Human Resources for Health in Maternal, Neonatal and - HRH ...

Participants/ Method / document type Findings Reference
cadre
Community education
Doctors Thailand Project description training in rural health facilities and
hometown placement
(Wibulpolpras
ert 2003)
Nurses Lebanon Project description Educating nursing students through (WHO 2008)
community participation
Nurses Thailand Project description Local student nurses undertake learning (WHO 2008)
activities designed by local CH facilities
problem solving approaches
South Africa Commentary Problem solving approaches most
appropriate
(Saunders
2001)
PNG Commentary Institutionalization of PBL (Beracochea
1995)
Selection of learners
Selecting the most appropriate learners into MNRH education and training courses is
normally guided in by policy and procedures with input from stakeholders. Encouraging local
people to undertake education in training in health would help to build the capacity of the
workforce numbers at community level particularly in rural communities where there are
shortages. A number of studies have found that a rural background is a significant predictor
of rural work (Playford, Larson et al. 2006; Chopra 2008) making rural recruitment a viable
way forward. The section of local people into health worker education and training courses
also helps to ensure that the workforce has a level of the socio-cultural competency (Warrick,
Wood et al. 1992). Community involvement in the learner selection process can help to
increase community participation in decisions making concerning their future health
workforce. A study in Cambodia found that community members felt that they should be
informed of midwives shortages, so they can try to encourage a member of the community to
train as a midwife (Sherratt 2006).
Local people may also be more motivated to undertake training so that they can better
contribute to improving their community. A performance-based selection criteria was applied
in a programme to train 320 women volunteers to become village birth attendants and
community sexual health educators in the East Sepik Women and Children‘s Health Project,
Papua New Guinea (Cox 2003). Despite this criteria, the authors note that well motivated
women managed to attend the course despite not being selected. Motivation is key to learning
and potential students may need to be given the opportunity to demonstrate this as part of the
selection process. Encouraging local youth, especially girls to undertake careers in health
may be a useful way to address appropriate workforce profile issues and community
engagement but also increasing education, health and development of the whole community
in line with the MDGs.
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