PHA-Exch> Human Resource for Health Data

["Claudio Schuftan" <cschuftan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Tammy Loverdos tloverdos@xxxxxxx

Imbalances in quantity and quality of human resources for health (HRH) are increasingly recognized as perhaps the most critical impediment to achieving health outcome objectives in most African countries. However, reliable data on the HRH situation is often not readily available. Our new paper addresses the issue of data use for HRH policy-making. It provides valuable information to the body of literature available to policy-makers and their development partners as they grapple with the development and implementation of workable HRH policies. Data was collected in 2006 from key informants (including the heads of Human Resource functions at the ministries of health and their technical advisors) from a convenient sample of countries known to have conducted HRH assessments in the last three years.

The paper finds that few countries have functioning HRH management information systems that can routinely provide data without the need for special studies. Countries seem to rely more on ad hoc studies to generate data that should be routinely available from a functioning Human Resources for Health Information System (HRHIS). Ministries of health are severely constrained by the lack of skilled human resource managers. Many countries also do not have, and still need assistance in developing, comprehensive HRH policies and plans. Human resources for health advocates play a key role in ensuring that available data is used for policy action and the involvement of all key stakeholders improves the acceptability of proposed HRH policies. The MOH must obtain broad stakeholder consensus from the outset in dealing comprehensively with the HRH crisis. Due to the complex and multidimensional nature of the HRH crisis, it requires a response that is embedded within comprehensive strateg!
ic plans for health that address the development of the health system as a whole. The HRH policies and plans would then fit into this plan and could be more readily defended for resource allocations. Addressing the HRH needs outside of this broader framework can be, at best, only a temporary measure." The PDF is available online at:
http://africahealth2010.aed.org/PDF/Using_Human_Resource_for_Health_Data.pdf

Tammy Loverdos
Africa's Health in 2010
Academy for Educational Development
Washington, DC

http://www.africahealth2010.org/