PHA-Exchange> Research Grants on Equity in Human Resources for Health

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From: Rene Loewenson <rene at tarsc.org>
 
Research Grants on Equity in Human Resources for Health
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EQUINET BRIEFING: Call for Applicants for Research Grants/Awards 
on Equity in the Distribution of Health Personnel
 
Equinet Secretariat with Health Systems Trust SA, January 2004 
 
This call closes on March 12th 2004.
 
The Regional Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa 
(EQUINET) and Health Systems Trust South Africa (HST) are invit-
ing expressions of interest from individuals or organisations 
based within the region to contribute to a programme of work on 
Equity in the Distribution of Personnel in Southern Africa. 
 
The programme seeks to promote the equitable distribution of 
health personnel in southern Africa through review, dialogue on 
and proposal of policy tools for equity in health personnel dis-
tribution in southern Africa, for dealing with attrition of 
health personnel from southern Africa to selected high income 
countries and for strengthening governance arrangements and sys-
tems for policy interactions on health personnel issues.
 
The work is supported by an advisory panel of senior personnel 
working on Human Resources for Health (HRH) in Southern Africa 
and internationally. More detailed background information is 
found in the EQUINET discussion document 3 and the concept brief 
for this work at www.equinetafrica.org 
 
The background review identified a number of issues listed below 
for further research, analysis and advocacy that would guide fu-
ture work. This does not exclude other priorities raised and 
justified in the response to the call. 
 
PRODUCTION OF HEALTH PERSONNEL 
Mapping of the burdens of health personnel losses across the re-
gion in relation to the capacity to produce and replace person-
nel; Assessment of the appropriate and effective mix of person-
nel and the implications for personnel production; Impact of mi-
gration on the quality and output of training institutions; 
Analysis of the merits of various student recruitment initia-
tives designed to improve the distribution of health personnel; 
 
AVAILABILITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF HEALTH PERSONNEL 
Information on health personnel distribution and movements 
across private, public and traditional sectors; Cost-benefit 
evaluation of the losses and gains of current flows to health 
workers, to communities, to health systems and to countries; 
Evaluation and analysis of information systems and planning ca-
pacities within public health authorities; Mapping of relation-
ship between resource allocation inequalities and capacity to 
demand and use resources; Exploration of the role of traditional 
health personnel in mitigating gaps in western health services 
 
MOVEMENT AND MIGRATION OF HEALTH PERSONNEL 
Accurate information on the directions and volumes of health 
personnel movement and their determinants within each of the 
southern Africa countries, their impact on equity and perform-
ance of health services; Comprehensive indicators reflecting the 
consequence of the drain on health within each of the Southern 
African countries; Mapping of the specific factors affecting in-
ternal and external movements and the extent to which they are 
linked with wider between- and out-of- country flows; Further 
exploration of the regional health personnel brain drain, par-
ticularly by skills group; Study of the replicability of the of-
ten unique pull and stay factors within missions to the wider 
health system 
 
The programme will review the submissions for research and na-
tional activities on equity in health personnel in southern Af-
rica and hold a three day review meeting from April 15th to 17th 
2004 to review the analysis of HRH issues, draw inputs from pol-
icy, research and health worker platforms, review of the pro-
posed research and set the research and programme priorities for 
the HRH programme. EQUINET/HST will support accepted research 
proposals for implementation of research studies and their peer 
review and publication as a discussion paper series. We will 
also hold national and regional meetings and consultations to 
review findings and identify follow up policy or programme is-
sues, including a regional meeting in mid 2005 together with in-
ternational research and policy networks on HRH (UK, Australia 
and Canada). 
 
Interested applicants should submit a 1-2 page 'expression of 
interest' concept note, a personal CV, and a sample document 
written by the applicant on any relevant theme. The concept note 
should include information on: A potential topic of focus, with 
justification for the research and its potential use at local, 
national, regional or international level; the applicant's in-
terest in the topic and in the broad field of work in HRH; the 
applicant's key experiences and skills that have relevance to 
this work.
 
Applicants should submit this information by 12th March 2004 to:
mailto:ant at hst.org.za
or by Fax to + 27-31-304-0775 (attention A Ntuli). 
 
Applicants will be informed by 2nd April 2004 if they have been 
successful. Applicants must be available to attend the regional 
workshop on 15 - 17. 4. 2004 Participants of existing Equinet 
programmes are welcome to apply. 
 
For any queries about the programme please contact 
<ant at hst.org.za>. For general queries on Equinet please e-mail:
mailto:admin at equinetafrica.org or visit the Equinet website at:
http://www.equinetafrica.org
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