Health Systems Strengthening

No More Business as Usual: Strengthening Health Sector Human Resources Management

August 2010 by Paul Marsden
TAGS: Health Systems Strengthening, Health Workers, Human Resources Management, Retention

Paul MarsdenOn August 18, I saw these words in front of me:

“The ‘competency of HR workers’ is one of seven ‘major obstacles to building a first-class federal workforce’. […] It's not that the human relations professionals are incompetent. They don't have the training or the technology needed to keep up with a quickly changing workplace.”

I didn’t write these, but I could have. In the recent Washington Post article “Key personnel officials identify obstacles to federal hiring reforms”, I was struck by the similarities between the human resources (HR) situation described and the situation I often find in the health sector in many developing countries, including those where CapacityPlus is active.

Obstacles in the US and globally
The article, describing recent reforms in federal government hiring, highlights the challenges to realizing these—such as limitations in the competencies, skills level, and technology limitations of existing HR officials. Additionally, it flags the need to overhaul various human resources management (HRM) functions and competencies. Read more »

Preventing AIDS Deaths Need Not Be a Fight: A Health Systems Approach

August 2010 by Sara Pacqué-Margolis
TAGS: Global Health, Health Systems Strengthening, Health Workers, HIV/AIDS

In the Washington Post article “Rage, panic in AIDS fight,” David Brown alleges that the goal of health systems strengthening is “hard-to-define.” In fact, it is not.

Whatever the disease or health sector priority—be it HIV/AIDS, malaria, family planning, labor and delivery, or pneumonia—six components of the health system must be functioning and integrated in order for health impacts to be maximized. These components are:

  • Service delivery
  • Medical products, vaccines, and technology
  • Financing
  • Health information systems
  • Leadership and governance
  • The health workforce—arguably most important of all.
Read more »

Good News about Training More Health Workers—But Will They Be Absorbed?

August 2010 by James McCaffery
TAGS: Education and Training, Health Systems Strengthening, Health Workers, HIV/AIDS, HR Management

Amid the continuing health workforce crisis, I think it’s important to acknowledge the positive steps that have occurred. In terms of donor support, one such area involves commitments to provide funding and support at the country level to train new health workers.

Training new health workers: two positive steps
For example, in 2008 the Japan International Cooperation Agency announced a major program to train some 100,000 local health workers to tackle one of Africa’s most serious problems, the unacceptably high mortality and sickness rate among pregnant women, new mothers, and their children. Read more »

Haiti Prioritizes Human Resources for Health

June 2010 by Sara Pacqué-Margolis
TAGS: Advocacy, Community Health Workers, Global Health Council, Haiti, Health Systems Strengthening, Human Resources for Health, Nurses

On Wednesday, I attended the Global Health Council Conference plenary session entitled "After the Earthquake: Towards Building a New Haitian Health System”, in which the Haitian Minister of Health, the Honorable Dr. Alex Larsen, discussed Haiti’s number one health priority—building the country’s human resources for health.

Dr. Larsen and partners of the Haitian Ministry of Health conveyed the futility of developing infrastructure and obtaining commodities without simultaneously bolstering the health care workforce. He mentioned three cadres of health workers that are currently in particularly high demand: community health workers, midwives, and nurse anesthesiologists. Read more »

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