Human resources and access to maternal health care.
The lack of human resources is one of the main bottlenecks to achieving the Millennium Development Goals on maternal and child health. A coherent national policy, recognized across government, needs to be in place to overcome this especially in countries severely affected by HIV/AIDS. Such a policy should cover selection of pre-service students, the qualifications of trainers and training sites, supportive supervision, career path development, a package of carefully thought-out incentives for the retention of staff, strategies for interaction with communities, and an agreed-upon health staff HIV/AIDS policy. Without such coherent human resource planning, a large number of countries will fail to reduce maternal and newborn mortality.
ten Hoope-Bender
P
P
Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Secretariat: c/o World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. tenhoopebenderp@who.int
Liljestrand
J
J
MacDonagh
S
S
D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006280:Health Workforce / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D008429:Maternal Welfare; D008880:Midwifery; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration