Past attempts to estimate the cost of migration were limited to education costs only and did not include the lost returns from investment. The objectives of this study were: (i) to estimate the financial cost of emigration of Kenyan doctors to the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA); (ii) to estimate the financial cost of emigration of nurses to seven OECD countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Portugal, UK, USA); and (iii)to describe other losses from brain drain. Developed countries continue to deprive Kenya of millions of dollars worth of investments embodied in her human resources for health. If the current trend of poaching of scarce human resources for health (and other professionals) from Kenya is not curtailed, the chances of achieving the Millennium Development Goals would remain bleak. Such continued plunder of investments embodied in human resources contributes to further underdevelopment of Kenya and to keeping a majority of her people in the vicious circle of ill-health and poverty. Therefore, both developed and developing countries need to urgently develop and implement strategies for addressing the health human resource crisis.
Human Resources
This paper addresses the health care system from a global perspective and the importance of human resources management (HRM) in improving overall patient health outcomes and delivery of health care services. This paper will reveal how human resources management is essential to any health care system and how it can improve health care models.
Malawi’s health service is struggling under the burden of HIV and AIDS and tuberculosis (TB). Its health workforce has only limited capacity to cope due to severe staff shortages, poor salaries and working conditions, high levels of HIV and AIDS-related deaths and chronic absenteeism due to illness among staff. Without a strong health workforce, community members may have an important role to play in providing HIV and TB care. Médecins Sans Frontières describes an example of community involvement in district level HIV and TB care. The study focuses on Thyolo district, a rural region of southern Malawi with 458,976 inhabitants, of which an estimated 41,000 are living with HIV. It covers a two-year period from January 2003 to December 2004.
Medical professionals working in the public sector often supplement their salaries through second jobs in the private sector. Their dual job activities have both positive and negative implications for the public health sector. What policy options exist for regulating dual job holding and what is their likely effect?
The paper reports on a survey of recently arrived international nurses working in London, to assess their demographic profile, motivations, experiences and career plans. The Philippines, Nigeria and South Africa were the three most commonly reported countries of training (in total, more than 30 countries of training were reported). Sixty per cent of the nurses from sub-Saharan Africa and more than 40% from South Africa and India/Pakistan/Mauritius were aged 40 or older; the youngest age profile was reported by the Australia/New Zealand/USA nurses.
The lack of Human Resources for Health (HRH) is increasingly being recognised as a major bottleneck for scaling-up anti-retroviral treatment (ART), particularly in sub-Saharan Africa whose societies and health systems are hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. This country case study of Swaziland describes the current HRH situation in the public sector and identifies major factors that contribute to the crisis, describe policy initiatives to tackle it and base on these a number of projections for the future. It also suggests some areas for further research that may contribute to tackling the HRH crisis in Swaziland.
This article describes how the association between the presence or absence of health personnel and the health status of a population tends to be seen as simplistic, and proceeds to address a range of other factors. The Briefing examines the case for a two-tiered health training system, one for global markets and the other for local markets. It also examines options for outsourcing healthcare to regional centres in poorer countries as a way to assist with retention and return.
A new global partnership that aims to improve the world's shortage of doctors, nurses, midwives, and other health workers was launched at last week's World Health Assembly in Geneva. The announcement came six weeks after the World Health Organization made the issue a priority in its annual report, in which it called for a global action plan to tackle the shortage of an estimated 4.2 million health workers.
Medical professionals working in the public sector often supplement their salaries through second jobs in the private sector. Their dual job activities have both positive and negative implications for the public health sector. What policy options exist for regulating dual job holding and what is their likely effect?
A new global partnership that will strive to address the worldwide shortage of nurses, doctors, midwives and other health workers was launched today. The Global Health Workforce Alliance will draw together and mobilize key stakeholders engaged in global health to help countries improve the way they plan for, educate and employ health workers. The Alliance will seek practical approaches to urgent problems, and will also serve as an international information hub and monitoring body.