Research

Exploring Contraceptive Use Differentials in Sub-Saharan Africa through a Health Workforce Lens

Sarah Dwyer — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:56:12 +0000

Author's name:

Sara Pacqué-Margolis, Carie Cox, Amanda Puckett, and Lois Schaefer

June 2013 (All day)

CapacityPlus Technical Brief #11 (Interactive Version)

Globally, 56% of all married women are using a modern method of contraception, up from less than 10% in 1960. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, only 19% of married women are using a modern method of contraception. Since nearly all family planning services require assistance from a health worker, access to health workers is a principal supply-side determinant of family planning service use. This technical brief presents findings from a study that explored if and how health workforce measures differ between eastern and western Africa, in an effort to identify factors that may have helped some countries to achieve important gains in contraceptive prevalence while other countries have not. The findings raise questions about whether government commitment and certain policy choices vis-à-vis health workforce distribution and qualifications—even when absolute levels of health worker density are low—could make a difference in the provision of family planning services in resource-constrained countries.

Workplace Violence and Gender Discrimination in Rwanda's Health Workforce: Increasing Safety and Gender Equality

Sarah Dwyer — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:30:22 +0000

Author's name:

Constance J. Newman, Daniel H. de Vries, Jeanne d'Arc Kanakuze, and Gerard Ngendahimana

July 2011 (All day)

Human Resources for Health

This article in Human Resources for Health draws on research conducted during the Capacity Project, the predecessor to CapacityPlus.

Workplace violence has been documented in all sectors, but female-dominated sectors such as health and social services are at particular risk. This article reexamines a set of study findings that directly relate to the influence of gender on workplace violence, synthesizes these findings with other research from Rwanda, and examines the subsequent impact of the study on Rwanda’s policy environment.

Occupational Segregation, Gender Essentialism and Male Primacy as Major Barriers to Equity in HIV Care Giving: Findings from Lesotho

Sarah Dwyer — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:26:39 +0000

Author's name:

Constance J. Newman, Linda Fogarty, Lucia N. Makoae, and Erik Reavely

June 2011 (All day)

International Journal for Equity in Health

This article in the International Journal for Equity in Health draws on research conducted during the Capacity Project, the predecessor to CapacityPlus.

Gender segregation of occupations has been recognized as a major source of inequality worldwide with implications for the development of robust health workforces. In sub-Saharan Africa, gender inequalities are particularly acute in HIV/AIDS caregiving (90% of which is provided in the home), where women and girls make up the informal (and mostly unpaid) workforce. Men's and boy's entry into HIV/AIDS caregiving in greater numbers would both increase the equity and sustainability of national and community-level HIV/AIDS caregiving and mitigate health workforce shortages, but notions of gender essentialism and male primacy make this far from inevitable. The Capacity Project partnered with the Lesotho Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in a study of the gender dynamics of HIV/AIDS caregiving to account for men's absence in HIV/AIDS caregiving and investigate ways in which they might be recruited into the community and home-based care workforce. This article presents findings and recommendations resulting from the study.

HRH Global Resource Center: A Tool for Research and Information

Sarah Dwyer — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:45:47 +0000

Author's name:

CapacityPlus

January 2011 (All day)

HRH Global Resource Center Overview

An overview of the HRH Global Resource Center, a digital library dedicated to health workforce issues in developing countries.