The Lancet, Volume 371, Number 9613, 23 February 2008

Website: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608602743/fulltext  [Free subscription required]

“….The depth and breadth of the human resources for health crisis are discussed in detail in this week's special issue, which coincides with the first-ever Global Forum on Human Resources for Health convened by the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) in Kampala , Uganda .

This Forum will launch the Global Action Plan for Human Resources for Health, which will guide action over the coming decade and serve as a much needed tool to measure progress and monitor accountability. This action plan is an opportunity to make a real and lasting impact on the human resources crisis….”

Training the health workforce: scaling up, saving lives
Nigel Crisp, Bience Gawanas, Imogen Sharp, Task Force for Scaling Up Education and Training for Health Workers
URL: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608603098/fulltext

Forging solutions to health worker migration
Mary Robinson, Peggy Clark
URL: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608603104/fulltext

Planning and costing human resources for health
Amanda Glassman, Loren Becker, Marty Makinen, David de Ferranti
URL: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608603116/fulltext

Salaries and incomes of health workers in sub-Saharan Africa
David McCoy, Sara Bennett, Sophie Witter, Bob Pond, Brook Baker, Jeff Gow, Sudeep Chand, Tim Ensor, Barbara McPake
URL: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608603062/fulltext

“…..Public-sector health workers are vital to the functioning of health systems. We aimed to investigate pay structures for health workers in the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa ; the adequacy of incomes for health workers; the management of public-sector pay; and the fiscal and macroeconomic factors that impinge on pay policy for the public sector. Because salary differentials affect staff migration and retention, we also discuss pay in the private sector. We surveyed historical trends in the pay of civil servants in Africa over the past 40 years. We used some empirical data, but found that accurate and complete data were scarce.
The available data suggested that pay structures vary across countries, and are often structured in complex ways. Health workers also commonly use other sources of income to supplement their formal pay. The pay and income of health workers varies widely, whether between countries, by comparison with cost of living, or between the public and private sectors. To optimise the distribution and mix of health workers, policy interventions to address their pay and incomes are needed. Fiscal constraints to increased salaries might need to be overcome in many countries, and non-financial incentives improved…”

Effects of policy options for human resources for health: an analysis of systematic reviews
Mickey Chopra, Salla Munro, John N Lavis, Gunn Vist, Sara Bennett
URL: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608603050/fulltext

“…Policy makers face challenges to ensure an appropriate supply and distribution of trained health workers and to manage their performance in delivery of services, especially in countries with low and middle incomes. We aimed to identify all available policy options to address human resources for health in such countries, and to assess the effectiveness of these policy options….”

Understanding women's contribution to the health workforce
Mario R Dal Poz
Book review: Exploring the Gender Dimensions of the Global Health Workforce
Laura  Reichenbach, eds. Global Equity Initiative Harvard University , 2007

URL: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608602895/fulltext

“…..A critical limitation in improving gender analysis, as recognised by Reichenbach and her colleagues, is the lack of data and the fact that what data are available are not disaggregated by sex. In overcoming this limitation, the contribution of women to health-care delivery and participation in the health workforce could be much better represented. For these reasons, the case studies put together by Reichenbach are a welcome contribution to understanding the development needs of the health workforce from a gender perspective…”