PHA-Exchange> WHO Call for Papers: Towards a scaling-up of training and education for health workers (fwd)

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

--from Vern Weitzel <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au> -----

CALL FOR PAPERS

WHO and the journals Education for Health and Human Resources for Health
are now accepting papers for joint special issues addressing the critical
need for a skilled, sustainable health workforce in the developing world.
Submitted articles must fall under the broad theme: Towards a scaling-up
of training and education for health workers.

The World Health Report 2006, 'Working together for health', recognized
the centrality of the health workforce for the effective operation of
country health systems and outlined proposals to tackle a global shortage
of 4.3 million health workers. There is increasing evidence that that this
shortage is interfering with efforts to achieve international development
goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration and those
of WHO's priority programmes.

The health workforce crisis in developing countries derives principally
from inadequate educational opportunities for health workers and a lack of
relevance of their training to community health care practice. Additional
contributing factors include: inadequate compensation and working
conditions, the deteriorating health of the workforce in many developing
countries, urban/rural and workforce imbalance, and migration of the
workforce from developing to developed countries.

We are seeking manuscripts which concern the scaling-up of training and
education for health workers. Possible sub-themes include, but are not
limited to:

- private sector engagement
- regulatory frameworks for education and practice
- labour market dynamics after the production of health workers  (e.g.
retention)
- training teams rather than individuals
- skills mix
- multi-skilled workers, responsive to exiting needs
- task-shifting / role substitution
- competency-based education and training

Examples of questions that could be considered are:

- What ongoing efforts to increase graduate level primary care training
have been established in developing countries. What has been their impact
and what have been their problems?
- What effective strategies have been developed and tested for customizing
the workforce skill mix to local health service needs? For example, what
impact have recent health sector reforms had on the local health
workforce?
- What is the status of existing efforts to train health workers using
innovative methods, including distance learning and various forms of
information technology? How will training by protocol differ from, and
complement, traditional community health worker training?
- How can the health professional training be better aligned with local
health needs and be more socially accountable?
- What is the status of existing collaborations between developing
countries aiming to improve health worker education?
- How have modifications in healthcare management had an impact upon
health workforce capacity at the local level?

Papers will be accepted in two formats:

- Full papers of 3000 words or less for policy and research papers
- Brief communications of less than 1200 words: better suited to program
or project descriptions or commentaries.

Planned publication is over the period from June to August 2008. There
will be an online facility to respond to published articles in order to
accommodate a live debate.

If you would like to submit either an article or brief, please send us a
provisional title and a short outline of the major topics you would
address.

Proposals for manuscripts are due by 31 July 2007 and should be submitted
by e-mail to hrhspecial at who.int. Instructions for submission of articles
will then be provided with feedback. Final manuscripts are due by 30
October 2007.



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