Transcript Tanzanian HRH progress and commitments

Regional Conference of Sector Network Health & Social Protection
Africa, MENA and LAC
Tanzanian HRH progress and
commitments towards UHC
Dr. Baltazar Ngoli | Tanzania
6-9. May 2014 | La Palm Hotel, Accra/Ghana
Tanzania National HRH Commitments - promote
health workforce development towards UHC
 Increase the availability of skilled health workers: at all levels of health
services delivery from 46% to 64% by 2017 based on staffing level
2013.
 Increase financial base (other charges and Private Sector Investment)
to operationalise the pay and incentive policy by 2017 in order to
promote retention, productivity and quality of health care.
 Develop and implement a Task Sharing Policy on HRH by 2017.
Regional Conference of Sector Network Health & Social Protection | Africa, MENA and LAC
Focus of the Commitments:
 Increase the availability of skilled health workers:
→ Developed a Projection Plan to estimate needed HW – given new challenges
→ Making the case for new additional employment permits
→ Increase the density ration of HW to population ration of districts with below national average
of 1.47 HW per 1000 population
→ Kigoma, Tabora, Rukwa, Shinyanga and Singida
 Operationalise the Pay and Incentive policy:
→ Rural areas are not attractive for most HW
→ Councils proactively engage in different incentives to attract
→ Pay and Incentive Policy provide the financial flexibility and sources to cover these activities
 Develop and implement a Task Sharing Policy on HRH
→ Reality - rural health facilities are managed by Medical Attendants
→ Mostly untrained in the task they have to perform in reality
→ Task Sharing Policy enhances training options and quality assurance
Regional Conference of Sector Network Health & Social Protection | Africa, MENA and LAC
Strategic Response: HRH Strategic Plan 2008 - 2013
 Focusing at seven strategic areas:
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Planning and Policy Development
Strengthening Leadership and Stewardship
Education, Training and Development
Workforce Management and Utilisation
Partnership in Human Resources
Human Resources Research and Development
Human Resources Financing
 Outlining roles of different actors – national to local levels
 Coordinated by a SWAP HRH TWG
→ Monthly coordination meetings
→ Chaired by MoHSW
 Currently developing a new HRH Strategic Plan 2014 - 2019
Regional Conference of Sector Network Health & Social Protection | Africa, MENA and LAC
Recommendations for Key Actors
 Support strengthening Local Government capacity on proactive
initiatives (recruitment, local students enrolment, sponsoring students)
→ Operationalising Pay and Incentives Policy
 Building Capacity of the LGAs towards promoting partnership for
Private Sector Investment especially in retaining health workers in rural
areas
 Support strategic implementation of the HRH Strategic plan (2014 –
2019) by strengthening national capacity on coordination
Regional Conference of Sector Network Health & Social Protection | Africa, MENA and LAC
Best practices – national health workforce strategies
Bottom up:
 Proactive rural staff recruitment and retention
 Proactive rural/local students enrolment into training institutions
 Sponsoring and bonding of health students
Top down:
 Strategic Response (HRH Strategic Plan): coordinates partners’ efforts
and divide priority areas to support
Regional Conference of Sector Network Health & Social Protection | Africa, MENA and LAC
Lessons learnt – national health workforce strategies
 Policy: recognise and address challenges in time
→ Task sharing – developing a solution to cope with (e.g. Medical
Attendants reality) took too long
 Policy and financial: mainstream and give guidance to LGAs local efforts
(incentives) of mitigating the staff gap
 Allow flexibility and innovation in implementing the HRH Strategic Plan
→ LGAs should feel guided but not limited by the plan
Regional Conference of Sector Network Health & Social Protection | Africa, MENA and LAC
Conclusion
 Tanzania has still persisting shortage of health care workers – current
staff gap: 58%
 Observe positive trend to ensure availability and quality health
workforce:
→ Increased annual staff recruitment from 6,437 (2008) to 8,602 (2012)
→ Increased number of available Health Care Workers from 47,000 in 2006/7
to 64,449 in 2012/13
 Coordinated efforts to address priority areas with SWAP context
 Providing flexibility and room for bottom up innovation (proactive
initiatives)
Regional Conference of Sector Network Health & Social Protection | Africa, MENA and LAC
Regional Conference of Sector Network Health & Social Protection
Africa, MENA and LAC
THANK YOU!
[email protected]
6-9. May 2014 | La Palm Hotel, Accra/Ghana