title: Evaluated strategies to increase attraction and retention of health workers in remote and rural areas.
abstract: The lack of health workers in remote and rural areas is a worldwide concern. Many countries have proposed and implemented interventions to address this issue, but very little is known about the effectiveness of such interventions and their sustainability in the long run. This paper provides an analysis of the effectiveness of interventions to attract and retain health workers in remote and rural areas from an impact evaluation perspective. It reports on a literature review of studies that have conducted evaluations of such interventions. It presents a synthesis of the indicators and methods used to measure the effects of rural retention interventions against several policy dimensions such as: attractiveness of rural or remote areas, deployment/recruitment, retention, and health workforce and health systems performance. It also discusses the quality of the current evidence on evaluation studies and emphasizes the need for more thorough evaluations to support policy-makers in developing, implementing and evaluating effective interventions to increase availability of health workers in underserved areas and ultimately contribute to reaching the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Resources for Health, World Health Organization, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. doleac@who.int
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dolea
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stormont
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Braichet
mesh_terms: D006280:Health Workforce / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010563:Personnel Turnover; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*
references.citation: J Rural Health. 2003;19 Suppl:329-39
references.pmid: 14526516
references.citation: J Okla State Med Assoc. 2004 May;97(5):190-4
references.pmid: 15212104
references.citation: Int J Circumpolar Health. 2003 Dec;62(4):423-35
references.pmid: 14964768
references.citation: BMC Health Serv Res. 2008 Jan 23;8:19
references.pmid: 18215313
references.citation: Hum Resour Health. 2003 Nov 5;1(1):10
references.pmid: 14613527
references.citation: Aust J Rural Health. 2006 Oct;14(5):196-201
references.pmid: 17032295
references.citation: Can J Rural Med. 2008 Winter;13(1):15-21
references.pmid: 18208648
references.citation: BMC Health Serv Res. 2009 May 29;9:86
references.pmid: 19480656
references.citation: JAMA. 2001 Sep 5;286(9):1041-8
references.pmid: 11559288
references.citation: Acad Med. 2005 Aug;80(8):739-44
references.pmid: 16043528
references.citation: Collegian. 2002 Jan;9(1):12-8
references.pmid: 11893112
references.citation: Rural Remote Health. 2006 Apr-Jun;6(2):481
references.pmid: 16594864
references.citation: Rural Remote Health. 2008 Jul-Sep;8(3):930
references.pmid: 18643712
references.citation: Lancet. 2008 Nov 1;372(9649):1527-9
references.pmid: 18984174
references.citation: Health Policy Plan. 2009 Mar;24(2):151-8
references.pmid: 19112071
references.citation: Aust J Rural Health. 2008 Jun;16(3):150-5
references.pmid: 18471185
references.citation: Hum Resour Health. 2004 Sep 17;2(1):13
references.pmid: 15377382
references.citation: S Afr Med J. 2001 Apr;91(4):329-36
references.pmid: 11402906
references.citation: Hum Resour Health. 2008 Sep 15;6:18
references.pmid: 18793436
references.citation: BMJ. 2008 Apr 26;336(7650):924-6
references.pmid: 18436948
references.citation: Soc Sci Med. 1998 Dec;47(12):1937-46
references.pmid: 10075237
references.citation: JAMA. 1999 Jan 20;281(3):255-60
references.pmid: 9918481
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2009 Jan 21;(1):CD005314
references.pmid: 19160251
references.citation: N Z Med J. 2004 Apr 02;117(1191):U815
references.pmid: 15107884
references.citation: Bull World Health Organ. 2010 May;88(5):357-63
references.pmid: 20461135
references.citation: Lancet. 2004 Sep 4-10;364(9437):900-6
references.pmid: 15351199
references.citation: Acad Med. 2005 Aug;80(8):728-32
references.pmid: 16043525
references.citation: Med Educ. 2002 Mar;36(3):241-7
references.pmid: 11879514
references.citation: J Am Board Fam Pract. 1997 Jul-Aug;10(4):272-9
references.pmid: 9228622
references.citation: Acad Med. 2005 Aug;80(8):733-8
references.pmid: 16043527
references.citation: Rural Remote Health. 2007 Apr-Jun;7(2):700
references.pmid: 17430081
references.citation: Hum Resour Health. 2006 May 27;4:12
references.pmid: 16729892
references.citation: J Rural Health. 2008 Fall;24(4):345-52
references.pmid: 19007388
references.citation: Aust J Rural Health. 2001 Feb;9(1):29-33
references.pmid: 11703264
references.citation: Hum Resour Health. 2005 Jul 22;3:4
references.pmid: 16042778
references.citation: Rural Remote Health. 2009 Apr-Jun;9(2):1060
references.pmid: 19530891
references.citation: Acad Med. 2007 Dec;82(12):1152-7
references.pmid: 18046118