Blog

Keeping Smiles on Their Faces

Doris MwareyIt's been about three weeks since I was in Malawi, and I haven't stopped thinking about the smiling faces of the health workers at the Pirimiti Community Hospital. As I watched them go about their work, I wondered what it was that kept the smiles on their faces.

CapacityPlus is helping the Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM) strengthen human resources management in affiliated health facilities. I was visiting the hospital to better understand needs at the facility level.

One of the nurses I was observing approached me, and asked me if I needed any assistance. It was about 1:30 p.m. and the human resources officer and medical director that I was waiting to see had not yet arrived from their lunch break. The nurse offered to show me around the hospital as I waited. Read more »

HRH Global Resource Center Reaches 3,000

Rebecca RhodesIn January, I added the 3,000th resource to the HRH Global Resource Center (GRC), CapacityPlus’s digital library for human resources for health (HRH) information. At such a milestone, I began reflecting on how the GRC got here and where it is going.

Over the past five years of working on the GRC, I have seen the growing emphasis on knowledge management as a tool to support evidence-based decision-making and share lessons learned to make the most cost-effective and sustainable decisions for health worker interventions. The advent of the World Health Organization’s Health Manager’s Website, the Global Health Workforce Alliance’s knowledge center, and the K4Health project demonstrate the growing interest for this information as part of the way global health development does business. Read more »

Finally, a Major Step Forward in Protecting Health Workers and Facilities

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

Despite firLeonard Rubensteinm standards rooted in the Geneva Conventions to protect health facilities, health workers, and the patients served during armed conflict, and to enable health professionals to act consistently with their ethical obligations, assaults on and interference with health functions are all too common in war. Aside from the human toll they take, these attacks often compromise the ability to deliver care to populations in great need, impede efforts to reconstruct health systems after war, and lead to the flight of health workers whose presence in a time of great social stress is essential.

The international community has taken few steps to provide guidance to promote compliance with the law, or to assess and report on violations in a uniform and comprehensive manner. Sound methodologies for data collection about these assaults have not been developed. The lack of systematic reporting and documentation of these violations contributes to continued disregard for an established and internationally recognized legal framework of protection. Mechanisms to encourage compliance with these international norms are needed as a first step in preserving critical health services in conflict settings. Read more »

Syndicate content