Human Resources for Health Blog
Responsible governance for improved human resources for health: making the right choices
An international conference will be held at the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) from 15 to 16 March 2010. The focus is on how responsible governance contributes to improved human resources for health policy implementation, to ensure that health workers are trained, retained and motivated to provide efficient and effective services. The aim of the conference is to develop an understanding of how attention to wider governance issues in the development and implementation of HRH policies and strategies can lead to better performance of health systems. The conference should achieve: Programme Keynote speakers Parallel sessions More information at: www.kit.nl
- Better understanding of the relationship between governance on HRH
- Identification of gaps in the role of governance
- Insight into examples of promising practices
The conference is organized around the main elements for responsible governance for improved HRH and will consist of a number of keynote presentations, parallel sessions and plenary discussions. During the final plenary session, key messages to strengthen governance will be drawn up, based on the conclusions from the previous sessions.
Marjolein Dieleman, Royal tropical Institute: Setting the scene - why a conference on HRH and governance?
Derick Brinkerhoff, RTI International: Health systems and governance - overview and entry points for responsible governance for human resources for health.
Manuel Dayrit, World Health Organization: HRH and governance - a WHO perspective.- Formulation of key messages to strengthen advocacy
Fifteen parallel sessions have been planned to enable group discussion, based on the main elements and grouped under five tracks. The outcome of the parallel sessions - lessons learned and key messages - will be shared and discussed in the plenary sessions.
Posted by Mario Dal Poz at 14:03 Comments (0)
New publication! : Handbook on monitoring and evaluation of human resources for health
We are pleased to announce the publication of the "Handbook on monitoring and evaluation of human resources for health, with special applications in low- and middle-income countries".
This Handbook offers health managers, researchers and policy makers a comprehensive and standard reference for monitoring and evaluating human resources for health. It brings together an analytical framework with strategy options for improving the health workforce information and evidence base, as well as country experiences to highlight approaches that have worked. A joint publication of the World Health Organization, World Bank and United States Agency for International Development, it is available in English, French and Spanish. (A Portuguese version is also forthcoming).
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International Conference on Research in Human Resources for Health: call for abstracts
The call for the International Conference on Research in Human Resources for Health has recently been published (in English, Portuguese, Spanish).
Objective: To strengthen evidence and knowledge with respect to health workforce development and to promote the use of innovative methodological approaches, data or tools, to measure and monitor health workforce capacity to respond to public health needs.
Call for abstracts
We invite researchers to submit an abstract, which may be from a country-specific, regional, or global perspective. Submissions from international collaborations are highly encouraged:
For more information: http://www.obsnetims.org.br/ver_evento.asp?id=64
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Posted by Daniel Shaw at 10:20 Comments (0)
Authors are invited to submit articles as a contribution to a special WHO Bulletin theme issue that will explore the challenges of health worker retention in remote and rural areas. Papers should aim at filling the gaps in the current knowledge on costs of implementing rural retention strategies and incentive schemes, and the extent to which context influences the design, implementation and the impact of various strategies. Innovative methodological papers that examine the monitoring and impact evaluation of various strategies are also encouraged, in particular with a view to understanding the long-term effects and sustainability of retention strategies.
Manuscripts on any of the above topics should be submitted to: http://submit.bwho.org by 1 October 2009.". The special issue will be published in Spring 2010.
A copy of the editorial call for papers can be found at: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/7/09-068494/en/index.html .
For more information please contact: hrhinfo@who.int.
Posted by Mario Dal Poz at 22:31 Comments (0)
Global Health Leadership Forum 2009
An innovative program for senior health executives focusing on health policy and management issues of global importance. The program takes place in two intensive 1-week sessions in Berkeley and Barcelona. Participants will develop a project mentored by expert faculty advisors during the six month interim between projects.
Barcelona Session
June 28 – July 4, 2009
Barcelona GSE and CRES
Barcelona, Catalonia – SPAIN
Berkeley Session
January 10 – 16, 2010
UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Berkeley, CALIFORNIA
The sixth edition of the Global Health Leadership Forum is a joint initiative of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics together with the UPF Center for Research in Health and Economics (CRES).
Applications: http://ghlf.berkeley.edu/
UC Berkeley
Meg Kellogg, Program Director
UC Berkeley School of Public Health
Email: ghlf@berkeley.edu
Tel: +1 (510) 642 1631
http://ghlf.berkeley.edu
Barcelona GSE
Carmen Estévez, Program Coordinator
Barcelona Graduate School of Economics
Email: carmen.estevez@barcelonagse.eu
Tel: +34 (93) 542 12 43
www.barcelonagse.eu
Posted by Mario Dal Poz at 00:02 Comments (0)
Measuring health workforce inequalities: methods and applications - Call for papers
The World Health Organization's Department of Human Resources for Health (WHO/HRH), in collaboration with the International Statistical Institute (ISI), solicits high-quality submissions of original statistical research results and/or experience focusing on the topic of "Measuring health workforce inequalities: methods and applications". Selected papers are to be presented at a Special Topic Meeting of the 57th Session of the ISI which will be held in Durban, South Africa in August 2009.
The goal of the Special Topic Meeting is to promote statistical discourse on measuring health workforce inequalities and the implications for policy and planning. Submissions should focus on methodological developments and applications for measuring health workforce inequalities, with special attention to monitoring trends (over time and/or areas) and evaluating their impacts on health systems performance and population health outcomes. Papers may be written in either of the working languages of the conference, i.e. English or French.
The WHO Department of Human Resources for Health will consider covering the costs of up to four researchers to present their papers at the Special Topic Meeting. Priority will be given to researchers from low and middle income countries who do not receive financial support from an international
source.
The deadline for submission of abstract is 13 April 2009. Full papers must be submitted by 15 May 2009 according to the format prescribed.
For more details, please visit:
http://www.who.int/hrh/events/2009/inequalities/en/index.html
Posted by Mario Dal Poz at 22:50 Comments (0)
Is There A Doctor In The House? a new book from Richard M. Scheffler
In Is There A Doctor In The House? Richard M. Scheffler, one of our Editorial Board members, upends conventional thinking, as he shows how the United States is not suffering from a shortage of doctors—rather, we are seeing the results of decades of misguided public policies. These policies have created a health care marketplace that often fails to deliver the right number of doctors, of the right specialty, in the right locations. Health care reform, Scheffler argues, is not just a matter of training more doctors. What this country needs is a reform of health care policy, which will spur the development of an efficient, cost-effective, and high-quality health care system.
Using his economist’s perspective to define what it means to find “the right number of doctors,” Scheffler places questions about the supply and demand of doctors in the framework of the market—showing how shifts in market power underlie workforce changes.
[Read More]Posted by Mario Dal Poz at 12:43 Comments (1)
Leadership and management in public health: latest article in six-part feature series
Ummuro Adano's article the Kenyan emergency hiring programme is the 4th article in the 6-article special feature to be published.
As a reminder to readers, the original editorial which launched the feature series in June is copied below.
The final two articles in the feature should be published in by the beginning of October
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The journal of Human Resources for Health is proud to be launching a first quarterly feature in collaboration with Management Sciences for Health (MSH) under the theme of public health leadership and management. The journal has invited Dr Manuel M. Dayrit, Director of the WHO Department of Human Resources for Health and former Minister of Health for the Philippines to launch the feature with this opening editorial.
"Good leadership and management at all levels is crucial in successfully confronting public health challenges in the increasingly complex global arena. Simply put, we can think of leadership as 'setting a vision,' and management as 'getting things done'. In reality, however, the two are often overlapping and we think of them as coming together. As a result, the two terms are often conflated within the relevant literature [1].
At the First Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, recently convened in Kampala, one of the concluding messages for tackling the global health workforce crisis was a call for united and committed decision makers leading health systems with strengthened management at all levels. In this context, we must consider managers as part of the health workforce, whether medically trained or not. What health workforce managers do need to understand, however, is how health systems work, particularly in relation to their respective functional domains.
The articles constituting this feature on leadership highlight the need for professional leaders and managers, at all levels of the health system, who are prepared to address critical gaps in human resources for health.
This series was proposed and coordinated as a joint submission by Mary O'Neil of Management Sciences for Health (MSH), who is also a member of the editorial board of this journal. Together these manuscripts advocate MSH's tried and tested approach in the area of leadership and management, showcasing new tools and strategies and introducing us to country-level health leaders who from testing situations have produced great successes. Taking the form of lighter, commentary style articles, they can be considered more as 'reports from the field' than as formal research or review articles.
The opening article describes the human resource challenges that managers around the world report and analyses why solutions often fail to be implemented.
In the second article, the experience of the Family Life Education Programme, an NGO in Uganda, in improving retention and performance by using the MSH Human Resource Management Rapid Assessment Tool is highlighted.
The third article presents a successful application in Mozambique of a leadership development program created by Management Sciences for Health (MSH). Through this program, managers from 40 countries have learned to work in teams to identify their priority challenges and act to implement effective responses.
The fourth article describes an emergency hiring program that rapidly recruited and deployed workers to deliver HIV and AIDS services in Kenya.
The penultimate article profiles three successful examples of public health leadership in Afghanistan, South Africa and Sudan and, finally, in the sixth and final article, we are presented with an experience of virtual leadership development for Human Resource Managers.
As a whole, the quarterly feature on health leadership and management illustrates: 1) the reality of organizational management and leadership in health; 2) the significance of inter-personal relationships and teamwork in the successful functioning of a health programme; 3) that day-to-day health leadership often consists of dealing with obstacles in very practical terms; 4) that when profiled, health leaders do exhibit some common traits and yet also differ in ways appropriate to the context and needs faced; 5) technology will play an increasingly important role in managing the solutions to the health workforce crisis and beyond."
- Manuel M. Dayrit
The six articles making up this first quarterly feature will be published individually at regular intervals over the coming weeks.
We hope this and our subsequent special features will inspire discussions on the topics covered. Any reader who wishes to respond to an article, or on the issue at hand in general, may contribute to the discussion by using the 'post a comment' feature on the journal website.
We would be particularly interested to see other examples from countries as described in the examples from the quarterly feature. Posted comments will be reviewed by the editorial team of 'Human Resources for Health' and then displayed both on the site and on the journal's blog. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and to participating in the electronic discussion.
The articles constituting the quarterly feature on leadership and management in public health were reviewed by Alexander Goubarev and Norbert Dreesch (WHO) and edited with the assistance of Laura Stormont.
1. Dayrit M D, Ambegaokar, M: Leadership in Public Health. In Oxford Textbook on Public Health. OUP; (Forthcoming).
Posted by Daniel Shaw at 17:58 Comments (1)
AuthorAID: supporting developing country researchers in publishing their work
AuthorAID provides researchers in more than 50 countries with:
- a community space for discussion and questions where researchers can obtain advice
- access to documents and presentations on best practice in writing and publication
- world-wide training workshops on scientific writing
- a chance to network with other researchers
- personal mentoring by highly published researchers and professional editors
Find out more about the benefits of joining the AuthorAID community, or register now.
Posted by Daniel Shaw at 15:39 Comments (0)
Human Resources for Health is very happy to announce that Open Medicine has published its contribution to the International Joint Issue on scaling up education and training of health workers.
The editorial is available on-line (free open access) at the Open Medicine website: http://www.openmedicine.ca/article/view/248/145.
The International Joint Issue is led by the HRH Journal and comprises the collaboration of over 20 top medical journals, who will each contribute in their own unique way over the coming 12 months on the theme of scaling up training and education of health workers. The Human Resources for Health Journal would like to thank the AJPH Editor-in-Chief, Claire Kendall and all at Open Medicine for their dedicated work in bringing this fantastic contribution to fruition.
Posted by Daniel Shaw at 13:23 Comments (0)
Human Resources for Health is very happy to announce that the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) has published its latest issue as part of the International Joint Issue on scaling up education and training of health workers.
The issue, published in English, is available as a paper copy or on-line (free open access) at the AJPH's website: http://www.ajph.org/content/vol98/issue9/.
The following is the cover note from the September 2008 issue:
"With this issue of the Journal, the editors, board members, and staff join with the WHO and the journal Human Resources for Health in supporting the broad theme, "Toward a scaling-up of training and education for health workers."
In doing so, we are part of an international collection of journals and agencies that is advocating for a skilled, sustainable health workforce in the developing world, abetted by innovative programs in schools of public health throughout the world.
Associate Editor Stella Yu inspired us to publish this particular issue devoted to Schools of Public Health after a visit to China (see her Editor's Choice column on p. 1546 of this issue).
On the cover, the only hospital in Greensburg, Kansas, was destroyed after an EF5 tornado devastated 95% of the community on May 4, 2007. Winds in excess of 200 miles per hour left a path of destruction 1.75 miles wide when it struck just after nightfall.
According to Stella Yu, "The schools of public health can take a substantive leadership role not only in the relief of disasters but also in the short- and long-term rehabilitation of the victims and their families."
The International Joint Issue is led by the HRH Journal and comprises the collaboration of over 20 top medical journals, who will each contribute in their own unique way over the coming 12 months on the theme of scaling up training and education of health workers.
The Human Resources for Health Journal would like to thank the AJPH Editor-in-Chief, Dr Mary Northridge, Dr Stella Yu and all at the AJPH for all their dedicated work in bringing this wonderful issue to fruition.
Posted by Daniel Shaw at 09:26 Comments (0)
Human Resources for Health is very happy to announce that the journal "Education for Health" has published its latest issue as part of the International Joint Issue on scaling up education and training of health workers.
The issue, actually their 20th Anniversary Edition, is available on-line (free open access) at the Education for Health's website: http://educationforhealth.net/articles/defaultnew.asp.
The Human Resources for Health Journal would like to thank Michael Glasser, Margaret Gadon and all at Education for Health for their collaboration on this issue.
The International Joint Issue is led by the HRH Journal and comprises the collaboration of over 20 top medical journals, who will each contribute in their own unique way - from June 2008 to June 2009 - on the theme of scaling up training and education of health workers.
Posted by Daniel Shaw at 14:22 Comments (0)
Human Resources for Health is very happy to announce that the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ) has published its latest issue as part of the International Joint Issue on scaling up education and training of health workers.
The issue, published in English and titled "Scaling up of Training and Education for Health Workers", is available as a paper copy or on-line (free open access) at the CMJ's website: www.cmj.hr
[Read More]Posted by Daniel Shaw at 10:40 Comments (0)
GENEVA -- All parties with an interest in the upcoming WHO code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel are invited to present their views through web-based public hearings organized by WHO.
WHO invites Member States, health workers, recruiters, employers, academic and research institutions, health professional organizations, relevant subregional, regional and international organizations, whether governmental or nongovernmental, and all persons concerned with the international recruitment of health personnel to contribute to the web-based hearings on a draft code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel between 1 and 30 September 2008.
The initiative will provide an opportunity for everyone, including the general public, to consider and comment upon the draft code. Input received during the course of these web-based public hearings will contribute to developing a revised draft code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel.
The draft code of practice can be accessed at: http://www.who.int/hrh/public_hearing/en/index.html
[Read More]Posted by Daniel Shaw at 16:36 Comments (0)
Human Resources for Health is very happy to announce that the first of over twenty partnering journals collaborating on the International Joint Issue on scaling up education and training of health workers has been published.
The following is their publication announcement translated into English: Vol.13.3 of the Brazilian journal Ciência & Saúde Coletiva (Science & Collective Health) has now been published. The title of this edition is "History of the health workers" and can be found at the journal website: www.cienciaesaudecoletiva.com.br.
Prepared under the coordination of the historians of the Casa Oswaldo Cruz
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Posted by Daniel Shaw at 17:55 Comments (0)