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Picturing Our Work: Harnessing mLearning for Training Health Workers

Devika ChawlaIn this age of rapidly emerging technologies, how can we improve the way we provide training to health workers?

This is the question CapacityPlus is trying to answer with our mLearning work in Senegal. Using feedback from previous eLearning projects—such as problems with Internet connectivity and computer access—the project started looking into mLearning options that use audio to deliver training through the most basic mobile phones. But there was no suitable option.

So CapacityPlus developed its own interactive voice response (IVR) mLearning platform that delivers training to health workers on their mobile phones, meaning that health workers can remain at their posts and continue providing care in their communities. Read more »

Uganda Stakeholders Plan a Way Forward to Expand and Sustain Health Workforce Information System

Uganda's Human Resources for Health Information System (HRHIS) started in 2006, as the registration and licensure registry in the Uganda Nursing and Midwifery Council. The council entered its historical data to track health worker licensure and registration information. Since then, the system has expanded to support the management of employed health workers and is now being used in the remaining three professional councils, the Ministry of Health, all four national health institutions, all 13 regional referral hospitals, and 74 out of the 112 districts—impressive progress in a highly decentralized health system.

The software the system is built on, iHRIS Qualify and iHRIS Manage, was developed and refined based on experiences and needs in Uganda. Seven years later, the iHRIS software is now used by 15 countries to support over half a million health worker records. Users of the system experience its benefits such as faster and easier access to vital information for more informed decision-making, and continue to envision ways to increase its functionality and improve its ease of use. As with any evolving technology, Uganda’s HRHIS challenges (e.g., connectivity in more remote sites, interoperability of various Ministry of Health and other government information systems, availability of sufficient dedicated human and financial resources, and resistance to change by users of the system) remain to be addressed.  Read more »

A Guatemalan Nurse Works for Better Staff Performance—and Better Services for Patients

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog. With funding from USAID’s LAC Bureau, CapacityPlus also provides technical assistance to strengthen the health workforce in HIV commodities security in countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

“I like providing support and care to patients,” says Rosa Lara de Forela, the subdirector of nursing at the Pedro de Bethancourt National Hospital in beautiful Antigua, Guatemala. “The most satisfying thing I’ve found in my profession is giving direct attention to each of the patients that I encounter in the different departments of the hospital. I like to serve mankind. That’s my passion.” Read more »

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