• Planning for human resources
• Institutional and system considerations
• Labour markets
• Gender
• Incentives
• Achieving change
• Civil service reform
  • Civil service reform
  • Decentralisation
  • Integrating human resource issues into planning and implementing reform
  • Gearing public/civil service reform to the health agenda rather than efficiency
• Tools

Planning for human resources

Many decision-makers readily point to human resource problems as the chief bottleneck they face in attempting to scale up health systems. Yet time and again the reform agenda neatly skirts around the sensitive and difficult issues involved—not least because there are major gaps in the knowledge base required for a realistic workforce strategy. This editorial of the World Health Organisation Bulletin provides an overview of the role of human resources within the health sector, regardless of whether it is public or private.

The editorial discusses the importance of human resources management within the health sector, and suggests that policy-makers and donors concerned with human resources problems may want to request those proposing a major new project or policy to make a systematic and formal ‘human resource impact assessment’ during its preparation. Such assessments would examine the likely effects of the proposed project or policy on the health workforce. [adapted from authors]

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