Education and Training

Nursing Education Partnership Initiative Tackles the Global Nursing Shortage

Kate TulenkoAround the world nurses are often the front line of the formal medical system, providing care to underserved areas and filling in where and when doctors are in short supply. Yet it has been estimated that sub-Saharan Africa needs 600,000 additional nurses just to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

The Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI)—the US Government’s unified program to address the underproduction of nursing professionals in developing countries—convened its partners for the first time in a meeting in June in Washington, DC. NEPI’s goal is to assist in the nursing component of the US Government’s commitment to training 140,000 additional health workers in developing countries by 2015.

NEPI is led by PEPFAR with government partners USAID and the Department of Health and Human Services. Other partners include CapacityPlus led by IntraHealth International, Columbia University, the World Health Organization, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative. Read more »

Picturing Our Work: Improving Preservice Education of Health Workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

These student interns at ISTM Kinshasa Central Hospital, DRC, take a break to pose for CapacityPlus consultant Gilbert Belade—local coordinator for our preservice education costing studies with the Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI)—and Sophie Faye of Abt Associates. On a recent trip to Kinshasa, Sophie and Gilbert collected financial information at two nursing and midwifery schools and their associated clinical practice facilities. Read more »

How I Fell in Love with the Sisters and Students at St. Joseph’s

Last month, I met the Little Sisters of St. Francis and many of their students at St. Joseph’s Kamuli School of Midwifery in the rural Kamuli District of Uganda. This convent, hospital, and school is now celebrating 100 years of service.

CapacityPlus is helping the school achieve a decades-long goal: to provide a high-quality education leading to a diploma in midwifery to young women from the region. Read more »

In-Service Training Improvement Framework Launched at the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health

There are more health worker in-service training programs than ever before, with training often representing the lion’s share of investments for strengthening human resources for health (HRH). But an increasing number of reports indicate that such training is rarely evaluated, frequently duplicative, and may not be designed to meet needs. A growing multiplicity of poorly-coordinated training providers may overwhelm and weaken training systems rather than strengthen them. Read more »

The Ethiopian Government and CapacityPlus Lead the Way in Estimating the Cost of Educating Nurses and Midwives in Africa

In 2011, Ethiopia reported having 29,550 nurses and 2,416 midwives1, or approximately one nurse for every 3,000 people and one midwife for every 34,000 people. In response to this shortage, the Government of Ethiopia has developed an ambitious plan to significantly increase the number of nurses and midwives in the country by 2015—to 41,009 nurses and 8,635 midwives—through the expansion of health science schools, departments, and programs. Read more »

Focusing on MEPI: Two Views with Common Goals

Heather RossIt is rare that a person is able to view one event through two lenses. I was privileged to be able to do so as I moved to CapacityPlus from a position with the Coordinating Center of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) at George Washington University (GWU).

The Medical Education Partnership Initiative
MEPI is funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and supports African medical schools as they work to further PEPFAR’s goal of increasing the number of new health workers by 140,000. It is a network of more than 30 medical schools in sub-Saharan Africa that is supported by the Coordinating Center, a joint effort of GWU and the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation, and by other stakeholders, including CapacityPlus. Read more »

Responding to the Urgent Need for More Health Workers: Rebecca Bailey on Health Workforce Education and Training

Rebecca BaileyAt 23, CapacityPlus’s Rebecca Bailey mailed two applications: to law school and to the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps called her first, and that’s when her work to improve health worker education and training took root.

As a communications officer for CapacityPlus, I do a lot of writing about our work to address the global health workforce shortage, but I rarely write about the people doing the work. Therefore it was a pleasure for me to speak with Rebecca and learn about her career and her current position as health workforce development team lead. Read more »

Nursing and Midwifery Education in Ethiopia: Ensuring Professional Capacity and Relevance

Rachel DeussomIt has been estimated that sub-Saharan Africa needs 600,000 additional nurses just to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The United States Government’s Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI) is designed to strengthen the quality and capacity of nursing and midwifery education systems in sub-Saharan African countries, to increase the number of well-qualified nurses and midwives, and to support innovative retention strategies. Nurses and midwives are integral to health systems, providing care to underserved areas and filling in where and when doctors are in short supply. CapacityPlus is proud to be a NEPI partner, providing analysis and technical support to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia. Read more »

The Life of Health Students and Professionals in Developing Countries: A Snapshot

Mesrak BelatchewThere are 57 countries that fail to meet the World Health Organization’s recommended minimum threshold of 2.3 health workers per 1,000 people. Everyone agrees on the fact that the health workforce crisis is beyond the numbers. The increased migration of health workers and the lack of trained health providers in rural and remote areas are manifestations of the inherent lack of capacity of the health and education systems in developing countries to adequately recruit, train, and support their health workers.

Typically, students that join health science institutions have strong records of academic achievement. Their personal aspirations coupled with the high expectations of their families, teachers, and their communities increase their desire to achieve more. They dream of getting more education and training to enable them to help others. Read more »

A Successful Initiative for Health Workforce Development in Ethiopia

Sarah DwyerMental health is not always on the forefront of people’s minds when they think about global health and the critical shortage of trained health workers. But the need is there.

In Ethiopia, Dr. Markos Tesfaye recalls a “huge mental health professional deficit.” He is head of the department of psychiatry in the College of Public Health and Medical Sciences at Jimma University. In 2007, he says, “there were only 28 psychiatrists in the country for a population of about 80 million.” Complicating matters, he recalls, “psychiatry nurses who had advanced diploma-level education were shifting to do their degree in general nursing because of lack of opportunities to advance their career in the field of mental health.” Read more »

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