Scaling up production
In its 59th General Assembly in 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) passed a resolution to rapidly increase the health workforce production. New and creative strategies need to be developed in order to bridge the existing demand/supply workforce gap. With a global shortage of health workers, scaling up production in the short term will require new ways of thinking about human resources for health.
Properly trained and supervised Lay Health Workers (LHWs) have been playing an important role in different areas of health care. While there is a lack of evidence regarding the impact of LHWs on access, utilisation and health outcomes in developing countries, it has been shown that programmes that integrate LHWs in the existing health system appear to be more effective than non-integrated LHWs programmes. For example, the Lady Health Workers programme in Pakistan trains traditional birth attendants and integrates them in the primary health care network. This approach has proven to be effective in reducing perinatal mortality.
However, some argue that evidence on the effectiveness of LHWs is inconclusive as it is based on specific, context-based approaches and, therefore, difficult to assess on a wider scale.
The impact of introducing community-based therapeutic care for severely malnourished children has been shown to reduce the needs of human resources in nutritional emergency settings when compared to the traditional therapeutic feeding centre strategy. See: Emergency Nutrition Network special supplement on community-based therapeutic care.
In rural Kenya , an initiative to train shopkeepers has improved malaria home management by improving the use of over-the-counter anti-malarial drugs for childhood fever illness.
The role of faith-based organisations (FBOs) in the delivery health services is becoming increasingly important. See Planning, developing and supporting the faith-based health workforce. DREAM: an integrated faith-based initiative to treat HIV/AIDS in Mozambique describes an initiative which integrated community-based and home care services together with mother and child prevention and care, and was integrated within the existing health system.
The Sangha Metta Project involves counselling by Buddhist monks to HIV positive patients and provides support for HIV related orphan children in Thailand. Asia-Pacific faith-based organizations battle HIV/AIDS describes other FBO initiatives, such as Wat Norea Peaceful Children’s Home in Cambodia , Yayasan Dana Islamic Center, Indonesia Mosque Association Mushallah Muttahidah in Indonesia; and Anglicare-StopAIDS PNG in Papua New Guinea.
Also see: the role of community in delivering health care in the Africa section of this dossier.
Properly trained and supervised Lay Health Workers (LHWs) have been playing an important role in different areas of health care. While there is a lack of evidence regarding the impact of LHWs on access, utilisation and health outcomes in developing countries, it has been shown that programmes that integrate LHWs in the existing health system appear to be more effective than non-integrated LHWs programmes. For example, the Lady Health Workers programme in Pakistan trains traditional birth attendants and integrates them in the primary health care network. This approach has proven to be effective in reducing perinatal mortality.
However, some argue that evidence on the effectiveness of LHWs is inconclusive as it is based on specific, context-based approaches and, therefore, difficult to assess on a wider scale.
The impact of introducing community-based therapeutic care for severely malnourished children has been shown to reduce the needs of human resources in nutritional emergency settings when compared to the traditional therapeutic feeding centre strategy. See: Emergency Nutrition Network special supplement on community-based therapeutic care.
In rural Kenya , an initiative to train shopkeepers has improved malaria home management by improving the use of over-the-counter anti-malarial drugs for childhood fever illness.
The role of faith-based organisations (FBOs) in the delivery health services is becoming increasingly important. See Planning, developing and supporting the faith-based health workforce. DREAM: an integrated faith-based initiative to treat HIV/AIDS in Mozambique describes an initiative which integrated community-based and home care services together with mother and child prevention and care, and was integrated within the existing health system.
The Sangha Metta Project involves counselling by Buddhist monks to HIV positive patients and provides support for HIV related orphan children in Thailand. Asia-Pacific faith-based organizations battle HIV/AIDS describes other FBO initiatives, such as Wat Norea Peaceful Children’s Home in Cambodia , Yayasan Dana Islamic Center, Indonesia Mosque Association Mushallah Muttahidah in Indonesia; and Anglicare-StopAIDS PNG in Papua New Guinea.
Also see: the role of community in delivering health care in the Africa section of this dossier.
- Emergency Nutrition Network special supplement: community-based therapeutic care
- ( Emergency Nutrition Network , 2004)
- This supplement, published by the Emergency Nutrition Network, focuses on community-based therapeutic care (CTC) programmes for the treatment of acute malnutrition. It presents field experiences and c...
- Planning, developing and supporting the faith-based health workforce
- ( The Capacity Project , 2006)
- This report describes a meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya of the first African Church Health Associations (CHAs) human resources for health (HRH) working group, supported by USAID and Medicus Mundi. The...
