Increasing access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention : global policy recommendations.

Increasing access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention : global policy recommendations.

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Bibliographic Details
Imprint:	Geneva, Switzerland : World Health Organization, c2010.
Description:	iii, 72 p. : ill. ; 30 cm. + 1 CD-ROM (4 3/4 in.)
Language:	English
Subject:	Rural health services. Rural health. Medical personnel. Medical policy. Rural Health Services. Health Personnel -- utilization. Health Manpower. Delivery of Health Care. Medical personnel. Medical policy. Rural health. Rural health services.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/8142550

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Other authors / contributors:	World Health Organization.
ISBN:	9789241564014 9241564016
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-72). Also available via the World Wide Web as an Acrobat .pdf file (828 KB, 80 p.).
Summary:	"Half the world's people currently live in rural and remote areas. The problem is that most health workers live and work in cities. This imbalance is common to almost all countries and poses a major challenge to the nationwide provision of health services. Its impact, however, is most severe in low income countries. There are two reasons for this. One is that many of these countries already suffer from acute shortages of health workers - in all areas. The other is that the proportion of the population living in rural regions tends to be greater in poorer countries than in rich ones. The World Health Organization (WHO) has therefore drawn up a comprehensive set of strategies to help countries encourage health workers to live and work in remote and rural areas. These include refining the ways students are selected and educated, as well as creating better working and living conditions. The first step has been to establish what works, through a year-long process that has involved a wide range of experts from all regions of the world. The second is to share the results with those who need them, via the guidelines contained in this document. The third will be to implement them, and to monitor and evaluate progress, and - critically - to act on the findings of that monitoring and evaluation. The guidelines are a practical tool that all countries can use. As such, they complement the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, adopted by the Sixty-third World Health Assembly in May 2010. The Code offers a framework to manage international migration over the medium to longer term. The guidelines are a tool that can be used straight away to address one of the first triggers to internal and international migration - dissatisfaction with living and working conditions in rural areas. Together, the code of practice and these new guidelines provide countries with instruments to improve workforce distribution and enhance health services. Doing so will address a long-standing problem, contribute to more equitable access to health care, and boost prospects for improving maternal and child health and combating diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria." - p. i

Description
Summary:	Policy-makers in all countries, regardless of their level of economic development, struggle to achieve health equity and to meet the health needs of their populations, especially vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. One of their most complex challenges is ensuring people living in rural and remote locations have access to trained health workers. Skilled and motivated health workers in sufficient numbers at the right place and at the right time are critical to deliver effective health services and improve health outcomes. A shortage of qualified health workers in remote and rural areas impedes access to health-care services for a significant percentage of the population, slows progress towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals and challenges the aspirations of achieving health for all. The World Health Organization (WHO) has produced these recommendations in response to requests from global leaders, civil society and Member States.<br> <br> The evidence-based recommendations relate to the movements of health workers within the boundaries of a country and focus solely on strategies to increase the availability of health workers in remote and rural areas through improved attraction, recruitment and retention. As such they complement the current work of WHO on the draft code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel. The recommendations apply to all types of health workers in the formal, regulated health sector, including health managers and support staff, as well as to students aspiring to or currently attending education programs in health-related disciplines.
Physical Description:	iii, 72 p. : ill. ; 30 cm. +
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-72).
ISBN:	9789241564014 9241564016