Education and Training

Nursing Education Partnership Initiative Tackles the Global Nursing Shortage

Sarah Dwyer — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:28:47 +0000

Around the world nurses are often the front line of the formal medical system, providing care to underserved areas and filling in where and when doctors are in short supply. Yet it has been estimated that sub-Saharan Africa needs 600,000 additional nurses just to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

The Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI)—the US Government’s unified program to address the underproduction of nursing professionals in developing countries—convened its partners for the first time in a meeting in June in Washington, DC. NEPI’s goal is to assist in the nursing component of the US Government’s commitment to training 140,000 additional health workers in developing countries by 2015.

NEPI is led by PEPFAR with government partners USAID and the Department of Health and Human Services. Other partners include CapacityPlus led by IntraHealth International, Columbia University, the World Health Organization, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Author's name:

Kate Tulenko

Publication Date:

June 2010 (All day)

Picturing Our Work: Improving Preservice Education of Health Workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Carol Bales — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 19:46:46 +0000

These student interns at ISTM Kinshasa Central Hospital, DRC, take a break to pose for CapacityPlus consultant Gilbert Belade—local coordinator for our preservice education costing studies with the Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI)—and Sophie Faye of Abt Associates. On a recent trip to Kinshasa, Sophie and Gilbert collected financial information at two nursing and midwifery schools and their associated clinical practice facilities.

Author's name:

Leah McManus

Publication Date:

June 2014

How I Fell in Love with the Sisters and Students at St. Joseph’s

Carol Bales — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 04:34:58 +0000

Last month, I met the Little Sisters of St. Francis and many of their students at St. Joseph’s Kamuli School of Midwifery in the rural Kamuli District of Uganda. This convent, hospital, and school is now celebrating 100 years of service.

CapacityPlus is helping the school achieve a decades-long goal: to provide a high-quality education leading to a diploma in midwifery to young women from the region.

Author's name:

Heather Ross

Publication Date:

February 2014

In-Service Training Improvement Framework Launched at the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health

Carol Bales — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 19:33:38 +0000

There are more health worker in-service training programs than ever before, with training often representing the lion’s share of investments for strengthening human resources for health (HRH). But an increasing number of reports indicate that such training is rarely evaluated, frequently duplicative, and may not be designed to meet needs. A growing multiplicity of poorly-coordinated training providers may overwhelm and weaken training systems rather than strengthen them.

Author's name:

Rebecca Bailey, CapacityPlus; Julia Bluestone, Jhpiego; Gabrielle O’Malley, I-TECH; Carie McCarthy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Samuel Ngobua, CapacityPlus; Frances Petracca, I-TECH; Lois Schaefer, USAID; and Tana Wuliji, USAID Applying Sciences to Strengthen and Improve Systems Project

Publication Date:

December 2013

The Ethiopian Government and CapacityPlus Lead the Way in Estimating the Cost of Educating Nurses and Midwives in Africa

Carol Bales — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 17:12:51 +0000

The Ethiopian Government and CapacityPlus Lead the Way in Estimating the Cost of Educating Nurses and Midwives in Africa

In 2011, Ethiopia reported having 29,550 nurses and 2,416 midwives¹, or approximately one nurse for every 3,000 people and one midwife for every 34,000 people. In response to this shortage, the Government of Ethiopia has developed an ambitious plan to significantly increase the number of nurses and midwives in the country by 2015—to 41,009 nurses and 8,635 midwives—through the expansion of health science schools, departments, and programs.

Author's name:

Leah McManus and Rebecca Bailey

Publication Date:

September 2013

Focusing on MEPI: Two Views with Common Goals

Carol Bales — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:55:11 +0000

It is rare that a person is able to view one event through two lenses. I was privileged to be able to do so as I moved to CapacityPlus from a position with the Coordinating Center of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) at George Washington University (GWU).

The Medical Education Partnership Initiative
MEPI is funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and supports African medical schools as they work to further PEPFAR’s goal of increasing the number of new health workers by 140,000. It is a network of more than 30 medical schools in sub-Saharan Africa that is supported by the Coordinating Center, a joint effort of GWU and the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation, and by other stakeholders, including CapacityPlus.

Author's name:

Heather Ross

Publication Date:

September 2012

Responding to the Urgent Need for More Health Workers: Rebecca Bailey on Health Workforce Education and Training

Carol Bales — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:10:25 +0000

At 23, CapacityPlus’s Rebecca Bailey mailed two applications: to law school and to the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps called her first, and that’s when her work to improve health worker education and training took root.

As a communications officer for CapacityPlus, I do a lot of writing about our work to address the global health workforce shortage, but I rarely write about the people doing the work. Therefore it was a pleasure for me to speak with Rebecca and learn about her career and her current position as health workforce development team lead.

Author's name:

Carol Bales with Rebecca Bailey

Publication Date:

June 2012

Nursing and Midwifery Education in Ethiopia: Ensuring Professional Capacity and Relevance

Carol Bales — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:05:54 +0000

It has been estimated that sub-Saharan Africa needs 600,000 additional nurses just to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The United States Government’s Nursing Education Partnership Initiative (NEPI) is designed to strengthen the quality and capacity of nursing and midwifery education systems in sub-Saharan African countries, to increase the number of well-qualified nurses and midwives, and to support innovative retention strategies. Nurses and midwives are integral to health systems, providing care to underserved areas and filling in where and when doctors are in short supply. CapacityPlus is proud to be a NEPI partner, providing analysis and technical support to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia.

Author's name:

Rachel Deussom

Publication Date:

March 2012

The Life of Health Students and Professionals in Developing Countries: A Snapshot

Carol Bales — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:40:20 +0000

There are 57 countries that fail to meet the World Health Organization’s recommended minimum threshold of 2.3 health workers per 1,000 people. Everyone agrees on the fact that the health workforce crisis is beyond the numbers. The increased migration of health workers and the lack of trained health providers in rural and remote areas are manifestations of the inherent lack of capacity of the health and education systems in developing countries to adequately recruit, train, and support their health workers.

Typically, students that join health science institutions have strong records of academic achievement. Their personal aspirations coupled with the high expectations of their families, teachers, and their communities increase their desire to achieve more. They dream of getting more education and training to enable them to help others.

Author's name:

Mesrak Belatchew

Publication Date:

December 2011

A Successful Initiative for Health Workforce Development in Ethiopia

Carol Bales — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:43:35 +0000

Mental health is not always on the forefront of people’s minds when they think about global health and the critical shortage of trained health workers. But the need is there.

In Ethiopia, Dr. Markos Tesfaye recalls a “huge mental health professional deficit.” He is head of the department of psychiatry in the College of Public Health and Medical Sciences at Jimma University. In 2007, he says, “there were only 28 psychiatrists in the country for a population of about 80 million.” Complicating matters, he recalls, “psychiatry nurses who had advanced diploma-level education were shifting to do their degree in general nursing because of lack of opportunities to advance their career in the field of mental health.”

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer with Markos Tesfaye, MD

Publication Date:

December 2011

A Midwife Crisis

david — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:54:33 +0000

“If we want to stop these women and babies dying, we need to invest in skilled care,” declared Flavia Bustreo, assistant director-general of family and community health at the World Health Organization. Bustreo’s declaration came on the heels of the release of the WHO’s State of the World’s Midwifery 2011: Delivering Health, Saving Lives. In an effort to facilitate the strengthening of midwifery education and service delivery, the report features data collected from 58 developed and developing countries and makes recommendations on how to improve access to midwives.

Midwifery challenges
The term “midwife” literally means “being with the woman.” Midwifery care is essential in improving maternal health, reducing the likelihood of a woman’s death during childbirth, and reducing newborn deaths. The State of the World’s Midwifery report notes that 358,000 women and 3.6 million newborns die each year from complications in the neonatal, delivery, and postnatal periods. The report clearly cites that these deaths are largely preventable.

Author's name:

Amanda Puckett

Publication Date:

July 2011

Addressing the Global Burden of NCDs: Health Workers Needed

Sarah Dwyer — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:12:46 +0000

In the past few decades, the incidence and prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has continued to grow. The more we learn about the magnitude of NCDs, especially in developing countries, the more it’s clear that we need to focus on health workers as the center of our efforts to manage NCDs effectively.

The first Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Disease Control, held in April 2011 in Moscow, drew much-needed attention to the global burden of NCDs. The conference report showed that cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases are the leading causes of morbidity, disability, and mortality in the world. NCDs cause over 60% of global deaths, 80% of which occur in developing countries. In addition NCDs are projected to contribute to 75% of global deaths by 2030, significantly impacting all levels of health services, health care costs, and the health workforce, as well as national productivity. The June 2011 Global Health Council annual conference provided further exposure for global and country-based research findings, program interventions, lessons learned, and the way forward in addressing NCDs.

Author's name:

Mesrak Belatchew

Publication Date:

July 2011

International Nurses Day 2011: Increasing Access and Equity

jennifer — Thu, 12 May 2011 13:15:53 +0000

May 12 is celebrated the world over as International Nurses Day, with this year’s theme calling particular attention to issues of access and equity in health care.

Nurses make up the bulk of the health workforce, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, which has 5.5 nurses and midwives for every physician. While nurses’ contributions to the health system are well-established in the literature, to date, scant attention has been directed toward many of the critical issues nurses face in their careers.

Education
The status of nursing education in developing countries is poorly understood.

Author's name:

Shaun Noronha

Publication Date:

May 2011

Retaining Community Health Workers in Ethiopia

jennifer — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:21:47 +0000

In a recent New York Times opinion, Tina Rosenberg asked “What makes community health care work?” Her commentary highlights the important elements for sustaining community health work in developing countries—careful financing, using teaching as part of the sustainability structure, supervision and training, working with the government, and scaling up according to the program and country context—and refers to the rich experiences of BRAC in Bangladesh.

Ethiopia’s health extension worker (HEW) initiative, established in 2004, is another example of a successful program in sub-Saharan Africa. Developed and implemented by the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the HEW program has evolved both in scope and scale to accommodate new health initiatives.

Author's name:

Mesrak Belatchew

Publication Date:

March 2011

Health Workers for a New Century

jennifer — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:10:01 +0000

“Health is about people—those with needs and those who are entrusted to respond to those needs,” said Dr. Julio Frenk, Harvard School of Public Health dean and cochair of Education of Health Professionals for the 21st century: A Global Independent Commission.

Dr. Frenk presented the Commission’s new report, "Health professionals for a new century: Transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world," at the World Bank recently, noting that this report represents a change in basic thinking about health education.

Author's name:

Richard Seifman, guest blogger

Publication Date:

March 2011