Addressing Health Workforce Challenges at the District Level in Uganda

While issues such as shortages and low productivity of health workers represent national concerns, their effects are most acutely felt in local communities. In the latest edition of CapacityPlus Voices, “Already We See the Difference”: Strengthening District Health Workforce Leadership and Management in Uganda, health workforce leaders share perspectives on a program designed to help them address their local health workforce challenges.

Voices #11Teams from 19 districts in Uganda are taking the Human Resources for Health (HRH) Leadership and Management Course. The 24-week course includes three one-week workshops complemented by field assignments in which participants work in teams to focus on the most critical health workforce challenges in their particular district with support from course facilitators. The overall format for the course is derived from a pilot course conducted by CapacityPlus in Kenya, which included participation by staff from Uganda’s Ministry of Health as well as Vincent Oketcho, director of the USAID-funded Uganda Capacity Program. Leaders from the Ministry of Health have since been involved in the design and delivery of the Uganda course, which is being conducted by the Uganda Capacity Program. CapacityPlus helped prepare instructors to carry out the course.

Drawing on the Uganda experience, CapacityPlus plans to publish guidance to assist other countries in delivering and scaling-up HRH professional development programs and capacity-building at the district level.

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