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The contribution of inadequate health worker numbers and emigration have been highlighted in the international literature, but relatively little attention has been paid to absenteeism as a factor that undermines health-care delivery in low income countries. We therefore aimed to review the literature on absenteeism from a health system manager’s perspective to inform needed work on this topic. Specifically, we aimed to develop a typology of definitions that might be useful to classify different forms of absenteeism and identify factors associated with absenteeism. Sixty-nine studies were reviewed, only four were from sub-Saharan Africa where the human resources for health crisis is most acute. Forms of absenteeism studied and methods used vary widely. No previous attempt to develop an overarching approach to classifying forms of absenteeism was identified. A typology based on key characteristics is proposed to fill this gap and considers absenteeism as defined by two key attributes, whether it is: planned/unplanned, and voluntary/involuntary. Factors reported to influence rates of absenteeism may be broadly classified into three thematic categories: workplace and content, personal and organizational and cultural factors. The literature presents an inconsistent picture of the effects of specific factors within these themes perhaps related to true contextual differences or inconsistent definitions of absenteeism.

Japan thus needs a revival of physicians' autonomy in education, research, and patients' care, and a drastic expansion of medical expenditure. 2009 saw a mere 1.6% increase (¥570 billion), by contrast with the announcement of a 50% increase in cash spending on the UK's National Health Service over 5 years in the previous government's health reforms.5 Health professionals aiming at reformation of education can learn from the autonomy of conventional Japanese education and the British budget increase.

As the first of the nation's 78 million baby boomers begin reaching age 65 in 2011, they will face a health care workforce that is too small and woefully unprepared to meet their specific health needs. Retooling for an Aging America calls for bold initiatives starting immediately to train all health care providers in the basics of geriatric care and to prepare family members and other informal caregivers, who currently receive little or no training in how to tend to their aging loved ones. The book also recommends that Medicare, Medicaid, and other health plans pay higher rates to boost recruitment and retention of geriatric specialists and care aides. Educators and health professional groups can use Retooling for an Aging America to institute or increase formal education and training in geriatrics. Consumer groups can use the book to advocate for improving the care for older adults. Health care professional and occupational groups can use it to improve the quality of health care jobs.

Twenty years after the fall of apartheid, social and economic disparities persist in South Africa and have a profound effect on the health of the population. HIV infection and tuberculosis remain major health problems, and there are not enough health care workers. In the 20 years since South Africa underwent a peaceful transition from apartheid to a constitutional democracy, considerable social progress has been made toward reversing the discriminatory practices that pervaded all aspects of life before 1994. 1 – 5 Yet the health and well-being of most South Africans remain plagued by a relentless burden of infectious and noncommunicable diseases, persisting social disparities, and inadequate human resources to provide care for a growing population with a rising tide of refugees and economic migrants. 4 , 6 Appropriate responses to South African health care challenges would be to address the social determinants of health (which lie . . .

Cancer is one of the major non-communicable diseases posing a threat to world health. Unfortunately, improvements in socioeconomic conditions are usually associated with increased cancer incidence. In this Commission, we focus on China, India, and Russia, which share rapidly rising cancer incidence and have cancer mortality rates that are nearly twice as high as in the UK or the USA, vast geographies, growing economies, ageing populations, increasingly westernised lifestyles, relatively disenfranchised subpopulations, serious contamination of the environment, and uncontrolled cancer-causing communicable infections. We describe the overall state of health and cancer control in each country and additional specific issues for consideration: for China, access to care, contamination of the environment, and cancer fatalism and traditional medicine; for India, affordability of care, provision of adequate health personnel, and sociocultural barriers to cancer control; and for Russia, monitoring of the burden of cancer, societal attitudes towards cancer prevention, effects of inequitable treatment and access to medicine, and a need for improved international engagement.

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are providing an increasing share of health care services, and education programs have proliferated. These dynamics will have lasting effects on the health care workforce and on relationships among health professionals.

The world's need for and supply of health professionals are in flux. This article reviews the supply in relation to the demand for physicians and nurses around the world. There is a global crisis of severe shortages and marked maldistribution of health professionals that is exacerbated by three great global transitions — demographic changes, epidemiologic shifts, and redistribution of the disability burden. Each of these transitions exerts a powerful force for change in health care systems, the roles of health professionals, and the design of health professional education. 1 – 5 Every country will have to respond to these global pressures for change. There are many other reasons that it is important to think globally about the education and role of health professionals. 6 The knowledge base of the profession is global . . .