Journal Article

Analysing public sector institutional capacity for health workforce governance in the South-East Asia region of WHO

Nartey, Esther, Md, Yunus, Lamichhane, Ramkrishna, Pritasari, Kirana, Cometto, Giorgio, Irufa, Aishath, Kanda, Mikiko, Narayan, Kavita, Noree, Thinakorn, Zapata, Tomas, De Silva, Dileep

2019

Overview

Background In order to analyse the institutional capacity for health workforce policy development and implementation in countries in the South-East Asia region, the WHO facilitated a cross-sectional analysis of functions performed, structure, personnel, management and information systems of human resources for health (HRH) units in Ministries of Health. Case presentation A self-assessment survey on the characteristics and roles of HRH units was administered to relevant Government officials; the responses were validated through face-to-face workshops and by the WHO staff. Findings were tabulated to produce frequency distributions of the variables examined, and qualitative elements categorized according to a framework for capacity building in the health sector. Ten countries out of the 11 in the region responded to the survey. Seven out of 10 reported having an HRH unit, though their scope, roles, capacity and size displayed considerable variability. Some functions (such as planning and health workforce data management) were reportedly carried out in all countries, while others (inter-sectoral coordination, research, labour relations) were only performed in few. Discussion and conclusions The strengthening of the HRH governance capacity in countries should follow a logical hierarchy, identifying first and foremost the essential functions that the public sector is expected to perform to optimize HRH governance. The definition of expected roles and functions will in turn allow identifying the upstream system-wide factors and the downstream capacity requirements for the strengthening of the HRH units. The focus should ultimately be on ensuring that all the key strategic functions are performed to quality standards, irrespective of institutional arrangements.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Accountability / Asia, Southeastern / Capacity Building / Case Study / Cross-Sectional Studies / Decentralization / Developing Countries / Environmental management / Government Programs / Handbooks / Health Administration / Health personnel / Health Policy / Health Services Research / Health Workforce / Human Resource Development / Human Resource Management / Human resources / Humans / Information management / Information systems / Labor force / Labor relations / Medical personnel / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Occupational health services / Organization and administration / Planning / Planning Techniques / Policy Making / Practice and Hospital Management / Public health / Public sector / Questionnaires / Social Policy / Surveys and Questionnaires / Workforce / Workshops (Educational programs) / World Health Organization