The Knowledge library

Policy and Planning

User Guide with Case Studies: How to Conduct a Discrete Choice Experiment for Health Workforce Recruitment and Retention in Remote and Rural Areas

Understanding why health workers want or don’t want to take posts and remain in remote and rural areas is a prerequisite to formulating appropriate policy responses to the shortage of health workers in these areas. Building on the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines on Increasing Access to Health Workers in Remote and Rural Areas through Improved Retention, this user guide proposes an innovative methodology, the discrete choice experiment (DCE), to measure the strength of health workers’ preferences and trade-offs related to different job characteristics that can influence their decision to take up rural postings. The user guide offers step-by-step advice on the application of DCE to identify policy interventions appropriate to a particular country context. The guide is the product of close collaboration among three agencies—the World Bank, the WHO, and USAID/CapacityPlus—and represents their shared commitment to supporting policy-relevant research on critical topics related to human resources for health.

iHRIS Administrador: Nivel 1

Este curso producido por el HRH Global Resource Center (el Centro Mundial de Recursos sobre los recursos humanos para la salud) ofrece instrucciones sobre el conjunto de habilidades básicas y necesarias para administrar y personalizar el software del CapacityPlus de sistemas de información de recursos humanos, iHRIS Manage e iHRIS Qualify.

Human Resources Management Assessment Approach

HRM Assessment ApproachStrengthening the human resources management (HRM) of the health workforce is essential to improve the quality of family planning, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and other key services, and to ensure that global investments to increase the number of trained health workers are supported and sustained. The Human Resources Management Assessment Approach is designed to guide policy-makers, managers, and human resources practitioners toward better understanding and responding to the HRM challenges facing their health systems. The approach promotes the collection and analysis of information on defined HRM challenges and informs the development of policy, strategy, systems, and process interventions to respond to challenges in four key areas of HRM: health workforce planning and implementation, work environment and conditions, human resources information systems, and performance management.

iHRIS Retain: A Tool to Cost Retention Strategies

An overview of iHRIS Retain, a user-friendly tool to cost retention strategies to be implemented at the district, regional, or national level.

Eliminating Quacks and Improving Health Care in Uganda

The Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council requires doctors and dentists to register and obtain an annual practicing license. Unfortunately “quacks” pose as medical practitioners, offering services without the appropriate training. Dr. Ssentongo Katumba, registrar of the council, explains how a new mobile directory based on mobile technology and the iHRIS software is helping the council identify quacks, as well as helping Ugandans seek services from qualified health workers.

Designing Evidence-Based Incentives to Attract and Retain Health Workers Using the Rapid Retention Survey Toolkit

This eLearning course produced by CapacityPlus’s HRH Global Resource Center is based on CapacityPlus's Rapid Retention Survey Toolkit: Designing Evidence-Based Incentives for Health Workers. The course trains participants on how to use a rapid discrete choice experiment methodology to design evidence-based incentives to attract and retain health workers in rural and remote areas.

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WHO Country Assessment Tool on the Uses and Sources for Human Resources for Health (HRH) Data

There is widespread recognition of the need for accurate, timely, and effective human resources for health (HRH) data to inform the development of policies on HRH. However, many countries have weak information systems that can generate these data. This diagnostic tool contains questions intended to gather information on the uses, type, and quality of data on HRH at the institutional level in countries. The resulting information can then be used to identify priorities and develop strategies to strengthen human resources information systems at the district, regional, or national level. CapacityPlus contributed to the development of this resource through the WHO Health Workforce Information Reference Group (HIRG).

iHRIS Retain

iHRIS Retain is an open source tool to cost health worker retention interventions. People living in rural and remote areas need more skilled health workers to care for their communities. However, attracting and retaining health workers to serve in these areas is a challenge. Developed by CapacityPlus in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), iHRIS Retain is based on the WHO’s 2010 global policy recommendations on retention, which offer guidance on the different interventions in the areas of education, regulation, financial incentives, and professional development that can increase access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention. iHRIS Retain guides users through the costing process step by step, collecting necessary data, calculating the costs of interventions, and comparing costs to available funding. The resulting information can then be used to develop retention strategies at the district, regional, or national level.

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