News & Updates

Much was accomplished in December at the PEPFAR-funded HRIS Inventory Project workshop. Leaders from several partner and donor organizations gathered to review the project scope, suggest improvements to the proposed data framework, and define the data elements necessary to capture an informative systems inventory in their areas of expertise. Participants grouped themselves into areas of focus and expressed interest in continuing to support the...

On December 13-14, the Capacity Project brought 24 global leaders in health workforce planning together to collaborate on the design of user-friendly software for workforce planning. Participants came from USAID, WHO, World Bank, Asia-Pacific Action Alliance, Pan American Health Organization, Global Health Workforce Alliance, Africa Health Workforce Observatory, universities and ministries of health and labor. Funding from WHO made possible the...

On December 11-12, the Capacity Project’s human resources information systems (HRIS) strengthening team conducted the PEPFAR HRIS Inventory Workshop. Funded by PEPFAR, with support from WHO and World Bank, the workshop launched a comprehensive HRIS inventory and began building a community of practice. The 50 participants--including representatives from USAID, WHO, World Bank and a wide variety of NGOs and universities--developed a matrix of HRIS...

The facilitators of the pilot Data Driven Decision Making (DDDM) workshop held in Uganda last summer felt it was a success and received positive feedback from participants. Fourteen attendees filled out evaluation forms at the close of the workshop and all agreed that that the workshop met its objectives and DDDM was relevant to their work. Also, while only one person felt ‘very comfortable’ with the topic prior to the workshop, eleven did...

Dr. Eddie Mukooyo, representing the Uganda Ministry of Health, attended the Health Workforce Planning Workshop held in December 2007, where the objective was to plan the development of iHRIS Plan, the workforce planning component of the iHRIS suite. Following the workshop, we talked to Dr. Mukooyo about his impressions of the discussion and the workforce planning software. Here is what he had to say: “I believe we are moving in an area where we...

In accordance with the data collection plan presented to the Rwanda Ministry of Health (MOH) Human Resources for Health Working Group in May, Capacity Project staff created a standardized data collection form for use at the district level. The new Excel form is in French and English, and includes simple, built-in features to ensure data consistency and reduce errors. It is being tested in two districts, where bimonthly updates will be submitted...

“We need a more balanced geographic distribution of health professionals in Rwanda,” says Bonita Baingana, who served until recently as the Rwanda Ministry of Health’s human resources for health (HRH) advisor. The country faces one of the most critical shortages of physicians and nurses in Africa, especially in rural areas. “Most health professionals prefer to work in urban areas due to many privileges that are not found in rural areas,” Baingana...

We are not workforce planning experts, yet it is one of our goals for the Capacity Project to develop user-friendly health workforce planning software specifically for low-resource countries. Last week, we brought together a group of workforce planning experts from all over the world, representing countries like Finland and Uganda and organizations like the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human...

Much excitement and dialogue was generated last week at the HRIS Inventory workshop in DC. Participants from WHO, World Bank, Capacity Project, and many other implementing partners came together to discuss the PEPFAR-funded HRIS Inventory project. Many expressed the need and potential multiple uses for an inventory of existing systems and hoped to see the project quickly expand beyond the PEPFAR-focus countries. The WHO offered significant input...

"Indeed, few countries in sub-Saharan Africa even know precisely how many health workers they have and where those workers are distributed. More than 40 percent of these countries lack data on how many community health workers operate within their borders, for instance. NGOs can help fill such information gaps. They should start by teaming up with the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) and other multilateral groups to help answer, for...