| dc.contributor |
Médecins Sans Frontières, Medical Department, Brussels Operational Center, Rue de Gasperich, Luxembourg. zachariah@internet.lu |
|
| dc.creator |
Zachariah, R |
|
| dc.creator |
Ford, N |
|
| dc.creator |
Philips, M |
|
| dc.creator |
Lynch, S |
|
| dc.creator |
Massaquoi, M |
|
| dc.creator |
Janssens, V |
|
| dc.creator |
Harries, A D |
|
| dc.date |
2009-06 |
|
| dc.date.accessioned |
2017-01-31T07:14:26Z |
|
| dc.date.available |
2017-01-31T07:14:26Z |
|
| dc.identifier |
Task shifting in HIV/AIDS: opportunities, challenges and proposed actions for sub-Saharan Africa. 2009, 103 (6):549-58 Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. |
|
| dc.identifier |
0035-9203 |
|
| dc.identifier |
18992905 |
|
| dc.identifier |
10.1016/j.trstmh.2008.09.019 |
|
| dc.identifier |
http://hdl.handle.net/10144/71875 |
|
| dc.identifier |
http://fieldresearch.msf.org/msf/handle/10144/71875 |
|
| dc.identifier |
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |
|
| dc.identifier.uri |
http://dspace.mediu.edu.my:8181/xmlui/handle/10144/71875 |
|
| dc.description |
Sub-Saharan Africa is facing a crisis in human health resources due to a critical shortage of health workers. The shortage is compounded by a high burden of infectious diseases; emigration of trained professionals; difficult working conditions and low motivation. In particular, the burden of HIV/AIDS has led to the concept of task shifting being increasingly promoted as a way of rapidly expanding human resource capacity. This refers to the delegation of medical and health service responsibilities from higher to lower cadres of health staff, in some cases non-professionals. This paper, drawing on Médecins Sans Frontières' experience of scaling-up antiretroviral treatment in three sub-Saharan African countries (Malawi, South Africa and Lesotho) and supplemented by a review of the literature, highlights the main opportunities and challenges posed by task shifting and proposes specific actions to tackle the challenges. The opportunities include: increasing access to life-saving treatment; improving the workforce skills mix and health-system efficiency; enhancing the role of the community; cost advantages and reducing attrition and international 'brain drain'. The challenges include: maintaining quality and safety; addressing professional and institutional resistance; sustaining motivation and performance and preventing deaths of health workers from HIV/AIDS. Task shifting should not undermine the primary objective of improving patient benefits and public health outcomes. |
|
| dc.language |
en |
|
| dc.publisher |
Published by Elsevier |
|
| dc.relation |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00359203 |
|
| dc.rights |
Published by Elsevier
Archived on this site with the kind permission of Elsevier Ltd. ([url]http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00359203[/url]) and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene ([url]http://www.rstmh.org/transactions.asp[/url]) |
|
| dc.title |
Task shifting in HIV/AIDS: opportunities, challenges and proposed actions for sub-Saharan Africa. |
|