Course: Health Systems Strengthening

A large part of total health expenditure in any country is health worker remuneration; but how this remuneration is given and at what levels, can greatly influence staff performance. While …

Some people associate the private sector with strong incentives, and weak incentives with the public sector. A common belief is that in the private sector, there’s a strong relationship between …

As we saw previously, there are different types of task shifting. In settings where there is a shortage of highly specialised clinical staff, task shifting is increasingly being explored as …

Reflect on any types of task shifting that you might be familiar with in the context you work and whether this strategy has worked to improve service delivery and health …

Is health workforce diversity properly recognised by health planners? Let’s examine the dimensions of health workforce diversity and its implications. The character of the health workforce in many low-and-middle-income countries …

The behaviours of health professionals and their employers, and their responsiveness to incentives may be an under-recognised origin of human resources for health (HRH) crises. Forces of: Demand (the willingness …

Are we asking the right questions about rural health worker retention? The existing health inequalities between rural and urban populations are made worse by the unequal distribution of health professionals …

In the video in the previous step we looked at some interactive maps from the WHO’s Global Health Observatory (linked below), an excellent resource for obtaining country data on health …

In this video, we looked at the composition and distribution of health workers and how they differ across countries. While looking at the adequacy of health workforce, it is important …

The System of Health Accounts (SHA) is a standardised framework to track a country’s health expenditures. It ensures comparability across countries and over time. National Health Accounts (NHAs) are designed …

It’s helpful to look at real-life examples of national health accounts and reports to understand how they can be used. A good starting place is A System of Health Accounts …

What does a fiscal space analysis look like in practice? Let’s have a look at recent fiscal space analysis for health in Indonesia, by Ajay Tandon and colleagues (2009). The …

Rigorous fiscal space analysis is critical to any country’s financial planning process – but it requires time, expertise and data to work with, all of which may be constrained in …

Take a moment now to watch the following speeches made on the government role in health care by two famous Americans, John F. Kennedy and Milton Friedman, during the 1960 …

Mixed health systems (public and private) are the norm, and finding the right balance between public and private service delivery (including support functions) is critical to achieving the best health …