Sarah Dwyer

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

Why Nigeria’s Response to Ebola Succeeded

Sarah Dwyer — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 13:12:56 +0000

A man arrived by plane in Lagos on July 20. He fell ill at the airport and was taken to a hospital. Shortly afterward he was diagnosed with Ebola, the first case in Nigeria.

Lagos is an enormous city of 22 million, and public-sector doctors were on strike. The number of lives at risk was terrifying.

“If Ebola hits Lagos, we're in real trouble,” warned Laurie Garrett in Foreign Policy, and added that her colleague John Campbell predicted it “would instantly transform this situation into a worldwide crisis.”

Yet August 29 marked the last reported case of Ebola in the country, and the number of confirmed cases topped out at 20, with eight deaths. The incubation period for those who had contact with Ebola patients ended on October 2. After 42 days with no new cases, Nigeria will be officially free of Ebola.

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

October 2014

Better, Stronger, and Thankful: HIV Peer Counselor in the Dominican Republic Shares Impact of His Work

Sarah Dwyer — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 19:18:25 +0000

Alfredo Felix is a peer counselor with the Department of HIV at Jaime Mota Regional Hospital in Barahona, Dominican Republic. “I’ve always felt motivated to work in the community to inform people,” he says. The area shares a border with Haiti and has a large immigrant population at risk for HIV.

Peer counselors like Alfredo play an important role in countering the effects of stigma, which can make it hard for people to seek information about HIV and follow through with treatment. Alfredo tells a story about someone he helped:

Author's name:

Alex Collins and Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

September 2014

“I Made Some Changes”: A Nurse/Midwife’s Experience with Leadership and Management Training

Sarah Dwyer — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 15:41:53 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Maternal Health Task Force blog as part of the “Supporting the Human in Human Resources” blog series cohosted by the Maternal Health Task Force and Jacaranda Health.

“Things were really a bit appalling.”

That’s what conditions at her rural health center felt like to Habiba Shaban Agong, a senior nursing officer and midwife in Uganda.

She says she loves her profession. “In midwifery I do a lot,” she adds proudly. “I help mothers in carrying out their pregnancies. During deliveries I help them to conduct live babies—to make a better future.” But it pained her that her facility wasn’t able to deliver the high quality of services the community deserved.

For starters, there weren’t nearly enough health workers to meet the demand. Each department had only “about one human resource working day and night,” Habiba says. “They get exhausted, and that can hinder service delivery.”

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

July 2014

Greater Support for the DRC’s Social Service Workers Leads to Better Care for Children

Carol Bales — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 20:03:28 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Frontline Health Workers Coalition blog.

A young boy—we’ll call him Mani—was living on the streets of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He had no one to look after him, nowhere to go. He was just nine years old.

Mani’s situation is not unique. One quarter of all Congolese youth under age 18 are considered to be orphans and/or vulnerable children, according to the most recent Demographic and Health Survey. And nine out of ten don’t receive adequate financial, emotional, or other types of support.

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer and Carol Bales

Publication Date:

June 2014

Empowered Health Workers Improve Health Care, One Facility at a Time

Carol Bales — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 19:01:30 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Frontline Health Workers Coalition blog.

“What inspires me is when I see patients critically ill and then recovering, laughing, smiling—I feel great,” says Agnes Masagwayi, a senior clinical health officer in Mbale District, Uganda. “I love my job with all my heart.”

But her health facility, she admits, was in “a bad state.” Running water was sporadic. Essential drugs ran out. Space for maternity care was so limited that many women delivered babies on the floor. Infection control was poor. And there weren’t nearly enough health workers to meet the demand.

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

April 2014

Meet Eight Health Workers Who Love Their Jobs

Carol Bales — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 15:44:27 +0000

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

“I love my job!” says one enthusiastic health worker in Laos. And he backs up his statement with a solid reason: “I like to save my patient’s life.”

Kenechanh Chanthapadith relates a typical day on the job, sharing an example about a woman who complained of abdominal pain. “I examined her and I found that she had an ectopic pregnancy,” he says. “I sent her immediately to Mahosot Hospital to get an operation. And she’s alive now!”

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer and Carol Bales

Publication Date:

April 2014

Health Workers: Key to Family Planning and Reproductive Health

Carol Bales — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 16:45:41 +0000

“To talk about sexual and reproductive health, and not to talk about human resources for health—then the equation is not complete,” says Patrick Mugirwa, a program officer with Partners in Population and Development (PPD) Africa Regional Office. “So for PPD to have meaningful advocacy for sexual and reproductive health, of necessity human resources for health must be one of the major components we must advocate for.”

A CapacityPlus associate partner, PPD is an intergovernmental alliance that promotes South-South cooperation toward attainment of the global population and reproductive health agenda for sustainable development.

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

October 2013

Motivated to Do More

Sarah Dwyer — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 17:33:17 +0000

Monica Watuvamu is already serving her community as a nurse and midwife at Kamuli Mission Hospital in Uganda. But she wants to do more.

“I’ve been actually going back to school,” she says, “to upgrade and improve my knowledge and skills.” The hospital is contributing to the costs, which is a big help. “I’ve been motivated, and I’m still motivated to help patients so that they get better.”

Working in the ultrasound unit, Monica recently discovered that a woman had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, which she knew to be an extremely dangerous and life-threatening condition. Monica moved quickly to get the woman into surgery, and a disaster was averted. “The following day,” she recalls, “all these people [at the hospital] were really happy that I managed to find it out and that the patient was helped.”

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer with Rebecca Rhodes

Publication Date:

October 2013

Improving Health Workforce Leadership and Management

Sarah Dwyer — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 17:11:13 +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.

Dr. John Baptist Waniaye was working as a medical officer when he realized he wanted to take on a new role. “I opted to go into management for health [because] I realized that there are gaps which when you’re a leader and a manager you can easily fix and make the environment very good for the health workers. And that is my drive—I want to see that health workers have what they need in order to offer their services and that our patients are happy.”

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

October 2013

Making Things Better in Uganda: Supporting Health Workers and Lending a Hand

Sarah Dwyer — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 17:10:50 +0000

Meet Martin Ssendyona, senior medical officer in the Uganda Ministry of Health’s Quality Assurance Department.

Martin’s job brings him into contact with a wide variety of health workers in different settings. “I think we need to be more innovative within the circumstances we are working,” he reflects. “There are many challenges we face, but many of these may not necessarily need additional resources. We need to see how we can involve others, engage the system, and make things better than the way they are now.”

One way Martin tries to make things better is through providing supportive supervision to health workers in remote areas. During one particularly memorable visit, he even lent a hand and got a surprising reward.

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer with Crystal Ng

Publication Date:

August 2013

Reflections on Health Workers at AIDS 2010

jennifer — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:49:12 +0000

The main hallway at the AIDS 2010 conference is a barrage of banners, notices, and signs—yet a few things jump out and demand to be noticed. One large photo shows an erect penis with a bejeweled hand grasping its base. Posters ask, “Will you be spanked between sessions?”

These got my attention. AIDS activists are good at such tactics, and they need to be—it’s a matter of life and death.

Death and dying are what many health workers confront every day, noted Yogan Pillay of South Africa’s National Department of Health. Showing some sobering data, he pointed out that “if we don’t take care of health workers, they will not take care of patients.” And in a session on supporting health workers to deliver care, Masamine Jimba of the University of Tokyo described how the Japanese character for “busy” literally means “losing heart.”

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

July 2010

Three Questions for David Benton

CapacityPlus — Tue, 11 May 2010 03:10:00 +0000

David Benton is CEO of the International Council of Nurses, a federation of more than 130 national nurses’ associations representing millions of nurses worldwide. Benton visited CapacityPlus lead partner IntraHealth International to speak at its 30th anniversary. (Responses are excerpted from a longer interview.)

What are some ways that international organizations and projects, such as CapacityPlus, can support the work of nurses’ associations at the national level?

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

May 2010 (All day)