Yasothon Hospital. This paper describes the detail of the implementation and evaluation of the results. [from abstract]

Survey of the Existing Health Workforce of Ministry of Health, Bangladesh

The objective of this study is to present and analyze different issues relating to the existing workforce in the health services of Bangladesh under the Ministry of Health. [from abstract]

Conditions, Constraints, and Strategies for Increased Contribution of General Practitioners to the Health System in Thailand

This paper analyzes the present situation of general practitioners in the Thai health care system and the conditions under which their contribution could be strengthened. [from abstract]

Health Worker Benefits in a Period of Broad Civil Service Reform: The Philippine Experience

Developing countries that have to cope with pressures to reform their bureaucracies have to contend with increasing health worker benefits and salaries that are often intended to retain these health workers in government service. In the Philippines, national and local efforts in health have been forced to focus on guaranteeing some of these benefits, and local governments are feeling the financial limitations of their local funds. [from abstract]

Equivalence Determination of Qualifications and Degrees for Education and Training of Health Professions in Thailand

This study explores the details of the process leading to the equivalence determination of qualifications and degrees for the education and training of the health professions in Thailand. [from abstract]

We Need Respect: Experiences of Internationally Recruited Nurses in the UK

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) commissioned this report into the experiences of internationally recruited nurses (IRNs) working in the UK. The study explores the motivations and experiences of IRNs in order to understand why overseas nurses come to work in the UK, what experiences they undergo and whether they plan to stay in the UK, return to their countries of origin or go to another country to work after a short period. [from executive summary]

Study Identifying Factors Affecting Retention of Midwives in Malawi

The study found that about half of the deliveries in Malawi are not assisted by a skilled attendant. It seems that there is a severe and long standing problem with retaining midwives. Therefore, close monitoring of the retention problem is advisable. The research found that the two main forms of losses are that the midwives die or they go abroad. Possible ways of mitigating the loss through emigration could be to continue efforts in enforcing codes of practice on international recruitment in recipient countries.

Brain Drain and Retention of Health Professionals in Africa

The numbers of health professionals joining the brain drain has reached a peak in recent years in apparent response to huge demands emanating from the developed countries. The brain drain of professionals, combined with the health crisis, threatens the entire development process in Africa. The crisis in health intensifies with the advent of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The loss of health workers simply serves to worsen a dire situation.

Skills Drain of Health Professionals from the Developing World: A Framework for Policy Formulation

This paper should be read in association with its companion paper on migration and human rights (Bueno de Mesquita and Gordon 2005). Our aims are conceptual and agenda-setting. In essence, we argue that current policy responses to migration of health professionals from low income developing countries underestimate the pressures and misidentify the reasons for rising migration, overestimate the impact of recruitment policies on migration flows while ignoring unintended side effects, and mis specify the ethical dilemmas involved.

Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Management Guidelines

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]

Guidelines for Human Resources for Health Policy and Plan Development at Country Level (Draft)

The main aim of these guidelines is to support countries in the Human Resource Development and management process of assessing the human resource for health situation, policy and plan development with the view of achieving some level of comprehensiveness and consistency country level. The guidelines will discuss HRH processes, situation analysis, policy and plan development with reference to the overall context of national health policies and strategies. These guidelines describe how to formulate, develop, review HRH situations, policies and plans with the flexibility necessary for each country context.

Match Between Motivation and Performance Management of Health Sector Workers in Mali

In Mali, operational research was conducted to identify the match between motivation and the range and use of performance management activities. The study showed that the main motivators of health workers were related to responsibility, training and recognition, next to salary. These can be influenced by performance management (job descriptions, supervisions, continuous education and performance appraisal).

In-depth Analysis of Individual Determinants and Outcomes of Health Worker Motivation in Two Jordanian Hospitals

This paper represents one of three components of a larger study examining health worker motivation in two hospitals in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The goal of this in-depth analysis was to assess which motivational determinants seemed to most influence outcomes of the motivational process. Using self administered, quantitative questionnaires to workers and supervisors, data were collected on 506 workers in two Jordanian hospitals. Motivational outcomes were measured in terms of what workers do (performance), what they feel (affective motivation, such as satisfaction and commitment) and what they think (cognitive motivation).

Health Worker Motivation in Jordan and Georgia: A Synthesis of Results

Health worker motivation has the potential to have a large impact on health systems performance, yet little is known about the key determinants and outcomes of motivation in developing and transition countries. This study, conducted in Jordan and Georgia focused on the individual determinants and outcomes of the worker’s motivational process. A wide range of psychometric scales was used to assess individual differences, perceived contextual factors and motivational outcomes (feelings, thoughts and behaviors). Although the two countries have very different cultural and socio-economic environments, many similarities existed among key determinants between the two countries.

Predictors of Job Satisfaction Among Doctors, Nurses and Auxiliaries in Norwegian Hospitals: Relevance for Micro Unit Culture

The objective was to explore what domains of work are important for job satisfaction among doctors, nurses and auxiliaries and to discuss differences between professional groups in the perspective of micro team culture. [from abstract]

Providers of Health Services in Lebanon: A Survey of Physicians

The objective of this study was to assess the supply of physicians in Lebanon in 1998, with an assessment of their practice patterns and capacity building. [from abstract]