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

June 2012 by Carol Bales with Rebecca Bailey
TAGS: Education and Training, Health Workers, MEPI, NEPI, Rebecca Bailey

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 »

At the Click of a Button: Jane Ruth Aceng Shares Good News

June 2012 by Carol Bales
TAGS: Health Workers, I'm a Health Worker, iHRIS, Uganda

Jane Ruth AcengJane Ruth Aceng sits in a black leather chair in her office at the Uganda Ministry of Health. Even though she’s soft-spoken, you can hear the authority in her voice. And, as a nearby camera flash clicks and lights the room, you can sense she’s an important person. “I’m the director general of health services,” she states. “That means I’m the technical head for health in the country.”

Jane describes how planning for the health workforce used to be a nightmare. Uganda previously used a paper-based system to store information on the country’s health workers. Now, using a national health workforce information system called HRHIS, she shares good news, “We have a system where by just a click of a button, you know who is available in the system, you know how many health workers we have in the country, you know their qualifications, you know where they are, and you know what they are doing.” Read more »

Nine Reasons We Place Health Workers at the Center of Our Efforts

May 2012 by Sarah Dwyer and Carol Bales
TAGS: Health Workers, I'm a Health Worker, Midwives, Retention

Maureen KanyiginyaMaureen Kanyiginya is a young midwife with a gentle and confident presence. Sitting on a bench in a grassy area outside the rural health center where she works, in western Uganda’s Kabarole District, she looks into the camera and states, “I’m a health worker.” She says she loves mothers, and it’s easy to see how sincere she is. “I really love delivering these babies,” she adds quietly. “I make mothers comfortable.”

Her calm demeanor contrasts with the serious challenges she faces in her job. The facility where she works has no power, so she conducts her deliveries with a small lantern. She lacks the proper instruments to do her job well, and often doesn’t have the drugs that mothers need, due to stockouts. Her personal safety is also a concern. “Sometimes I walk alone in the night from my house to the unit,” she shares. Read more »

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