Abstract
IntroductionHealth systems in many low-income countries remain fragile, and the record of human resource planning and management in Ministries of Health very uneven. Public health training institutions face the dual challenge of building human resources capacity in ministries and health services while alleviating and improving their own capacity constraints. This paper reports on an initiative aimed at addressing this dual challenge through the development and implementation of a joint Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme with a focus on health workforce development by four academic institutions from East and Southern Africa and the building of a joint teaching platform.MethodsData were obtained through interviews and group discussions with stakeholders, direct and participant observations, and reviews of publications and project documents. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.Case descriptionThe institutions developed and collaboratively implemented a ‘Masters Degree programme with a focus on health workforce development’. It was geared towards strengthening the leadership capacity of Health ministries to develop expertise in health human resources (HRH) planning and management, and simultaneously build capacity of faculty in curriculum development and innovative educational practices to teach health workforce development. The initiative was configured to facilitate sharing of experience and resources.DiscussionThe implementation of this initiative has been complex, straddling multiple and changing contexts, actors and agendas. Some of these are common to postgraduate programmes with working learners, while others are unique to this particular partnership, such as weak institutional capacity to champion and embed new programmes and approaches to teaching.ConclusionsThe partnership, despite significant inherent challenges, has potential for providing real opportunities for building the field and community of practice, and strengthening the staff and organizational capacity of participant institutions. Key learning points of the paper are:• the need for long-term strategies and engagement;• the need for more investment and attention to developing the capacity of academic institutions;• the need to invest specifically in educational/teaching expertise for innovative approaches to teaching and capacity development more broadly; and• the importance of increasing access and support for students who are working adults in public health institutions throughout Africa.
Highlights
Health systems in many low-income countries remain fragile, and the record of human resource planning and management in Ministries of Health very uneven
We report on one initiative aimed at addressing this dual capacity challenge through the development and implementation of a joint Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme with a focus on health workforce development
This paper presents data obtained through interviews and group discussions with the 18 trainees enrolled in the Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme at the University of the Western Cape as well as representatives of partner institutions
Summary
Health systems in many low-income countries remain fragile, and the record of human resource planning and management in Ministries of Health very uneven. Health systems in many low-income countries remain fragile, the human resource situations precarious, and the record of human resource planning and management of resources and capacity in Ministries of Health very uneven at best. Causes of the continuing crisis include multiple contextual factors: a growing, and increasingly complex, disease burden; high levels of brain drain; demotivating working environments; rapid population growth; economic deprivation; poor health infrastructure; and civil and political unrest [3,4,5,6,7] These factors are accompanied by a lack of multifaceted and comprehensive HR strategies in countries. According to a study in 2009, 78% of the 57 countries, which are experiencing acute shortages of HRH, had HR policies and plans, and only a little over half (55%) of these countries had put these guidelines into practice [8]
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