Health Workers

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

We’ve come a long way over the past 40 years in preventing and treating infectious diseases. The number of child deaths now drops every year. And malnutrition is causing fewer deaths than in the past, too. However, more young people and middle-aged adults are suffering—and dying—from disease and injury. Noncommunicable diseases have become the leading cause of death and disability worldwide.

The Lancet published these results last month in The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, the largest-ever systematic effort to describe the global distribution and causes of major diseases, injuries, and health risk factors. The study is, according to The Lancet’s Editor-in-Chief Dr. Richard Horton, “a critical contribution to our understanding of present and future health priorities for countries and the global community.” Read more »

Last week, the Rapid Retention Survey Toolkit was published and is now available to all to conduct a rapid discrete choice experiment (DCE) survey in order to design evidence-based health worker incentives. As one of the authors, I’m proud of how this toolkit was inspired from two intensive in-country applications. Developed from field testing experiences in both Uganda and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), it documents the entire survey process from planning and logistics to implementation to data analysis and presenting results to key stakeholders. The toolkit has already been used to incite real change for the health workforce.

Soon after joining the CapacityPlus project in early 2012, I contributed to the Rapid Retention Survey Toolkit’s refining stages, capturing step by step how a rapid DCE survey can be implemented. Read more »

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

CapacityPlus has been working in Mali through activities strengthening health workforce leadership, human resources information systems, and preservice education; activities have been temporarily suspended since April 2012 due to a coup d’état and the ongoing crisis in Mali’s northern regions.

Mali is currently experiencing the most severe crisis of its existence. When heavily armed Tuareg rebels and Islamist rebel groups poured in from Libya on January 17, 2012, they quickly defeated the underequipped, disorganized Malian army. Now they have seized the country’s vast northern regions and are working to force sharia—or Islamic law—on the people there.

The most visible rebel chief is not Malian—he is from Pakistan—and he often appears on TV to say that sharia is good for Mali. That if Mali accepts Islamic law, the rebels will help the country to get funds from other Islamic countries. Read more »

During a recent visit to a district hospital in the Vientiane municipality of Lao People’s Democratic Republic, I was once again reminded of the critical influence effective leadership has in strengthening health workforce productivity.

Since the region’s development of its strategic action plan, Vision 2009, the hospital director has taken implementation of his hospital’s plan to provide quality health care very seriously. This was especially evident in the productivity gains that he recounted to our visiting team: from 2006 to 2012, outpatient visits increased from 6,000 to 16,000 per year while institutional deliveries rose from 85 to 250. Read more »