The number of health workers employed is an indicator of a country’s ability to meet the health care needs of its people, specially the poorest and most vulnerable. Resource-constrained countries committed to the Millennium Development Goals are facing up to the reality that shortages and uneven distribution of health workers threaten their capacity to tackle the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as the resurgence of tuberculosis and malaria. Worker shortages are linked to three factors: 1) decreasing student enrollment in health training institutions, 2) delays or freezes in the hiring of qualified professionals and 3) high turnover among those already employed.
Human Resources
Retention of Health Care Workers in Low-Resource Settings: Challenges and Responses
The Capacity Project
SADC pushes for affirmative action to accelerate gender equality
SARDC
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is pressing for affirmative action to speed up progress towards substantive equality between women and men at all levels of decision-making. 'To realise full implementation of this decision, member states must endeavour to adopt affirmative action to protect women and enshrine it in national constitutions,' said Mathiba-Madibela at a media briefing prior to the Council of Ministers that takes place in Gaborone this week.
Staff training and ambulatory tuberculosis treatment outcomes: a cluster randomized controlled trial in South Africa
S. Lewin, J.Dick, M. Zwarenstein, C. Lombard, Bulletin of the World Health Organisation 83(4): 250-259
DOTS, the internationally-recommended control strategy for tuberculosis (TB), has been applied in South Africa since 1996. But TB cure rates remain at 65 percent - not high enough to control or reverse the epidemic. Could training clinic staff on patient-centred care, critical reflection on practice and quality enhancement improve treatment success? The rates of successful treatment and bacteriological cure for TB improved marginally in the clinics that received the training, compared with the controls. The differences were not statistically significant. The training was well accepted by staff who became more aware of the need to improve provider-patient relations and made some changes to the organisation of care. These changes in attitudes and practices often did not translate into improved provider-patient relations.
The Health Sector Human Resource crisis in Africa: An issues paper
Support for Analysis and Research in Africa (SARA), USAID
This paper outlines the severity and complexity of the Human Resources (HR) crisis in sub-Saharan Africa and criticises donor neglect of the issues. The document was prepared as a background document for a World Bank/World Health Organization meeting on Building Strategic Partnership in Education in Health in Africa.
Estimating health workforce needs for antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings
Efforts to increase access to life-saving treatment, including antiretroviral therapy (ART), for people living with HIV/AIDS in resource-limited settings has been the growing focus of international efforts. One of the greatest challenges to scaling up will be the limited supply of adequately trained human resources for health, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other skilled providers. As national treatment programmes are planned, better estimates of human resource needs and improved approaches to assessing the impact of different staffing models are critically needed. However there have been few systematic assessments of staffing patterns in existing programmes or of the estimates being used in planning larger programmes.
Harare Recruits 100 Nurses
The Herald, Harare
Harare City Council has recruited 100 nurses to beef up its depleted nursing staff following the departure of several health personnel for greener pastures within the region and overseas. According to the latest full commission minutes, the nurses filled in all the vacant positions for State Registered Nurses. Harare has been losing nurses on a monthly basis to other more paying institutions outside the country.
Home Based Carers Get Training in Namibia
New Era, Windhoek
Close to 30 Home Based Carers from the Andara community in the north are undergoing a four-week training of trainers course being held by the Johanniter-Hilfswerk in Namibia. More than 16 000 Namibians have succumbed to HIV-related complications since the first case was detected in the country in 1986. With over 250 000 people infected with the virus, it is clear that HIV/Aids is the leading cause of death in Namibia.
Integrating migration and development policies - challenges for ACP-EU cooperation
European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) (2005)
This paper examines the role of migration in economic, social and political development in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP). Following the inclusion of a migration clause (article 13) in the political dimensions chapter of the Cotonou Agreement, migration issues have come onto the EU's development agenda. However, there has been debate as to whether migration is a "development issue" and if it should be addressed through development cooperation. This paper argues that migration is an important aspect of economic and social development and needs to be addressed as a development issue and needs to be addressed from an ACP as well as an EU standpoint.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31291
Is There any Solution to the "Brain Drain" of Health Professionals and Knowledge from Africa?
African public health care systems suffer from significant "brain drain" of its health care professionals and knowledge as health workers migrate to wealthier countries such as Australia, Canada, USA, and the United Kingdom. Knowledge generated on the continent is not readily accessible to potential users on the continent. Advocates are increasingly discussing not just the pull factors but also the "grab" factors emanating from the developed nations. In order to control or manage the outflow of vital human resources from the developing nations to the developed ones, various possible solutions have been discussed. The moral regard to this issue cannot be under-recognized. However, the dilemma is how to balance personal autonomy, right to economic prosperity, right to personal professional development, and the expectations of the public in relation to adequate public health care services in the developing nations.
New Doctors Coming
New Era, Windhoek
Ten newly graduated Namibian medical doctors will this week be commissioned into service by the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the Health Minister Richard Kamwi said at a recent meeting with the community here. At times, the Government had to rely on friendly countries such as Cuba and others for medical personnel. He urged parents to encourage their children to take subjects such as mathematics and science in order to qualify for medical training.