iHRIS

Why We Need Data on Frontline Health Workers

Carol Bales — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 13:58:48 +0000

The lack of data on frontline health workers, particularly community health workers, constrains training, service delivery, and decision-making in global health. To understand better why this data is critical, and what can be done to improve it, mPowering Frontline Health workers and the One Million Health Workers Campaign are conducting a series of interviews to hear from the experts.

This week, we interviewed Dr. Kate Tulenko, Vice President, Health Systems Innovation for IntraHealth International and Director of CapacityPlus, USAID’s flagship health workforce project. Dr. Tulenko previously coordinated the World Bank’s Africa Health Workforce Program and has served on expert panels for the World Health Organization, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the American Hospital Association, amongst others. Her latest book, Insourced, identifies the links between the US and global health worker shortage and offers affordable solutions. Follow her on twitter at @ktulenko.

Author's name:

Kate Tulenko

Publication Date:

July 2015

Data for Decision-Making Series: Diana Frymus

Sarah Dwyer — Tue, 05 May 2015 13:27:13 +0000

We are joining the One Million Health Workers Campaign in a series of interviews, to hear from the experts why data on community health workers is so critical, and what needs to be done.

This week, we spoke with Diana Frymus, Health Systems Strengthening Advisor in the Office of HIV/AIDS at USAID in Washington, DC. She focuses on strengthening health systems to achieve HIV goals and sustain national HIV programs. Her focal areas of emphasis are on human resources for health, including CHWs, and quality improvement. She is the USAID co-chair of the PEPFAR HRH Technical Working Group and the Health Systems Global Technical Working Group on Supporting and Strengthening the Role of Community Health Workers in Health System Development.

Author's name:

mPowering Frontline Health Workers

Publication Date:

May 2015

Botswana Is Building a Strong Health System by Focusing on Health Workers

Sarah Dwyer — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 13:46:32 +0000

“I have a passion to help sick people,” says Oteng Gaopatwe, a nurse at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital in Francistown, Botswana. “One thing I like most about my job is to see my clients satisfied, having a smile, and seeing all the people I have helped being relieved of their pain.”

Frontline health workers like Oteng are the backbone of health systems. In order to plan effectively for training, recruitment, and retention, countries need access to current, up-to-date information about their health workforce.

Author's name:

Alex Collins and Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

April 2015

Where Are the Health Workers?

Carol Bales — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 19:58:19 +0000

Professor Kayode Odusote (consultant for IntraHealth International, right) discusses health worker distribution with Mbemba Traore (director of the human resources unit at the Guinea Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, left).

Author's name:

Carol Bales

Publication Date:

February 2015

iHRIS Champions in Ghana Share Success with Using Health Workforce Data

Sarah Dwyer — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 17:46:28 +0000

Like many of his fellow Ghanaians, Obeng Asomaning wanted to use his skills to help his country. As a new graduate with a degree in health service planning and management, he landed a job at the Ministry of Health’s Regional Health Office in Ashanti Region. Quickly he saw that the office was struggling to access information about the health workforce. How many midwives worked in the regional hospital? How many vacancies were there in Kwabre District? How many health workers will likely retire next year? The paper-based information system yielded no quick answers.

Answers to these kinds of questions are important because the country has a critical shortage of health workers. There are only 13.6 health workers for every 10,000 people, well below the minimum recommended threshold of 22.8 health workers per 10,000 population. To improve the population’s health outcomes, Ghana needs to make the most of the health workforce it currently has while working to increase their numbers.

Author's name:

Gracey Vaughn

Publication Date:

November 2014

Serious Fun: Health Workforce Planning and Management in Botswana

Carol Bales — Wed, 14 May 2014 16:38:10 +0000

Health workforce management and planning is serious business, but it can be fun too! Health decisions-makers at the Botswana Ministry of Health recently cut loose during their annual Back-to-School Day. CapacityPlus’s Twaha Kabocho was in the country and captured the photo below.

Author's name:

Carol Bales with Twaha Kabocho

Publication Date:

May 2014

Questions for Rosaline Hendricks, iHRIS Advisor in Namibia

Carol Bales — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:18:43 +0000

This is an excerpt of a post that originally appeared on the iHRIS Blog.

Rosaline Hendricks is an advisor for the iHRIS software in Namibia. I recently interviewed her to find out about her work and what it's like to be a female working in IT.

Author's name:

Adam Gori, guest blogger

Publication Date:

March 2014

Open Source Health Workforce Information Systems

Sarah Dwyer — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 19:23:01 +0000

This post was originally published on the Global Health Workforce Alliance Members’ Platform. CapacityPlus is the featured member in March. We encourage you to join and contribute to the discussion.

The World Health Organization recognizes a key component to achieving universal health coverage is “a sufficient capacity of well-trained, motivated health workers.” For many countries, successfully managing the distribution of their health workforce is reliant upon a human resources information system (HRIS). The better systems are developed with a user-centered approach and focus on data use. Good HRIS turn data into information that can inform the decision-making process.

Author's name:

Dykki Settle, Michael Drane, and Dave Potenziani

Publication Date:

March 2014

A Conversation with a Nigerian Nurse and Administrator Who Uses iHRIS

Carol Bales — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 19:26:27 +0000

This is an excerpt of a post that originally appeared on the iHRIS Blog.

Oluchukwu Ifele is a nurse by training, with a focus on nursing and midwifery. She’s now part of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, where she supervises the clerical staff who use the open source iHRIS software to track licensure information for Nigerian-trained nurses and midwives. I recently interviewed her to find out more about her work and how she benefits from using iHRIS.

Author's name:

Adam Gori, guest blogger

Publication Date:

January 2014

New Software Application Tracks Health Workforce Training

Carol Bales — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 14:37:57 +0000

This post was originally published on VITAL, the blog of IntraHealth International.

The global agenda is clear: universal health coverage. And as we heard at the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, a strong, qualified health workforce is essential to achieving this goal.

But how do we create a strong global health workforce that can provide care to all seven billion of us? One of the keys is information—reliable, accurate information on health workers’ skills and qualifications.

Data on individual health workers’ training can be hard to come by. The information is often scattered in paper files, buried in obscure databases, or simply does not exist. To help address this challenge, IntraHealth’s iHRIS team in Uganda customized the open source iHRIS software to create iHRIS Train, a whole new application that captures and reports health worker training data.

Author's name:

Amanda Puckett

Publication Date:

January 2014

At the Source of Health Care, Health Workers

Carol Bales — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 20:53:51 +0000

This post was originally published on VITAL, the blog of IntraHealth International.

Malik Jaffer is the deputy director of human resources for health and health systems strengthening for the IntraHealth International-led CapacityPlus project. I recently interviewed him about health worker heroes and what it’ll take to make more of them.

You’ve met a lot of amazing health workers over the past 20 years. Any who really inspired you?
Absolutely. For example, there’s a team of health workers in Soweto, South Africa, that work in a hospice. When I visited, the facility was full of men and women and a lot of children. I remember one baby that was suffering from AIDS. She looked about three months old and weighed only 10 or 12 pounds. She was tiny. But I came to find out she was a year old.

Author's name:

Carol Bales with Malik Jaffer

Publication Date:

December 2013

Two Projects Working Together to Strengthen the Health Workforce in Uganda

Carol Bales — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 16:47:38 +0000

How can a global project and a country-specific project work together to strengthen the health workforce and increase access to quality care? What about in Uganda, where there are only 14 doctors, nurses, and midwives for every 10,000 people?

The CapacityPlus global project and the Uganda Capacity Program are both funded by USAID and led by IntraHealth International. CapacityPlus has worked in over 20 countries to address the health workforce shortage, and offers tools that can be adapted for any country. The Uganda Capacity Program builds the capacity of local Ugandan institutions—like ministries, professional health councils, and universities—to plan for, develop, and strengthen the management of health workers.

Author's name:

Carol Bales

Publication Date:

November 2013

Information Is Never More Powerful than When It’s Shared

Carol Bales — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:19:51 +0000

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

CapacityPlus develops the core iHRIS software and releases updates.

Data, data, data—they’re the fuel that powers any robust national health care system. They can propel a country toward the Shangri-La of universal health coverage—or they can hold one back. IntraHealth’s Dykki Settle answers five questions about how the right information in the right hands could pave the way to health care for all.

Author's name:

Margarite Nathe

Publication Date:

October 2013

Kenya and Uganda Model Mentorship for Health Workforce Information Systems

Carol Bales — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:44:27 +0000

Can a mentoring relationship between nations expedite implementation of the iHRIS open source software for tracking and managing health workers?

With that in mind, Robert Nguni of Capacity Kenya recently traveled to neighboring Uganda for a week-long visit to learn about strategies successfully put into practice by the Uganda Capacity Program.

Author's name:

Adam Gori, guest blogger

Publication Date:

October 2013

Strengthening Health Workforce Data for Improved Health Service Delivery

Carol Bales — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 13:33:35 +0000

To improve health services, Uganda is focusing on the people that provide quality care. In our new video, Ugandan health workers, managers, and leaders show how the country’s efforts are paying off—and how service delivery has improved. The following story highlights one aspect of this work.

“My office is like a web. All information about human resources is needed in my office,” explains Ojulun Joreme. He’s the principal personnel officer for Dokolo District in Uganda. “Left and right I have to keep giving out information about each individual.”

Author's name:

Carol Bales

Publication Date:

October 2013