Vital

News & commentary about the global health workforce

Community Health Workers Make a Difference for Pediatric HIV Clients in South Sudan

Lawrence Monday links health facilities and communities to extend HIV care and treatment services.

The Possibilities of Video Games and Digital Living for Future Health Workers' Lives

What if video games could be used to help solve the health care worker shortage in Africa? Playing games can help people learn knowledge and skills.

Without the User, There Is No System: Harnessing Technology through the eHealth Workforce

When we talk about building strong health systems and the health workers needed to run these systems, we often think about doctors or nurses or community health workers. Just as crucial to health...

An Imperative to Act: Family Planning in West Africa

Earlier this month, I was in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso with delegates from eight French-speaking West African countries* for the conference, “Family Planning in the context of Population and Development: the Urgency to Act.”

Where is the Evidence on Building Sustainable Health Systems in a World of Unrest?

Civil unrest is spreading quicker than a pandemic across the Middle East and North Africa. How will these events affect people’s health and the health systems in these countries?

How Health Workers Influence Attitudes and Decisions about Family Planning

Last month, a new World Health Organization publication compared current data to data from the early 1990s on the readiness, willingness, and ability of women to use modern contraceptives in sub-Saharan Africa.

Open Source at the State Department: Loud, Timely, Not Your Parents’ State Department

Last Friday, I was in Washington, D.C., for Tech@State’s Open Source Conference. Tech@State is an inspiring step by the State Department, connecting technologists to targeted goals of the U.S. diplomacy and development agenda via networking events as part of Secretary Clinton's 21st Century Statecraft initiative.

Retaining Health Workers in Rural Kenya: What We Can Learn From Other Countries

In the northern arid lands and other remote parts of Kenya, the Capacity Kenya project has been working with the Ministry of Health to design simple packages to attract health workers and encourage them to stay.

Local Solutions, Global Solidarity, and Accountability

While the Second Global Forum on Human Resources for Health was full of opportunities, it was also quite deficient in addressing the one global issue that continues to hinder progress.

What Brought Us Here Won’t Get Us There: Implementing Country-level Health Workforce Development Plans

Three years ago, we met in Kampala, Uganda, to discuss the critical needs of the global health workforce. Last week in Bangkok, we gathered to take stock of what we’ve accomplished since. Today, 86%...

It Doesn’t Count If You Can’t Count It: Measuring Successes in the Health Workforce

Gathering the right evidence to inform a program’s success or failure is the cornerstone of any health program.