The workforce crisis in healthcare: Moving the debate to bridge evidence and policy.

This Special Issue aims to advance the healthcare workforce (HCWF) debate by directing its attention to the implementation of policy recommendations and identifying weaknesses. The selection of articles highlights a wide range of HCWF policies and interventions across various countries. The challenges faced often stem from policy failures and governance gaps at the macro-, meso- and micro-levels of health systems. Recommendations to mitigate the HCWF crisis include interconnected strategies, multi-/transsectoral policies, solidarity-based efforts, collaboration, skill-mix reforms, equity measures, global approaches, and crucially, strong political will. In addition, specific policy solutions are explored, such as community-centred action and employment of community health workers, mental health support initiatives, inclusion of refugees and displaced healthcare workers into the labour market, and preparing the HCWF for the impact of climate change. This Special Issue calls for transformative HCWF policies and multi-level transsectoral governance as essential components needed to effectively address the crisis. This will only be possible, if HCWF policy moves higher up in the public policy arena leading, among other things, to the establishment of HCWF research as a distinct academic field.

Comparative health policy goes qualitative: Broadening the focus of research after COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed health policy frontstage and exposed the stark differences in government capacities to respond to the crisis. This has created new demands for comparative heath policy to support knowledge creation on a large scale. However, comparative health policy has not necessarily been well prepared; studies have focused on health systems and used typologies together with descriptive, quantitative methods. This makes it difficult to capture the multi-level nature of health policy, the diverse actors involved and the many societal facets of governance performance. We argue for broadening the perspective to include health policy as a bottom-up process with diverse interests. This calls for expanding the methodology of comparative health policy by also using approaches that make greater use of explorative, qualitative research. We introduce possible developmental pathways to illustrate what this may look like. The Pan-European Commission shows how to broaden the definition of comparative health policy, notably as transnational and planetary. The gender analysis matrix illustrates how comparative health policy can strengthen its assessment of performance by focussing on gender equity. The street-level bureaucrat framework highlights how analysing frontline work can help conduct small-scale bottom-up comparisons of health policy. Together, these developmental pathways demonstrate the potential to broaden comparative health policy towards greater responsiveness to the societal performance of governments, such as social inequalities created by the COVID-19 pandemic. This also opens opportunities for strengthening the global outlook of comparative health policy.

Comparing Health Workforce Policy during a Major Global Health Crisis: A Critical Conceptual Debate and International Empirical Investigation.

BACKGROUND: The health workforce is central to healthcare systems and population health, but marginal in comparative health policy. This study aims to highlight the crucial relevance of the health workforce and contribute comparative evidence to help improve the protection of healthcare workers and prevention of inequalities during a major public health crisis. METHODS: Our integrated governance framework considers system, sector, organizational and socio-cultural dimensions of health workforce policy. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as the policy field and Brazil, Canada, Italy, and Germany as illustrative cases. We draw on secondary sources (literature, document analysis, public statistics, reports) and country expert information with a focus on the first COVID-19 waves until the summer of 2021. RESULTS: Our comparative investigation illustrates the benefits of a multi-level governance approach beyond health system typologies. In the selected countries, we found similar problems and governance gaps concerning increased workplace stress, lack of mental health support, and gender and racial inequalities. Health policy across countries failed to adequately respond to the needs of HCWs, thus exacerbating inequalities during a major global health crisis. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative health workforce policy research may contribute new knowledge to improve health system resilience and population health during a crisis.

SDG5 "Gender Equality" and the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid assessment of health system responses in selected upper-middle and high-income countries.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted healthcare and societies, exacerbating existing inequalities for women and girls across every sphere. Our study explores health system responses to gender equality goals during the COVID-19 pandemic and inclusion in future policies. Methods: We apply a qualitative comparative approach, drawing on secondary sources and expert information; the data was collected from March-July 2022. Australia, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the USA were selected, reflecting upper-middle and high-income countries with established public health and gender policies but different types of healthcare systems and epidemiological and geo-political conditions. Three sub-goals of SDG5 were analyzed: maternity care/reproductive health, gender-based violence, and gender equality/women's leadership. Results: We found similar trends across countries. Pandemic policies strongly cut into women's health, constrained prevention and support services, and weakened reproductive rights, while essential maternity care services were kept open. Intersecting gender inequalities were reinforced, sexual violence increased and women's leadership was weak. All healthcare systems failed to protect women's health and essential public health targets. Yet there were relevant differences in the responses to increased violence and reproductive rights, ranging from some support measures in Australia to an abortion ban in the US. Conclusions: Our study highlights a need for revising pandemic policies through a feminist lens.

Are community health programmes always benign? Community health worker perceptions and the social construction of users in Brazil's primary healthcare policy.

We examine how community health workers (CHWs), while working as links between doctors, nurses and vulnerable groups, participate in the social construction of citizens in the implementation of Brazil's primary healthcare policy. Drawing on interviews and a vignette experiment with CHWs in the city of São Paulo, we show that perceptions of CHWs about the vulnerability and agency of health system users impact upon their referrals to other levels of service. Judgments about the socioeconomic, cultural and moral conditions of families determine different referrals - on the one hand, to practices based on persuasion and respect for individual choices; on the other, to 'top-down' or forcible interventions. While implementing the same healthcare policy, CHWs construct users as (responsible) agents or (helpless) targets, thus determining different pathways in the health system and shaping the relationship between citizens and the state. Brazil's primary health policy, while seeking to tackle vulnerability, is also a site where social representations are reproduced that contribute to the denial of the agency of citizens deemed more vulnerable and to the definition of their bodies as sites for state intervention.

Desigualdade em meio à crise: uma análise dos profissionais de saúde que atuam na pandemia de COVID-19 a partir das perspectivas de profissão, raça e gênero / Inequality in the middle of a crisis: an analysis of health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic from the profession, race, and gender perspectives

Resumo Estudos mostram que pessoas em condições de vulnerabilidade têm sofrido de forma mais intensa os impactos da pandemia de COVID-19, assim como alguns grupos sociais, como mulheres e negros. Essa expressão de desigualdade também se manifesta entre os trabalhadores da saúde, com maior exposição de alguns grupos específicos. Este artigo analisa a incidência da COVID-19 sobre os trabalhadores da saúde a partir das perspectivas de profissão, gênero e raça. Os dados foram coletados por uma survey online com 1.829 trabalhadores da saúde, realizada no mês de março de 2021. Encontramos que, efetivamente, há desigualdades nas experiências dos trabalhadores da saúde durante a crise sanitária gerada pela COVID-19. Essas desigualdades estão marcadas pela profissão de cada trabalhador e são atravessadas por suas características de gênero e raça.

Abstract Studies show that people in vulnerable conditions and some social groups such as women and black people have suffered more intensely from the COVID-19 pandemic impacts. This expression of inequality also manifests itself among healthcare workers, with greater exposure of some specific groups. This paper analyzes the effect of COVID-19 on health care workers and the working conditions in the Brazilian public health system, analyzed from professional, gender, and race perspectives. Data were collected from an online survey of 1,829 health workers conducted in March 2021. Indeed, we identified inequalities in health workers' experiences during the health crisis generated by COVID-19, which are marked by the profession of each worker and are traversed by their gender and race traits.

Inequality in the middle of a crisis: an analysis of health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic from the profession, race, and gender perspectives. / Desigualdade em meio à crise: uma análise dos profissionais de saúde que atuam na pandemia de COVID-19 a partir das perspectivas de profissão, raça e gênero.

Studies show that people in vulnerable conditions and some social groups such as women and black people have suffered more intensely from the COVID-19 pandemic impacts. This expression of inequality also manifests itself among healthcare workers, with greater exposure of some specific groups. This paper analyzes the effect of COVID-19 on health care workers and the working conditions in the Brazilian public health system, analyzed from professional, gender, and race perspectives. Data were collected from an online survey of 1,829 health workers conducted in March 2021. Indeed, we identified inequalities in health workers' experiences during the health crisis generated by COVID-19, which are marked by the profession of each worker and are traversed by their gender and race traits.

Estudos mostram que pessoas em condições de vulnerabilidade têm sofrido de forma mais intensa os impactos da pandemia de COVID-19, assim como alguns grupos sociais, como mulheres e negros. Essa expressão de desigualdade também se manifesta entre os trabalhadores da saúde, com maior exposição de alguns grupos específicos. Este artigo analisa a incidência da COVID-19 sobre os trabalhadores da saúde a partir das perspectivas de profissão, gênero e raça. Os dados foram coletados por uma survey online com 1.829 trabalhadores da saúde, realizada no mês de março de 2021. Encontramos que, efetivamente, há desigualdades nas experiências dos trabalhadores da saúde durante a crise sanitária gerada pela COVID-19. Essas desigualdades estão marcadas pela profissão de cada trabalhador e são atravessadas por suas características de gênero e raça.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the frontline health workforce: Perceptions of vulnerability of Brazil's community health workers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in calls for an increased integration of community health workers (CHWs) into the health system response. Historically, CHWs can play an important role in ensuring the sustainability of health policy implementation - by addressing social determinants of health and maintaining care for ongoing health problems. Their frontline work, with close contact to populations, places CHWs in a position of increased vulnerability to becoming infected and to being the target of abuse and violence. These vulnerabilities compound underlying problems faced by CHWs, who often come from poor backgrounds, are insufficiently paid and receive inadequate training. Speaking to a scarcity of studies on how CHWs are impacted by the pandemic, this paper conducts a systematic study of CHWs in Brazil. Based on quantitative and qualitative data collected during June and July 2020, it considers perceptions and experiences of CHWs, comparing them with other health professionals. We study the extent to which the pandemic added to existing vulnerabilities and created new problems and imbalances in the work of CHWs. We conclude that COVID-19 led to a deterioration of the working conditions of CHWs, of their relations with other health professionals, and of their ability to carry out their essential work in the public health system.

Efeito de mudanças no contexto de implementação de uma política multinível: análise do caso da Reforma do Ensino Médio no Brasil / Efecto de los cambios en el contexto de implementación de una política multinivel: Análisis del caso de la Reforma de la Educación Media en Brasil / Effects of changes in a multi-level implementation context: analysis of the Brazilian High School Reform

Resumo O artigo busca compreender como mudanças exógenas são afetadas pelos contextos de implementação que encontram em cada local. A partir da análise da Lei 13.415/2017, que reforma o Ensino Médio no Brasil, verifica como as mudanças federais trazidas por esta política provocaram alterações nos estados e qual a variação que os contextos locais geraram na própria reforma. O artigo se baseia em uma pesquisa qualitativa que acompanhou os efeitos da publicação da Lei e o início do processo de implementação da reforma nos 26 estados e Distrito Federal ao longo de dois anos. O caso empírico foi analisado a partir das variáveis de conflito e ambiguidade que caracterizam os contextos de implementação. Estes achados contribuem para a literatura de implementação de políticas públicas, de reformas e mudanças na administração pública e de políticas de educação.

Resumen El artículo busca comprender cómo cambios exógenos son impactados por contextos de implementación establecidos en cada lugar. A partir del análisis de la Ley 13.415/2017, que reforma la Educación Media en Brasil, verifica cómo los cambios federales de esta política provocaron alteraciones en los estados y cómo los contextos locales generaron cambios también a la propia reforma. El artículo se basa en una investigación cualitativa que hizo seguimiento a los efectos de la publicación de la Ley y al inicio del proceso de implementación de la reforma en los 26 estados y el Distrito Federal a lo largo de dos años. El caso empírico fue analizado a partir de las variables de conflicto y ambigüedad que caracterizan los contextos de implementación. El artículo contribuye con la literatura de implementación de políticas públicas, de reformas a la administración pública y de políticas de educación.

Abstract The article seeks to understand how exogenous changes are impacted by implementation contexts established in each place. Based on the analysis of Law 13.415/2017, which reforms High School in Brazil, it verifies how the federal changes proposed by this policy caused alterations in the states and how the local contexts also generated changes in the reform itself. The article is based on a qualitative investigation that monitored the effects of the publication of the Law and the beginning of the process of implementing the reform in the 26 states and the Federal District over two years. The empirical case was analyzed based on the variables of conflict and ambiguity that characterize the contexts of implementation. The article contributes to the literature on the implementation of public policies, reforms in public administration, and education policies.

The vulnerabilities of the Brazilian health workforce during health emergencies: Analysing personal feelings, access to resources and work dynamics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Public health emergencies are a test of resilience for health systems, which depend on health workforces that are well managed and cared for. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weakness of many health systems in preparing their health workforces. The crisis also exacerbated the unequal conditions between different professions, an issue that is still understudied in the workforce literature. This paper analyzes the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for different health professionals, considering the ways in which Brazil's the health system does or does not protect them. We also analyse the role of pre-existing inequalities between different professions and social groups within the workforce in shaping their different experiences of the pandemic. We present data comparing the perceptions of different health professionals facing the pandemic in Brazil: physicians, nurses, and community health workers. Data were collected in an online survey in Brazil with 1630 health care workers between June 15th and July 1st. Findings suggest that none of the professions felt well prepared to work under emergencies. However, differences relating to professional background were exacerbated during the pandemic, creating unequal conditions for different health workers. These inequalities may pose new challenges for the post-pandemic scenario.

Discretion, power and the reproduction of inequality in health policy implementation: Practices, discursive styles and classifications of Brazil's community health workers.

This article explores the mobilization of power by health workers during policy implementation, showing how in a context of discretion and resource scarcity they can reproduce inequalities in access to health services. The argument innovates theoretically by supplementing the 'street-level bureaucracy' literature, which emphasizes frontline worker discretion, with a conceptualization of power as domination encompassing the shaping of behavior, the constitution of subjects and the reproduction of inequality. Empirically, the article focuses on Brazilian community health workers (agentes comunitários desaúde, CHWs). CHWs are a neglected but highly important segment of the health workforce that traditionally functions as a link between the health system and disadvantaged groups. The article examines how Brazilian CHWs act as street-level bureaucrats mobilizing power in their interactions with users. They operate within a severely under-resourced public health system, the Sistema Único de Saúde, which places constraints upon their action and forces them to make allocation decisions with little training and support. The article highlights the ways in which inequalities in access to health services are reproduced (inadvertently or not) through the practices, discursive styles and classifications of CHWs. Methodologically, the paper is based on ethnography with 24 CHWs and interviews with 77 other CHWs in Brazil.

Momentos da recentralização: repasses e relações intergovernamentais no Brasil (1995-2014) / Moments of recentralization

Embora o debate brasileiro acerca do processo de recentralização da Federação seja amplamente conhecido, falta, à literatura que apontou a origem e o processo de afloramento da recentralização recente, uma qualificação deste processo, ou seja, de que forma o governo federal tem se comportado na relação com municípios e estados, observando as relações federativas e os tipos de incentivos e induções são promovidos entre os entes. Visando trabalhar essa lacuna, a hipótese aqui colocada é de que, embora seja incontestável este movimento de recentralização, ele assume formas diferentes ao longo das gestões federais. Para trabalhar essa hipótese, o artigo baseia-se em uma análise de como as relações federativas têm se efetivado no estabelecimento de convênios entre governo federal e governos municipais e estaduais. Analisando todos os convênios firmados pelo governo federal com estados e municípios entre os governos de FHC e Dilma (1995-2014), o artigo observa os movimentos pelos quais as relações federativas vêm passando neste período, logrando qualificar como este movimento é heterogêneo e tem significados distintos ao longo das diferentes gestões.

Although the Brazilian debate about the recentralization process of the federation is widely known, there is a lack in the literature that discusses the origin and the process of uprising of recentralization, a qualification of this process. That is, in what way the federal government has behaved in relation to municipalities and states, critically observing federal relations, and what types of incentives and inducements are promoted among entities. To address this gap, the hypothesis forward here is that, although this recentralization movement is incontestable, it takes different forms throughout the presidential mandates. In order to work on this hypothesis, the article is based on an analysis of how federal relations have been effected in the establishment of agreements between Federal Government and Municipal and State Governments. Analyzing all the agreements signed by the federal government with states and municipalities between the governments of FHC and Dilma (1995-2014), the article observes the movements by which federative relations have passed in this period, managing to describe how this movement is heterogeneous and has different meanings over the different mandates.

Inclusão, exclusão e (re)produção de desigualdades: o papel das práticas, interações e julgamentos dos agentes comunitários de saúde na implementação das políticas públicas

Aborda a implementação de serviços na área da saúde, analisando a atuação dos agentes comunitários de saúde (ACS), como atores centrais da implementação da Estratégia de Saúde da Família (ESF) e que atuam como mediadores principais entre os usuários e o Estado.

Burocracia e implementação de políticas de saúde: os agentes comunitários na Estratégia Saúde da Família / Bureaucracy and implementation of health policies: community workers in the Family Health Strategy

Traz uma análise inovadora do campo das políticas públicas e da saúde coletiva. Investiga um viés pouco explorado dessa questão: a implementação das políticas e programas de saúde no Brasil com um olhar para a atuação dos burocratas, mais especificamente dos ‘burocratas de nível de rua’, como são chamados no livro os agentes comunitários de saúde. Estes profissionais da Estratégia Saúde da Família, responsáveis por implementar grande parte do programa nos domicílios dos usuários, têm a particularidade de ser recrutados na comunidade onde devem atuar e têm, portanto, uma dupla vinculação: ao Estado e à comunidade. Eles estão na ponta do serviço público, em contato direto e constante com os cidadãos. Ao analisar a dinâmica de interações entre os agentes e os usuários, a autora mostra como valores, crenças e ideias contribuem para mudar as políticas públicas tais como foram concebidas originalmente...

Saberes locais, mediação e cidadania: o caso dos agentes comunitários de saúde / Local knowedge and citizenship: the communitarian health agents

As discussões sobre o novo significado de cidadania, valorização da diferença e respeito à diversidade de saberes trazem a questão de como as políticas públicas podem ser localmente enraizadas para garantir que essa diversidade seja contemplada em seus processos. Esta incorporação é ainda mais relevante quando tratamos de políticas de saúde, onde a interação entre implementadores e beneficiários é essencial para compreender os resultados da política. O Programa Saúde da Família (PSF) tem tentado mudar as relações entre Estado e beneficiários, aproximando profissionais da saúde dos cotidiano vividos pelos beneficiários onde, muitas vezes, há (re)produção dos componentes que levam às situações de insegurança, insalubridade e doença. No caso desse programa, a análise das políticas públicas deve levar em conta os processos de interação e a ação dos atores envolvidos na implementação do PSF. Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar o papel dos Agentes Comunitários de Saúde enquanto implementadores do PSF. Através de pesquisas etnográficas acompanhando as atividades dos ACS em diferentes municípios, buscamos compreender como eles lidam com seus múltiplos saberes, ativam e desativam referências e adaptam ação para colocar em prática o Programa. A partir de análises de 24 Agentes Comunitários de diferentes municípios, avanlaos na compreensão de como se dão as mediações e as interações em suas práticas e como constroem as políticas públicas enraizando ações a partir dos cotidianos locais, construindo formas alternativas de implementação dessas políticas.