The Knowledge library

Knowledge Library

Investing in Health Workforce Education and Training for Expanded Access to Essential Health Services for Underserved Populations

CapacityPlus developed and applied methodologies and instruments to estimate the cost to an educational institution and its affiliated clinical practice facilities of educating a single health worker; identify targeted investments likely to increase production while maintaining the quality of graduates; and strengthen the capacity of school leaders to better manage human, financial, material, and intellectual resources. Presented at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference in Bangkok (January 26–31, 2015), this poster highlights methods and findings from costing studies performed at one medical school in South Africa and two nursing and midwifery schools in Ethiopia, as well as broader capacity assessments of 19 Nigerian health professional schools.

Working Paper on the Role of Social Service Workforce Development in Care Reform

This working paper explores the topic of social service workforce development as it relates to child care reform. It is intended to be a useful resource for reform efforts and a practical overview for use by policy-makers, practitioners, and service providers in contexts that are either considering the implications of care reforms for their social service workforce or are already engaged in a process. The paper illustrates key issues by drawing on the experiences of Indonesia, Moldova, and Rwanda, three countries in the process of reform, each within their own context and history, social and political system, protection structure and services, and social service education system.

Increasing the Production of Competent and Qualified Frontline Health Workers in Nigeria

This case study is part of the interactive ePlatform for the World Health Organization’s guidelines on transforming and scaling up health professionals’ education and training. Findings of a rapid bottlenecks assessment of midwifery, nursing, and health technology schools in Nigeria informed CapacityPlus’s work with federal- and state-level stakeholders to develop a plan to increase the production of certified graduates. This included providing educational resources, training tutors in up-to-date clinical guidelines and computer assisted pedagogy, and supporting students at risk of dropping out through scholarships. This comprehensive support has reduced student drop-out rates and increased pass rates on national certification examinations.

Building Human Resources for Health Governance and Leadership Capacity at the Country Level: Approaches, Results, and Recommendations

CapacityPlus used three types of leadership approaches—thought leadership, community leadership, and implementing for results leadership—to develop HRH governance and leadership capacity at the country level. Presented at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference in Bangkok (January 26–31, 2015), this poster summarizes the results and outputs achieved in the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda.

Building the “Educational Home”: Staying Connected to Alumni with MEPI Graduate Tracking in Ethiopia

This case study is part of the interactive ePlatform for the World Health Organization’s guidelines on transforming and scaling up health professionals’ education and training. CapacityPlus is collaborating with the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) Coordinating Center, MEPI Physician Tracking Technical Working Group, and MEPI-supported medical schools in 11 African countries to develop resources and good practices for graduate tracking and to foster exchange through a regional graduate tracking network. The MEPI Connect graduate tracking software is helping African medical schools to remain connected with their graduates. Tracking allows institutions to assess the effectiveness of strategies to retain graduates at posts in underserved areas.

Dominican Republic Human Resources for Health

The Office of Health Systems in USAID’s Global Health Bureau selected CapacityPlus’s collaboration with the Dominican Republic as one of its Top Ten Health Systems Strengthening Cases. CapacityPlus supported the Ministry of Health in a process of payroll reform and increased transparency in budgeting practices. The process revealed nearly 10,000 ghost workers—individuals who receive a salary but are not working—who represented approximately 30% of the Ministry’s budget. The Ministry began a phased approach to clean its payroll by reclaiming the salaries of the ghost workers, resulting in savings of over $6 million annually. These savings are being used to improve HIV and other health services through hiring of new health workers, increasing salaries by 10% to provide more equitable remuneration and increase motivation, eliminating user fees, and investing in other health sector reforms, such as setting up a better procurement process for HIV testing kits and antiretroviral drugs. In turn, this reinvestment is contributing to improved service delivery and health status.

Rapid Retention Survey Toolkit: Designing Evidence-Based Incentives for Health Workers

Rapid Retention Survey ToolkitThe Rapid Retention Survey Toolkit is designed to help countries determine what would motivate health workers to accept and remain in rural posts. It builds on the World Health Organization global policy recommendations for rural retention and is based on the discrete choice experiment (DCE), a powerful research method that identifies the trade-offs professionals are willing to make between specific job characteristics and determines their preferences for various incentive packages, including the probability of accepting a post in a rural facility. Employing a simplified version of the DCE methodology, the toolkit guides HR managers through the survey process to quickly assess health students’ and health workers’ motivational preferences to accept a position and continue working in underserved facilities. The results can be used to create evidence-based incentive packages that are appropriate within a country’s health labor market. Read more »

Gender Equality and Health Workforce Development Advocacy Tool

This forthcoming online tool focuses on aspects of gender discrimination in health workforce development specifically related to preservice education, such as issues affecting health professional students and faculty. If you would like us to contact you when we publish this tool, please let us know.