title: Interventions for hiring, retaining and training district health systems managers in low- and middle-income countries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  District managers are playing an increasingly important role in determining the performance of health systems in low- and middle-income countries as a result of decentralization.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effectiveness of interventions to hire, retain and train district health systems managers in low- and middle-income countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched a wide range of international databases, including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE and EMBASE. We also searched online resources of international agencies, including the World Bank, to find relevant grey literature. Searches were conducted in December 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  District health systems managers are those persons who are responsible for overseeing the operations of the health system within a defined, subnational geographical area that is designated as a district. Hiring and retention interventions include those that aim to increase the attractiveness of district management positions, as well as those related to hiring and retention processes, such as private contracting. Training interventions include education programs to develop future managers and on-the-job training programs for current managers. To be included, studies needed to use one of the following study designs: randomized controlled trial, nonrandomized controlled trial, controlled before-and-after study, and interrupted time series analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report measures of effect in the same way that the primary study authors have reported them. Due to the varied nature of interventions included in this review we could not pool data across studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two studies met our inclusion criteria. The findings of one study conducted in Cambodia provide low quality evidence that private contracts with international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for district health systems management ('contracting-in') may improve health care access and utilization. Contracting-in increased use of antenatal care by 28% and use of public facilities by 14%. However, contracting-in was not found to have an effect on population health outcomes. The findings of the other study provide low quality evidence that intermittent training courses over 18 months may improve district health system managers' performance. In three countries in Latin America, managers who did not receive the intermittent training courses had between 2.4 and 8.3 times more management deficiencies than managers who received the training courses. No studies that aimed to investigate interventions for retaining district health systems managers met our study selection criteria for inclusion in this review.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is low quality evidence that contracting-in may improve health care accessibility and utilization and that intermittent training courses may improve district health systems managers' performance. More evidence is required before firm conclusions can be drawn regarding the effectiveness of these interventions in diverse settings. Other interventions that might be promising candidates for hiring and retaining (e.g., government regulations, professional support programs) as well as training district health systems managers (e.g., in-service workshops with on-site support) have not been adequately investigated.
authors: Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. prockers@hsph.harvard.edu.
authors: Peter C
authors: PC
authors: Rockers
authors: Till
authors: T
authors: Bärnighausen
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel; D002160:Cambodia; D003105:Colombia; D003284:Contract Services / Q000592:standards; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards; D003906:Developing Countries; D004544:El Salvador; D006307:Health Systems Agencies / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D008800:Mexico; D010560:Personnel Selection; D013192:Staff Development
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