Addressing the human resources crisis: a case study of the Namibian health service

Abstract

BackgroundThis paper addresses an important practical challenge to staff management. In 2000 the United Nations committed themselves to the ambitious targets embodied in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Only five years later, it was clear that poor countries were not on track to achieve them. It was also clear that achieving the three out of the eight MDGs that concern health would only be possible if the appropriate human resources (HR) were in place.MethodsWe use a case study based on semi-structured interview data to explore the steps that Namibia, a country facing severe health problems that include an alarmingly high AIDS infection rate, has taken to manage its health workers.ResultsIn the fifteen years since independence, Namibia has patiently built up a relatively good strategic framework for health policy in the context of government policy as a whole, including strong training arrangements at every level of health staffing, and it has brought HIV/AIDS under the strategic umbrella through its National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS. Its major weakness is that it has not kept pace with the rise in HIV/AIDS and TB infection: the community counselling service, still at the pilot stage at the time of this study, was the only specific response. That has created a tension between building long-term capacity in a strategic context and responding to the short-term demands of the AIDS and TB crisis, which in turn affects the ability of HR to contribute to improving health outcomes.ConclusionIt is suggested that countries like Namibia need a new paradigm for staffing their health services. Building on the existing strategic framework, it should target the training of 'mid-level cadres'. Higher-level cadres should take on the role of supporting and monitoring the mid-level cadres. To do that, they will need management training and a performance management framework for staff support and monitoring.

Mothers’ experiences and satisfactions with health extension program in Jimma zone, Ethiopia: a cross sectional study

“…However, nearly three-fourth of the respondents received information on some health extension packages during one year before the survey. This finding is found to be better compared to earlier reports [13,16]. Better exposures to information observed for hygiene and environmental sanitation packages.…”

“…Instruments were developed through thorough review of documents, guidelines and manuals related to HEP, and relevant literatures [5,10,13,15,16,18]. The questionnaire consisted of three main parts: the first part was composed of socio-demographic information of the respondents.…”

“…This is evidenced by the fact that the majority of scientific inquiries related to HEP were primarily focused on implementation status of the program [8-10], efficiency of HEWs [11], working conditions and experiences of HEWs [12,13], access to information and continuing education [14], and effects of the program [15]. Only one study, as we were able to identify from published evidences, described the initial community experiences on HEP [16]. Therefore, it is timely and appropriate to assess mothers’ experiences with HEP as they are the fundamental unit of interventions for most of the HEP packages.…”

Measuring the effects of an international health professions faculty development fellowship: the FAIMER Institute

“…This emphasis is complementary to the approach of most current international health resource investments, which are devoted to priority disease prevention and treatment programs, and consistent with an increasing number of authors recommending funding focused specifically on capacity building of human resources in the health system (Drager et al 2006;McCourt & Awases 2007;Awofeso et al 2008;Global Health Workforce Alliance 2008). The FAIMER Institute model consists of a two-year parttime fellowship that focuses on an education innovation project in the Fellow's own institution, supported by the institution's leadership.…”

Assessing the twinning model in the Rwandan Human Resources for Health Program: goal setting, satisfaction and perceived skill transfer

“…While Africa bears 24 % of the global disease burden, it employs only 3 % of healthcare workers worldwide [2]. With a staffing ratio far below the recommended 2.3 healthcare professionals per 1000 population needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) [11], questions were raised as to whether countries in Africa would be able to meet the health-related MDGs [12, 13]. Indeed, while there was progress in all MDGs in sub-Saharan Africa, none of the targets were met for the region by the 2015 end-line evaluation [14].…”