TY - JOUR
T1 - Health workforce development
T2 - A needs assessment study in French speaking African countries
AU - Chastonay, Philippe
AU - Moretti, Roberto
AU - Zesiger, Véronique
AU - Cremaschini, Marco
AU - Bailey, Rebecca
AU - Pariyo, George
AU - Kabengele, Emmanuel Mpinga
N1 - Funding Information:
The project was accepted by the Institutional Review Board of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine of the University of Geneva and by the World Health Organization.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the support of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (rb/rg/ MPHHWD/2010) and the commitment of the partner institutions in Africa.
Funding Information:
h Ministry of Public Health: Profil pays en Ressources humaines pour la santé du Tchad.,Draft report, Septembre 2010
PY - 2013/5
Y1 - 2013/5
N2 - In 2006, WHO alerted the world to a global health workforce crisis, demonstrated through critical shortages of health workers, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa (WHO in World Health Report, 2006). The objective of our study was to assess, in a participative way, the educational needs for public health and health workforce development among potential trainees and training institutions in nine French-speaking African countries. A needs assessment was conducted in the target countries according to four approaches: (1) Review at national level of health challenges. (2) Semi-directed interviews with heads of relevant training institutions. (3) Focus group discussions with key-informants. (4) A questionnaire-based study targeting health professionals identified as potential trainees. A needs assessment showed important public health challenges in the field of health workforce development among the target countries (e. g. unequal HRH distribution in the country, ageing of HRH, lack of adequate training). It also showed a demand for education and training institutions that are able to offer a training programme in health workforce development, and identified training objectives and core competencies useful to potential employers and future trainees (e. g. leadership, planning/evaluation, management, research skill). In combining various approaches our study was able to show a general demand for health managers who are able to plan, develop and manage a nation's health workforce. It also identified specific competencies that should be developed through an education and training program in public health with a focus on health workforce development.
AB - In 2006, WHO alerted the world to a global health workforce crisis, demonstrated through critical shortages of health workers, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa (WHO in World Health Report, 2006). The objective of our study was to assess, in a participative way, the educational needs for public health and health workforce development among potential trainees and training institutions in nine French-speaking African countries. A needs assessment was conducted in the target countries according to four approaches: (1) Review at national level of health challenges. (2) Semi-directed interviews with heads of relevant training institutions. (3) Focus group discussions with key-informants. (4) A questionnaire-based study targeting health professionals identified as potential trainees. A needs assessment showed important public health challenges in the field of health workforce development among the target countries (e. g. unequal HRH distribution in the country, ageing of HRH, lack of adequate training). It also showed a demand for education and training institutions that are able to offer a training programme in health workforce development, and identified training objectives and core competencies useful to potential employers and future trainees (e. g. leadership, planning/evaluation, management, research skill). In combining various approaches our study was able to show a general demand for health managers who are able to plan, develop and manage a nation's health workforce. It also identified specific competencies that should be developed through an education and training program in public health with a focus on health workforce development.
KW - Health workforce development
KW - Public health
KW - Training needs assessment
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U2 - 10.1007/s10459-012-9369-9
DO - 10.1007/s10459-012-9369-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 22453358
AN - SCOPUS:84876094356
SN - 1382-4996
VL - 18
SP - 265
EP - 277
JO - Advances in Health Sciences Education
JF - Advances in Health Sciences Education
IS - 2
ER -