Performance Support

International Nurses Day 2011: Increasing Access and Equity

jennifer — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:15:53 +0000

May 12 is celebrated the world over as International Nurses Day, with this year’s theme calling particular attention to issues of access and equity in health care.

Nurses make up the bulk of the health workforce, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, which has 5.5 nurses and midwives for every physician. While nurses’ contributions to the health system are well-established in the literature, to date, scant attention has been directed toward many of the critical issues nurses face in their careers.

Education
The status of nursing education in developing countries is poorly understood.

Author's name:

Shaun Noronha

Publication Date:

May 2011

Beyond Vacancies: Improving Performance and Productivity to Strengthen Health Systems

jennifer — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:36:52 +0000

Typically, a health workforce strengthening approach looks at the number of available health workers in comparison to the required number and then advises decision-makers on the need for health workforce development. Existing health workers are considered a given whereby adjustments are made in the form of additions to the system. This approach assumes that optimal health care delivery will be achieved when all the vacancies are filled.

However, these measures may not guarantee that staff turnover, performance, and/or productivity are adequately addressed.

Author's name:

Mesrak Belatchew

Publication Date:

February 2011

Collaboration with Ugandan Students Expands Reach of Software Systems in the Health Sector

jennifer — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:31:14 +0000

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

Working in the field of global health we often hear about the global health workforce shortage: we don’t have enough doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, community health workers in developing countries. This is true, but what we hear less about is how we manage and support the people we do have, which is also crucial and one of the main charges of the Uganda Capacity Program.

One way the Uganda Capacity Program is helping to manage and support the current health workforce is through the development and rollout of the iHRIS software suite, an Open Source software solution developed under the USAID-funded and IntraHealth-led Capacity Project.

Author's name:

Charles Matsiko

Publication Date:

November 2010