Resources from ReBUILD’s work on health worker incentives and deployment in post-conflict and post-crisis settings

Below are details to all outputs from ReBUILD’s work on human resources for health in post-conflict and post-crisis settings.

The list below and the downloadable PDF are complete as of August 2018. The resources listed are organised on broad thematic lines, or related to specific country contexts.

For more information on ReBUILD’s work on human resources for health, contact:

 

Introduction: ReBUILD’s research on human resources for health in conflict and crisis affected settings

Human resources development, a very important part of health systems rebuilding after conflict or crisis, has received relatively little attention in the literature (see this BMC paper on human resource management in crisis settings) and there has been consequently little to inform decision-makers and donors. ReBUILD’s work on human resources for health (HRH) therefore focused on how the decisions made, or not made, in the post-conflict period can affect the longer term pattern of attraction, retention, distribution and performance of health workers, and thus ultimately the performance of the sector.

The work included a large body of research on health worker incentives, which was carried out across all four of our partner countries, and research on health worker deployment systems in two partner countries, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Further work on HRH was done in Sierra Leone on the effects on the recent Ebola outbreak on health workers and the health system, and also by one of ReBUILD’s affiliate research partners on Health Workers’ Remuneration, Incentives and Accountability in Sierra Leone. Another affiliate research partner’s work on health systems’ resilience in Côte d’Ivoire, northern Nigeria and South Africa produced important findings relating to human resources for health. Running through all ReBUILD’s research has been a focus on gender and equity, and outputs from much of the specific work on gender has relevance for human resources.

Resources:

Background literature reviews on health worker incentives and deployment

Journal articles and working papers:

Briefs:

 

Cross-country synthesis and theoretical work on health worker incentives, deployment and HRH

Journal articles and working papers:

  • Witter, S, Wurie, H, Namakula, J, Mashange, W, Chirwa, Y and Alonso‐Garbayo, A (2018) Why do people become health workers? Analysis from life histories in 4 post‐conflict and post‐crisis countries. Int J Health Plann Mgmt. 2018; 1–11http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hpm.2485/epdf
  • Witter, S., Wurie, H., Chandiwana, P., Namakula, J., Sovannarith, S., Alonso-Garbayo, A., Ssengooba, F and Raven, J. (2017) How do health workers experience and cope with shocks? Learning from four fragile and conflict-affected health systems in Uganda, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Cambodia. Health Policy and Planning, Volume 32, Issue suppl_3, 1 November 2017, Pages iii3–iii13, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czx112
  • Witter, S., Namakula, J., Alonso-Garbayo, A., Wurie, H., Theobald, S., Mashange, W., Ros, B., Buzuzi, S., Mangwi, R and Martineau, T. (2017) Experiences of using life histories with health workers in post-conflict and crisis settings: methodological reflections. Health Policy Plan 2017, 1–7 https://academic.oup.com/heapol/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/heapol/czw166
  • Witter, S., Bertone, M., Chirwa, Y., Namakula, J., So, S and Wurie, H. (2017) Evolution of policies on human resources for health: opportunities and constraints in four post-conflict and post-crisis settings. Conflict and Health 2017 10:31 http://conflictandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13031-016-0099-0
  • Bertone, M. and Witter, S. (2015) The complex remuneration of Human Resources for Health in low income settings: policy implications and a research agenda for designing effective financial incentives. Human Resources for Health, 13; 62. http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/pdf/s12960-015-0058-7.pdf

Briefs:

Presentations:

 

Health worker incentives: Sierra Leone

Journal articles and working papers:

Briefs:

Presentations:

 

Health workers and Ebola in Sierra Leone

Journal articles and working papers:

  • Raven, J, Wurie, HR and Witter, S. (2018). Health workers’ experiences of coping with the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone’s health system: a qualitative study. (2018) BMC Health Services research 18:251 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3072-3

Video:

 

Health worker incentives and deployment: Uganda

Journal articles and working papers:

  • Namakula, J., Witter, S. and Ssengooba, F. (2016) Health worker experiences of and movement between public and private not-for-profit sectors – findings from post conflict Northern Uganda. Human Resources for Health, 14:18. http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/14/1/18
  • Namakula, J. and Witter, S. (2014) Living through conflict and post-conflict: experiences of health workers in northern Uganda and lessons for people-centred health systems. Health Policy and Planning Health Policy and Planning, vol. 29, pp ii6–ii14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4202915/

Briefs:

Health worker incentives and deployment: Zimbabwe

Journal articles and working papers:

  • Chirwa, Y, Witter, S, Munjoma, M, Mashange, W, McPake, B and Munyati, S. (2016) The human resource implications of improving financial risk protection for mothers and newborns in Zimbabwe. BMC Health Services Research 2013 13:197 http://bit.ly/HRHUserFeesinZim

Briefs:

 

Health worker incentives: Cambodia

Journal articles and working papers:

 

Gender and human resources for health

Journal articles and working papers:

  • Witter, S., Namakula, J., Wurie, H., Chirwa, Y., So, S., Vong, S., Ros, B., Buzuzi, S. and Theobald, S; The gendered health workforce: mixed methods analysis from four fragile and post-conflict contexts Health Policy and Planning, 32, suppl 5, 1 December 2017 pp v52–v62, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czx102
  • Sarah N. Ssali, Sally Theobald, Justine Namakula and Sophie Witter (2016) Building post-conflict health systems: a gender analysis from Northern Uganda. Chapter 20 in the Handbook on Gender and Health, edited by Jasmine Gideon and published by Edward Elgar 27 May 2016. (Part of the International Handbooks on Gender series) ISBN: 9781784710859  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781784710866
  • Sarah Ssali and Sally Theobald (2016) Using life histories to explore gendered experiences of conflict in Gulu District, northern Uganda: Implications for post-conflict health reconstruction. South African Review of Sociology Volume 47, Issue 1, 2016 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21528586.2015.1132634
  • Dhatt, S. Theobald, S. Buzuzi, et al. (2017) The role of women’s leadership and gender equity in leadership and health system strengthening. Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics (2017), 2, e8, page 1 of 9. doi:10.1017/gheg.2016.22

Specific resources on gender and equity in post-conflict health systems:

The outputs from ReBUILD’s collaborative work with the Gender Working Group of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Global Health and Security Programme were developed into ‘Building Back Better‘ – a set of resources, including case studies, on gender in post-conflict health systems.

Briefs:

  • Hyde S. and Buzuzi S. (2017) “How gender roles and relations affect health workers’ training opportunities and career progression in post-crisis rural Zimbabwe.” buildingbackbetter.org.
  • Vong, S., Hyde S. and Hawkins K. (2017) “Promoting women’s leadership in the post-conflict health system in Cambodia” buildingbackbetter.org.

 

Cross-cutting and general health systems articles:

Journal articles and working papers:

  • Martineau, T., McPake, B., Theobald, S., Raven, J., Ensor, T., Fustukian, S., Ssengooba, F., Chirwa, Y., Vong, S., Wurie, H, Hooton, N and Witter, S. (2017) Leaving no one behind: lessons on rebuilding health systems in conflict and crisis-affected states. BMJ Global Health Jul 2017, 2 (2) http://gh.bmj.com/content/2/2/e000327
  • McPake, B., Witter, S., Ssali, S., Wurie, H., Namakula, J. and Ssengooba, F. (2015) Ebola in the context of conflict affected states and health systems: case studies of Northern Uganda and Sierra Leone. Conflict and Health; 9; 23. http://www.conflictandhealth.com/content/9/1/23
  • McPake, B., Witter, S., Ensor, T., Fustukian, S., Newlands, D., Martineau, T. and Chirwa, Y. (2013) Removing financial barriers to access reproductive, maternal and newborn health services: the challenges and policy implications for human resources. Human Resources for Health, 11(1):46. http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/11/1/46/abstract

Presentations:

 

ReBUILD’s general briefs and issue briefs on health systems in conflict and crisis affected settings:

Health systems after conflict; evidence for better policy and practice

A series of four overview briefs on ReBUILD’s phase 1 research, cross-cutting findings and lessons

 

Health systems during and after crisis; evidence for policy and practice

A series of briefs on priority research topics for crisis-affected contexts in 2017/18.