Productivity Improvement
Human Resources for Health (HRH) shortages have been identified as a major constraint to sustaining and expanding provision of HIV/AIDS and other health services. Along with ongoing efforts to help retain health care workers, helping existing workers to be as productive as possible is a promising practice. Very few evidence-based tools and techniques exist for measuring and improving health workforce productivity in developing-country settings. Many techniques in use in developed countries, however, show promise for use in low-resource settings. A process that helps in-country counterparts measure and optimize health worker productivity will be an effective addition to HRH-strengthening strategies. For the purposes of this project, productivity is defined and measured as portions of staff time spent on a) direct patient care, b) non-direct care — e.g., administrative work — c) non-productive time, such as tea breaks, and d) other.
In Zambia, Health Systems 20/20 is facilitating the use of a productivity-improvement process being planned and implemented at the district-hospital level. After an assessment of productivity, project staff facilitated a stakeholder-driven process to identify and remove barriers to optimal productivity in the hospitals. Hospital staff selected interventions they could implement themselves, with minimal project assistance. After the interventions have been active for a number of months, the project will measure any changes in productivity, as well as conduct a qualitative evaluation to determine how the process should be changed before possible scale-up in Zambia or other countries.
Angola Health System Assessment 2010
Type: Report
Country: Angola
Evaluation du Systeme de Sante du Senegal
Type: Report
Country: Senegal
Human Resource Management: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle
Measuring Health Systems Performance in Vietnam: Results from Eight Provincial Health Systems Assessments
Type: Presentation
Country: Vietnam
Workforce Planning Tool in Use by MOH
Jun 7 2010The past year marked significant efforts by the Health Systems 20/20’s Workforce Planning activity team to finalize the Workforce Planning Tool (WPT). The WPT is an Access-based application developed to assist Egypt’s Ministry of Health (MOH) to estimate health facilities’ staffing gaps.
More...Meeting Health Workforce Needs in Luxor, Egypt
Dec 14 2009
The Egyptian Ministry of Health (MOH) is working to strengthen its capacity to roll out and sustain health sector reforms. Challenges faced include excess workforce capacity in some facilities, imbalances in the geographic and specialty distributions of health workers, and sub-optimal quality of the graduating workforce.
Article on Health Workforce Attrition in the Public Sector in Kenya Published in Human Resources for Health
Aug 6 2009Kenya, like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has been affected by shortages of health workers in the public sector. Data on the rates and leading reasons for health worker attrition in the public sector are key in developing effective, evidence-based planning and policy on human resources for health. Health Systems 20/20 and Abt staff members Slavea Chankova, Stephen Muchiri, and Gilbert Kombe co-authored an article entitled “Health workforce attrition in the public sector in Kenya: a look at the reasons” recently published in Human Resources for Health.
More...Ensuring Adequate Human Resources for Health in Egypt
Jul 21 2009One of the key challenges facing the Egyptian Ministry of Health (MOH) in its reform efforts is ensuring that the country has the right human capacities and workforce in place to roll out and sustain reforms. On several occasions, the Minister of Health has iterated that improvements in human capacity are key strategic priorities. Challenges facing the MOH in its efforts to manage its workforce include: excess workforce capacity; imbalances in the geographic and specialty distributions of health workers; and sub-optimal quality of graduating workforce and MOH staff.
More...New Brief: Using Facts to Improve Health Worker Allocation in Côte d'Ivoire
May 12 2009With funding from the President's Emergency Plan to Fight AIDS (PEPFAR) and support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Health Systems 20/20 project is working with the Ivorian Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene (MOH) to build human resources for health (HRH) numbers and management at all levels of the health care system.
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Private Provider Retention in Ethiopia
Is robbing Peter to pay Paul worth worrying about?
