'You say you are a TB doctor, but actually, you do not have any power': health worker (de)motivation in the context of integrated, hospital-based tuberculosis care in eastern China.

BACKGROUND: In China, tuberculosis (TB) care, traditionally provided through the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), has been integrated into 'designated' public hospitals at County level, with hospital staff taking on delivery of TB services supported by CDC staff. Little is known about the impact of this initiative on the hospital-based health workers who were delegated to manage TB. Drawing on a case study of two TB 'designated' hospitals in Zhejiang province, we explored factors influencing hospital-based health workers' motivation in the context of integrated TB service delivery. METHODS: We conducted 47 in-depth interviews with health officials, TB/hospital managers, clinicians, radiologists, laboratory staff and nurses involved in the integrated model of hospital-based TB care. Thematic analysis was used to develop and refine themes, code the data and assist in interpretation. RESULTS: Health workers tasked with TB care in 'designated' hospitals perceived their professional status to be low, related to their assessment of TB treatment as lacking need for professional skills, their limited opportunities for professional development, and the social stigma surrounding TB. In both sites, the integrated TB clinics were under-staffed: health workers providing TB care reported heavy workloads, and expressed dissatisfaction with a perceived gap in their salaries compared with other clinical staff. In both sites, health workers were concerned about poor infection control and weak risk management assessment systems. CONCLUSIONS: Inadequate attention to workforce issues for TB control in China, specifically the professional status, welfare, and development as well as incentivization of infectious disease control workers has contributed to dissatisfaction and consequently poor motivation to serve TB patients within the integrated model of TB care. It is important to address the failure to motivate health workers and maximize public good-oriented TB service provision through improved government funding and attention to the professional welfare of health workers providing TB care in hospitals.

Transforming UNICEF's approach to health system strengthening: what place can a blended learning course play?

BACKGROUND: The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) published their Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) approach to meet its strategic goals of ending preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths and promoting the health and development of all children and reducing inequities in health in 2016. UNICEF commissioned the University of Melbourne's Nossal Institute for Global Health to develop and deliver a pilot blended HSS program, involving 60 hours of online learning and 2 weeks of face-to-face teaching over a 6-month period. To assess the extent to which the HSS program had built the first 83 UNICEF 2017 graduates' capabilities to apply HSS actions by 2017, UNICEF funded an independent evaluator from the University of Melbourne. METHODS: A mixed-methods assessment was conducted using: online surveys of graduates at: enrolment, completion, 6 months post-HSS program; nine focus groups with graduates at face-to-face workshops; and interviews with purposive samples of UNICEF graduates and graduate Senior Managers 12 months post-HSS program. RESULTS: The HSS program content, structure and mode of delivery was positively received. Graduates reported increased confidence taking HSS actions and multiple changes in work practices (e.g., increased systems thinking and using of health system-based approaches). Graduates' Senior Manager interviews revealed mixed impressions of graduates applying HSS actions, partly explained by the fit between the HSS program learnings and UNICEF's workplace environment. Key contextual factors influencing graduates applying HSS actions included: workload; limited opportunities to apply HSS actions; limited HSS examples; and variable support to apply HSS actions. Graduate and Senior Manager suggestions to optimise applying HSS actions included: linking HSS program content with UNICEF priorities; increasing opportunities for graduates to apply HSS actions; increasing access to HSS support. CONCLUSIONS: The paper concludes by presenting HSS program and assessment suggestions from the 2017 UNICEF Pilot HSS program assessment and actions taken for the 2018 UNICEF staff cohorts by HSS program developers, funders and beneficiaries.

Health workers' strikes in low-income countries: the available evidence.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the characteristics, frequency, drivers, outcomes and stakeholders of health workers' strikes in low-income countries. METHODS: We reviewed the published and grey literature from online sources for the years 2009 to 2018. We used four search strategies: (i) exploration of main health and social sciences databases; (ii) use of specialized websites on human resources for health and development; (iii) customized Google search; and (iv) consultation with experts to validate findings. To analyse individual strike episodes, pre-existing conditions and influencing actors, we developed a conceptual framework from the literature. RESULTS: We identified 116 records reporting on 70 unique health workers' strikes in 23 low-income countries during the period, accounting for 875 days of strike. Year 2018 had the highest number of events (17), corresponding to 170 work days lost. Strikes involving more than one professional category was the frequent strike modality (32 events), followed by strikes by physicians only (22 events). The most commonly reported cause was complaints about remuneration (63 events), followed by protest against the sector's governance or policies (25 events) and safety of working conditions (10 events). Positive resolution was achieved more often when collective bargaining institutions and higher levels of government were involved in the negotiations. CONCLUSION: In low-income countries, some common features appear to exist in health sector strikes' occurrence and actors involved in such events. Future research should focus on both individual events and regional patterns, to form an evidence base for mechanisms to prevent and resolve strikes.

Never again? Challenges in transforming the health workforce landscape in post-Ebola West Africa.

BACKGROUND: The 2013-2014 West African Ebola outbreak highlighted how the world's weakest health systems threaten global health security and heralded huge support for their recovery. All three Ebola-affected countries had large shortfalls and maldistribution in their health workforce before the crisis, which were made worse by the epidemic. This paper analyzes the investment plans in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea to strengthen their health workforces and assesses their potential contribution to the re-establishment and strengthening of their health systems. The analysis calculates the plans' costs and compares those to likely fiscal space, to assess feasibility. METHODS: Public sector payroll data from 2015 from each country was used for the workforce analysis and does not include the private sector. Data were coded into the major cadres defined by the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88). We estimated health worker training numbers and costs to meet international health worker density targets in the future and used sensitivity analysis to model hypothetical alternate estimates of attrition, drop-outs, and employment rates. RESULTS: Health worker-to-population density targets per 1000 population for doctors, nurses, and midwives are only specified in Liberia (1.12) and Guinea's (0.78) investment plans and fall far short of the regional average for Africa (1.33) or international benchmarks of 2.5 per 1000 population and 4.45 for universal health coverage. Even these modest targets translate into substantial scaling-up requirements with Liberia having to almost double, Guinea quadruple, and Sierra Leone having to increase its workforce by seven to tenfold to achieve Liberia and Guinea's targets. Costs per capita to meet the 2.5 per 1000 population density targets with 5% attrition, 10% drop-out, and 75% employment rate range from US$4.2 in Guinea to US$7.9 in Liberia in 2029, with projected fiscal space being adequate to accommodate the proposed scaling-up targets in both countries. CONCLUSIONS: Achieving even a modest scale-up of health workforce will require a steady growth in health budgets, a long-term horizon and substantial scale-up of current training institution capacity. Increasing value-for-money in health workforce investments will require more efficient geographical distribution of the health workforce and more consideration to the mix of cadres to be scaled-up.

Implications of dual practice for universal health coverage.

Making progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) requires that health workers are adequate in numbers, prepared for their jobs and motivated to perform. In establishing the best ways to develop the health workforce, relatively little attention has been paid to the trends and implications of dual practice - concurrent employment in public and private sectors. We review recent research on dual practice for its potential to guide staffing policies in relation to UHC. Many studies describe the characteristics and correlates of dual practice and speculate about impacts, but there is very little evidence that is directly relevant to policy-makers. No studies have evaluated the impact of policies on the characteristics of dual practice or implications for UHC. We address this lack and call for case studies of policy interventions on dual practice in different contexts. Such research requires investment in better data collection and greater determination on the part of researchers, research funding bodies and national research councils to overcome the difficulties of researching sensitive topics of health systems functions.

Pour parvenir à la couverture sanitaire universelle, il est nécessaire que les agents sanitaires soient en nombre suffisant, préparés à exercer leur métier et motivés. Au moment de déterminer les meilleurs moyens de renforcer le personnel de santé, peu d'attention a été accordée aux tendances et aux conséquences de la double pratique (cumul d'emplois dans les secteurs public et privé). Nous avons examiné une étude récente sur la double pratique en raison de sa capacité à orienter les politiques de dotation en personnel par rapport à la couverture sanitaire universelle. De nombreuses études décrivent les caractéristiques et les corrélats de la double pratique et suggèrent des hypothèses quant à son impact, mais très peu de données présentent un intérêt direct pour les dirigeants. Aucune étude n'a évalué l'impact des politiques sur les caractéristiques de la double pratique ou les conséquences sur la couverture sanitaire universelle. Nous soulignons ce manque et recommandons la réalisation d'études de cas portant sur les actions politiques relatives à la double pratique dans différents contextes. Ce travail de recherche requiert une meilleure collecte de données et une plus grande détermination de la part des chercheurs, des organismes de financement de la recherche et des conseils nationaux de recherche pour surmonter les difficultés liées aux recherches sur des sujets délicats concernant les fonctions des systèmes de santé.

Progresar hacia una cobertura universal de salud (UHC, por sus siglas en inglés) requiere un número adecuado de personal sanitario que esté preparado para su trabajo y motivado para llevarlo a cabo. Al establecer las mejores formas para desarrollar el personal sanitario, se prestó relativamente poca atención a las tendencias e implicaciones de la doble práctica (empleo concurrente en los sectores públicos y privados). Se revisó una reciente investigación sobre la doble práctica por su potencial para guiar las políticas de personal en relación con la UHC. Muchos estudios describen las características y correlaciones de la doble práctica y especulan sobre sus efectos negativos, pero existen muy pocas pruebas de que sean directamente relevantes para los responsables políticos. Ningún estudio ha evaluado el impacto de las políticas en las características de la doble práctica o las implicaciones para la UHC. Se señala esta carencia y se reclaman estudios de casos de las intervenciones políticas sobre la doble práctica en diferentes contextos. Tal investigación requiere una inversión en una mejor recopilación de datos y una mayor determinación por parte de los investigadores, las entidades que financian la investigación y los consejos nacionales de investigación con el objetivo de superar las dificultades de investigar temas delicados del funcionamiento de los sistemas sanitarios.

Why do health labour market forces matter?

Human resources for health have been recognized as essential to the development of responsive and effective health systems. Low- and middle-income countries seeking to achieve universal health coverage face human resource constraints - whether in the form of health worker shortages, maldistribution of workers or poor worker performance - that seriously undermine their ability to achieve well-functioning health systems. Although much has been written about the human resource crisis in the health sector, labour economic frameworks have seldom been applied to analyse the situation and little is known or understood about the operation of labour markets in low- and middle-income countries. Traditional approaches to addressing human resource constraints have focused on workforce planning: estimating health workforce requirements based on a country's epidemiological and demographic profile and scaling up education and training capacities to narrow the gap between the "needed" number of health workers and the existing number. However, this approach neglects other important factors that influence human resource capacity, including labour market dynamics and the behavioural responses and preferences of the health workers themselves. This paper describes how labour market analysis can contribute to a better understanding of the factors behind human resource constraints in the health sector and to a more effective design of policies and interventions to address them. The premise is that a better understanding of the impact of health policies on health labour markets, and subsequently on the employment conditions of health workers, would be helpful in identifying an effective strategy towards the progressive attainment of universal health coverage.

Les ressources humaines du secteur de la santé sont essentielles au développement de systèmes médicaux efficaces et réactifs. Les pays à revenu faible et moyen qui cherchent à obtenir une couverture maladie universelle souffrent de restrictions en matière de ressources humaines - que ce soit sous forme de pénurie d'agents de santé, de mauvaise répartition ou de faibles performances des travailleurs - qui compromettent sérieusement leur capacité à créer un système de santé optimal. Même si on a beaucoup écrit au sujet de la crise des ressources humaines dans le secteur de la santé, des cadres économiques de travail ont rarement été appliqués pour analyser la situation, et on connaît ou on comprend peu de choses sur le fonctionnement des marchés du travail dans les pays à revenu faible et moyen. Les approches traditionnelles dans le but de répondre aux restrictions en matière de ressources humaines accordent de l'importance à la planification des effectifs : estimer les besoins en matière de travailleurs de la santé par rapport au profil démographique et épidémiologique d'un pays, et intensifier les capacités de formation et d'enseignement pour réduire l'écart entre le nombre de travailleurs "nécessaire" et le nombre réel. Toutefois, cette approche néglige d'autres facteurs importants qui influent sur la capacité des ressources humaines, notamment les dynamiques du marché du travail et les réponses et préférences comportementales des travailleurs de la santé. Ce document explique comment l'analyse du marché du travail peut aider à mieux comprendre les facteurs qui sont à l'origine des restrictions en matière de ressources humaines dans le secteur de la santé, mais aussi à mettre en oeuvre des politiques et des interventions plus efficaces pour y remédier. L'hypothèse initiale est qu'une meilleure compréhension de l'impact des politiques de santé sur les marchés du travail de la santé et, par ailleurs, sur les conditions d'emploi des travailleurs de la santé, serait utile pour pouvoir identifier une stratégie efficace et progressivement mettre en place une couverture maladie universelle.

El papel de los recursos humanos en el sector sanitario se considera esencial para el desarrollo de sistemas sanitarios eficaces y con capacidad de respuesta. Los países de ingresos bajos y medianos que aspiran a alcanzar la cobertura sanitaria universal se enfrentan a las limitaciones en materia de recursos humanos, sea por escasez de personal sanitario, la distribución ineficaz del personal o el desempeño ineficiente del mismo, factores que socavan gravemente la capacidad para lograr sistemas sanitarios con un funcionamiento adecuado. Aunque se ha vertido mucha tinta acerca de la crisis de recursos humanos en el sector sanitario, rara vez se han aplicado los marcos económicos laborales para analizar la situación y poco se sabe o entiende sobre el funcionamiento de los mercados laborales en los países de ingresos bajos y medianos. Los enfoques tradicionales para hacer frente a las limitaciones en materia de recursos humanos se han centrado en la planificación del personal, mediante el cálculo de las necesidades de personal sanitario basada en el perfil epidemiológico y demográfico del país y la ampliación de los recursos educativos y formativos para reducir la brecha entre el número «necesario¼ de personal sanitario y el número real. Sin embargo, este enfoque deja de lado otros factores importantes que influyen en la capacidad de los recursos humanos, como la dinámica del mercado de trabajo, las respuestas de comportamiento y las preferencias del personal sanitario. Este informe describe cómo el análisis del mercado laboral pretende mejorar la comprensión de los factores que explican la escasez en materia de recursos humanos en el sector sanitario y ofrecer un diseño más eficaz de las políticas e intervenciones para abordarlos. La premisa para ello es que una mejor comprensión del impacto de las políticas sanitarias en el mercado laboral sanitario, y por consiguiente, en las condiciones laborales del personal sanitario, sería de gran ayuda en la identificación de una estrategia eficaz para alcanzar la cobertura sanitaria universal de forma progresiva.

Removing financial barriers to access reproductive, maternal and newborn health services: the challenges and policy implications for human resources for health.

BACKGROUND: The last decade has seen widespread retreat from user fees with the intention to reduce financial constraints to users in accessing health care and in particular improving access to reproductive, maternal and newborn health services. This has had important benefits in reducing financial barriers to access in a number of settings. If the policies work as intended, service utilization rates increase. However this increases workloads for health staff and at the same time, the loss of user fee revenues can imply that health workers lose bonuses or allowances, or that it becomes more difficult to ensure uninterrupted supplies of health care inputs.This research aimed to assess how policies reducing demand-side barriers to access to health care have affected service delivery with a particular focus on human resources for health. METHODS: We undertook case studies in five countries (Ghana, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In each we reviewed financing and HRH policies, considered the impact financing policy change had made on health service utilization rates, analysed the distribution of health staff and their actual and potential workloads, and compared remuneration terms in the public sectors. RESULTS: We question a number of common assumptions about the financing and human resource inter-relationships. The impact of fee removal on utilization levels is mostly not sustained or supported by all the evidence. Shortages of human resources for health at the national level are not universal; maldistribution within countries is the greater problem. Low salaries are not universal; most of the countries pay health workers well by national benchmarks. CONCLUSIONS: The interconnectedness between user fee policy and HRH situations proves difficult to assess. Many policies have been changing over the relevant period, some clearly and others possibly in response to problems identified associated with financing policy change. Other relevant variables have also changed.However, as is now well-recognised in the user fee literature, co-ordination of health financing and human resource policies is essential. This appears less well recognised in the human resources literature. This coordination involves considering user charges, resource availability at health facility level, health worker pay, terms and conditions, and recruitment in tandem. All these policies need to be effectively monitored in their processes as well as outcomes, but sufficient data are not collected for this purpose.

The human resource implications of improving financial risk protection for mothers and newborns in Zimbabwe.

BACKGROUND: A paradigm shift in global health policy on user fees has been evident in the last decade with a growing consensus that user fees undermine equitable access to essential health care in many low and middle income countries. Changes to fees have major implications for human resources for health (HRH), though the linkages are rarely explicitly examined. This study aimed to examine the inter-linkages in Zimbabwe in order to generate lessons for HRH and fee policies, with particular respect to reproductive, maternal and newborn health (RMNH). METHODS: The study used secondary data and small-scale qualitative fieldwork (key informant interview and focus group discussions) at national level and in one district in 2011. RESULTS: The past decades have seen a shift in the burden of payments onto households. Implementation of the complex rules on exemptions is patchy and confused. RMNH services are seen as hard for families to afford, even in the absence of complications. Human resources are constrained in managing current demand and any growth in demand by high external and internal migration, and low remuneration, amongst other factors. We find that nurses and midwives are evenly distributed across the country (at least in the public sector), though doctors are not. This means that for four provinces, there are not enough doctors to provide more complex care, and only three provinces could provide cover in the event of all deliveries taking place in facilities. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis suggests that there is a strong case for reducing the financial burden on clients of RMNH services and also a pressing need to improve the terms and conditions of key health staff. Numbers need to grow, and distribution is also a challenge, suggesting the need for differentiated policies in relation to rural areas, especially for doctors and specialists. The management of user fees should also be reviewed, particularly for non-Ministry facilities, which do not retain their revenues, and receive limited investment in return from the municipalities and district councils. Overall public investment in health needs to grow.

Is there an association between public spending on health and choice of healthcare providers across socioeconomic groups in India? - Evidence from a national sample.

The role of public spending on health in reducing socioeconomic inequalities in healthcare is an emerging area of research, little supporting empirical evidence is available from low- and middle-income countries. This study examined: (1) the relationship between public spending on health per capita and the decision whether to seek healthcare or not, (2) the relationships between public spending on health per capita and choice of medical provider, and (3) whether these relationships varied by socioeconomic groups in India. Our study utilized the nationally representative 71st National Sample Survey of India, using 26,142 people who had been ailing in the past 15 days, the survey took place between the 1st of January and June 30, 2014. Two regression-based approaches were used to examine the association between public spending and choice of medical providers: (1) Multilevel multinomial regression; and (2) Instrumental variable regression. We examined the differential impacts of public spending on healthcare utilisation by socioeconomic groups. Increased public spending on health was not associated with changes in ailing people's decision whether to seek care or not (p > 0.05 in all analyses). However, increased public spending on health was associated with reductions in patients choosing private medical providers [adjusted odds ratio = 0.88 (95%CI 0.85-0.91) for outpatient private clinics] compared to outpatient government clinics. These associations may be greater among the lower economic groups compared with their counterparts. Across India, higher levels of government investment in health services are recognised by healthcare users and shown in their pattern of healthcare utilisation. That an increase in public spending on health results in a decrease in the use of private providers, particularly outpatient facilities with no inpatient capabilities, provides strong evidence for the effectiveness of 'regulation by competition'. This is a strong argument for focusing health system strengthening, and strategies for achieving universal healthcare on public investment.

The distinctive roles of urban community health workers in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review of the literature.

Addressing urban health challenges in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been hampered by lack of evidence on effective mechanisms for delivering health services to the poor. The urban disadvantaged experience poor health outcomes (often worse than rural counterparts) and face service barriers. While community health workers (CHWs) have been extensively employed in rural communities to address inequities, little attention has been given to understanding the roles of CHWs in urban contexts. This study is the first to systematically examine urban CHW roles in LMICs. It aims to understand their roles vis-à-vis other health providers and raise considerations for informing future scope of practice and service delivery models. We developed a framework that presents seven key roles performed by urban CHWs and position these roles against a continuum of technical to political functions. Our scoping review included publications from four databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and Social Sciences Citation Index) and two CHW resource hubs. We included all peer-reviewed, CHW studies situated in urban/peri-urban, LMIC contexts. We identify roles (un)commonly performed by urban CHWs, present the range of evidence available on CHW effectiveness in performing each role and identify considerations for informing future roles. Of 856 articles, 160 met the inclusion criteria. Programmes spanned 34 LMICs. Studies most commonly reported evidence on CHWs roles related to health education, outreach and elements of direct service provision. We found little overlap in roles between CHWs and other providers, with some exceptions. Reported roles were biased towards home visiting and individual-capacity building, and not well-oriented to reach men/youth/working women, support community empowerment or link with social services. Urban-specific adaptations to roles, such as peer outreach to high-risk, stigmatized communities, were limited. Innovation in urban CHW roles and a better understanding of the unique opportunities presented by urban settings is needed to fully capitalize on their potential.

Salaries and incomes of health workers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Public-sector health workers are vital to the functioning of health systems. We aimed to investigate pay structures for health workers in the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa; the adequacy of incomes for health workers; the management of public-sector pay; and the fiscal and macroeconomic factors that impinge on pay policy for the public sector. Because salary differentials affect staff migration and retention, we also discuss pay in the private sector. We surveyed historical trends in the pay of civil servants in Africa over the past 40 years. We used some empirical data, but found that accurate and complete data were scarce. The available data suggested that pay structures vary across countries, and are often structured in complex ways. Health workers also commonly use other sources of income to supplement their formal pay. The pay and income of health workers varies widely, whether between countries, by comparison with cost of living, or between the public and private sectors. To optimise the distribution and mix of health workers, policy interventions to address their pay and incomes are needed. Fiscal constraints to increased salaries might need to be overcome in many countries, and non-financial incentives improved.

Does a code make a difference--assessing the English code of practice on international recruitment.

BACKGROUND: This paper draws from research completed in 2007 to assess the effect of the Department of Health, England, Code of Practice for the international recruitment of health professionals.The Department of Health in England introduced a Code of Practice for international recruitment for National Health Service employers in 2001. The Code required National Health Service employers not to actively recruit from low-income countries, unless there was government-to-government agreement. The Code was updated in 2004. METHODS: The paper examines trends in inflow of health professionals to the United Kingdom from other countries, using professional registration data and data on applications for work permits. The paper also provides more detailed information from two country case studies in Ghana and Kenya. RESULTS: Available data show a considerable reduction in inflow of health professionals, from the peak years up to 2002 (for nurses) and 2004 (for doctors). There are multiple causes for this decline, including declining demand in the United Kingdom.In Ghana and Kenya it was found that active recruitment was perceived to have reduced significantly from the United Kingdom, but it is not clear the extent to which the Code was influential in this, or whether other factors such as a lack of vacancies in the United Kingdom explains it. CONCLUSION: Active international recruitment of health professionals was an explicit policy intervention by the Department of Health in England, as one key element in achieving rapid staffing growth, particularly in the period 2000 to 2005, but the level of international recruitment has dropped significantly since early 2006. Regulatory and education changes in the United Kingdom in recent years have also made international entry more difficult. The potential to assess the effect of the Code in England is constrained by the limitations in available databases. This is a crucial lesson for those considering a global code: without a clear link between explicit objectives of a code, and relevant monitoring capacity, it is not possible to judge the actual impact of a code. A second message for policy-makers is that attempts to use a single country code in other countries where there are a multiplicity of independent, private-sector health care employers, or where there is a federated political and regulatory structure, will be a much more challenging and complex issue than in England, which has one major public sector health care employer and one national point of entry for regulated health professionals. Finally, there is a message about the importance of the "visibility" of any recruitment code--for policy-makers, employers and potential recruits. The Department of Health Code has a good level of recognition in the National Health Service, but would benefit from better dissemination in low-income countries, particularly in Africa, together with further consultation on the appropriateness of its provisions in specific countries. To achieve high visibility and recognition of any global code will be a much bigger challenge.

International flow of Zambian nurses.

This commentary paper highlights changing patterns of outward migration of Zambian nurses. The aim is to discuss these pattern changes in the light of policy developments in Zambia and in receiving countries. Prior to 2000, South Africa was the most important destination for Zambian registered nurses. In 2000, new destination countries, such as the United Kingdom, became available, resulting in a substantial increase in migration from Zambia. This is attributable to the policy of active recruitment by the United Kingdom's National Health Service and Zambia's policy of offering Voluntary Separation Packages: early retirement lump-sum payments promoted by the government, which nurses used towards migration costs. The dramatic decline in migration to the United Kingdom since 2004 is likely to be due to increased difficulties in obtaining United Kingdom registration and work permits. Despite smaller numbers, enrolled nurses are also leaving Zambia for other destination countries, a significant new development. This paper stresses the need for nurse managers and policy-makers to pay more attention to these wider nurse migration trends in Zambia, and argues that the focus of any migration strategy should be on how to retain a motivated workforce through improving working conditions and policy initiatives to encourage nurses to stay within the public sector.

The double burden of human resource and HIV crises: a case study of Malawi.

Two crises dominate the health sectors of sub-Saharan African countries: those of human resources and of HIV. Nevertheless, there is considerable variation in the extent to which these two phenomena affect sub-Saharan countries, with a few facing extreme levels of both: Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, the Central African Republic and Malawi. This paper reviews the continent-wide situation with respect to this double burden before considering the case of Malawi in more detail. In Malawi, there has been significant concurrent investment in both an Emergency Human Resource Programme and an antiretroviral therapy programme which was treating 60,000 people by the end of 2006. Both areas of synergy and conflict have arisen, as the two programmes have been implemented. These highlight important issues for programme planners and managers to address and emphasize that planning for the scale-up of antiretroviral therapy while simultaneously strengthening health systems and the human resource situation requires prioritization among compelling cases for support, and time (not just resources).

The health migration crisis: the role of four Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.

The crisis of human resources for health that is affecting low-income countries and especially sub-Saharan Africa has been attributed, at least in part, to increasing rates of migration of qualified health staff to high-income countries. We describe the conditions in four Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) health labour markets that have led to increasing rates of immigration. Popular explanations of these trends include ageing populations, growing incomes, and feminisation of the health workforce. Although these explanations form part of the larger picture, analysis of the forces operating in the four countries suggests that specific policy measures largely unrelated to these factors have driven growing demand for health staff. On this basis we argue that specific policy measures are equally capable of reversing these trends and avoiding the exploitation of low-income countries' scarce resources. These policies should seek to ensure local stability in health labour markets so that shortages of staff are not solved via the international brain drain.

Health sector reforms and human resources for health in Uganda and Bangladesh: mechanisms of effect.

BACKGROUND: Despite the expanding literature on how reforms may affect health workers and which reactions they may provoke, little research has been conducted on the mechanisms of effect through which health sector reforms either promote or discourage health worker performance. This paper seeks to trace these mechanisms and examines the contextual framework of reform objectives in Uganda and Bangladesh, and health workers' responses to the changes in their working environments by taking a 'realistic evaluation' approach. METHODS: The study findings were generated by triangulating both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis among policy technocrats, health managers and groups of health providers. Quantitative surveys were conducted with over 700 individual health workers in both Bangladesh and Uganda and supplemented with qualitative data obtained from focus group discussions and key interviews with professional cadres, health managers and key institutions involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of the reforms of interest. RESULTS: The reforms in both countries affected the workforce through various mechanisms. In Bangladesh, the effects of the unification efforts resulted in a power struggle and general mistrust between the two former workforce tracts, family planning and health. However positive effects of the reforms were felt regarding the changes in payment schemes. Ugandan findings show how the workforce responded to a strong and rapidly implemented system of decentralisation where the power of new local authorities was influenced by resource constraints and nepotism in recruitment. On the other hand, closer ties to local authorities provided the opportunity to gain insight into the operational constraints originating from higher levels that health staff were dealing with. CONCLUSION: Findings from the study suggest that a) reform planners should use the proposed dynamic responses model to help design reform objectives that encourage positive responses among health workers b) the role of context has been underestimated and it is necessary to address broader systemic problems before initiating reform processes, c) reform programs need to incorporate active implementation research systems to learn the contextual dynamics and responses as well as have inbuilt program capacity for corrective measures d) health workers are key stakeholders in any reform process and should participate at all stages and e) some effects of reforms on the health workforce operate indirectly through levels of satisfaction voiced by communities utilising the services.

How to bridge the gap in human resources for health.

Human resources are the crucial core of a health system, but they have been a neglected component of health-system development. The demands on health systems have escalated in low income countries, in the form of the Millennium Development Goals and new targets for more access to HIV/AIDS treatment. Human resources are in very short supply in health systems in low and middle income countries compared with high income countries or with the skill requirements of a minimum package of health interventions. Equally serious concerns exist about the quality and productivity of the health workforce in low income countries. Among available strategies to address the problems, expansion of the numbers of doctors and nurses through training is highly constrained. This is a difficult issue involving the interplay of multiple factors and forces.

Universal health coverage reforms: implications for the distribution of the health workforce in low-and middle-income countriess.

To achieve universal health coverage (UHC), a range of health-financing reforms, including removal of user fees and the expansion of social health insurance, have been implemented in many countries. While the focus of much research and discussion on UHC has been on the impact of health-financing reforms on population coverage, health-service utilization and out-of-pocket payments, the implications of such reforms for the distribution and performance of the health workforce have often been overlooked. Shortages and geographical imbalances in the distribution of skilled health workers persist in many low- and middle-income countries, posing a threat to achieving UHC. This paper suggests that there are risks associated with health-financing reforms, for the geographical distribution and performance of the health workforce. These risks require greater attention if poor and rural populations are to benefit from expanded financial protection.

Mid-level health providers: a promising resource.

Mid-level health providers (MLP) are health workers trained at a higher education institution for at least a total of 2-3 years, and authorized and regulated to work autonomously to diagnose, manage and treat illness, disease and impairments, as well as engage in preventive and promotive care. Their role has been progressively expanding and receiving attention, in particular in low- and middle-income countries, as a strategy to overcome health workforce challenges and improve access to essential health services and achieve the health related targets of the Millennium Development Goals. Evidence, although limited and imperfect, shows that, where MLP are adequately trained, supported and integrated coherently in the health system, they have the potential to improve distribution of health workers and enhance equitable access to health services, while retaining quality standards comparable to, if not exceeding, those of services provided by physicians. Significant challenges however exist in terms of the marginalization and more limited management support of MLP in health systems. The expansion of MLP should have priority among the policy options considered by countries facing shortage and maldistribution challenges. Improved education, supervision, management and regulation practices and integration in the health system have the potential to maximize the benefits from the use of these cadres.