Hum Resour Health 20, 37 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-022-00735-y. For countries to achieve universal health coverage, they need to have well-functioning and resilient health systems. Achieving this requires a sufficient number of qualifi ... ed health workers and this necessitates the importance of investments in producing and regulating health workers. It is projected that by 2030, Africa would need additional 6.1 million doctors, nurses, and midwives. However, based on the current trajectory, only 3.1 million would be trained and ready for service delivery. To reduce current shortages of the health workforce, Africa needs to educate and train 3.0 million additional health workers by 2030. This study was conducted to describe the distribution and ownership of the health training institutions, production of health workers, and the availability of accreditation mechanisms for training programmes in the WHO African Region. more

Lessons from a decade of Progress

This document, Programme and curriculum development guide, presents a systematic approach to developing programmes and curricula for implementation of the family planning (FP) and comprehensive abortion care (CAC) competencies,and the theory behind ... the approach. Specifically, the aim is for effective implementation of these competencies in the context of pre-service education and training, post-graduate studies and continuing professional development (CPD). This guide is designed for programme and curriculum developers who are preparing or revising formal education and training programmes and curricula for the FP and CAC workforce. This guide proposes a new FP and CAC Educational Design Model for programme and curriculum development. This model can support competency-based education (CBE) for current and future FP and CAC services, with a pre-service training pathway of at least 12 months, and can also support in-service training. CBE provides the most effective means to orient educational programmes and curricula towards effective health services that meet population health needs, and this Educational Design Model provides a guide for linking the competencies required to provide a range of health services more

What are the FP and CAC competencies? Through the clear articulation of the family planning and comprehensive abortion care (FP and CAC) competencies for the primary health care workforce, the aim is to advance improvements in FP and CAC service delivery by aligning health worker education approach ... es with population health needs and health system demands. This document, which describes these competencies in detail, is intended to: be a foundational tool to be adopted and adapted by educators and regulators for FP and CAC providers (students) with a pre-service training pathway of at least 12 months; describe competencies that are relevant to current and future health practice; enable widespread use of the competencies not only for curriculum development for pre-service education, but also for in-service education, regulation, qualifications, quality assurance, personal development, performance evaluation, recruitment, management and career progression; focus on the core functions of FP and CAC providers within broader efforts towards achieving universal health coverage more

Self-care interventions are among the most promising and exciting new approaches to improve health and well-being, both from a health systems perspective and for people who use these interventions. The World Health Organization (WHO) uses the fol ... lowing working definition of self-care: Self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health worker. The scope of self-care as described in this definition includes health promotion; disease prevention and control; self-medication; providing care to dependent persons; seeking hospital/specialist/primary care if necessary; and rehabilitation, including palliative care. It includes a range of self-care modes and approaches. While this is a broad definition that includes many activities, it is important for health policy to recognize the importance of self-care, especially where it intersects with health systems and health professionals. more