This month, PHR is examining the health workers shortage in Africa ahead of the introduction of the Global HEALTH Act, which would provide $2 billion over five years to strengthen the health workforce in developing countries.
Today, we want to highlight an organization that is working right now to fill health worker vacancies in rural areas in Southern Africa. If you are a doctor or nurse, Africa Health Placements (AHP) needs your skills to support rural health in South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland—contact them today for more information.
Africa Health Placements originated in South Africa and now works in several other countries in the region to increase the public sector health workforce through recruitment from the private sector and through recruiting foreign health workers who are looking for the excellent work experience and unrivalled lifestyle that is offered through such an opportunity. AHP’s support is aimed specifically at those provinces and areas where there are major shortages of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals.
AHP’s focus is on patients and equity in healthcare for rural and disadvantaged communities—communities that are suffering high burdens of AIDS and other diseases, including malaria and TB.
These efforts are having far-reaching results. In 2009, their foreign recruitment efforts placed approximately seven times more doctors in rural South Africa than the long-term rural placements of all 8 South African medical schools combined. Learn more about their work by watching the film Bush Doctors.
AHP delivers support to health workers by offering a way of smoothing the application and registration process, matching interested health workers with available opportunities, and by providing clinical, cultural and logistical orientation and ongoing support throughout a recruit’s placement. AHP also supports the strengthening of human resources in health in the region through consulting, advocacy and knowledge-sharing with relevant partners and government bodies.
AHP recruits into rural areas, where health workers are asked to commit to at least 12 months of services. Many renew their term of service—for one year, two years, even longer. Since its founding in 2005, AHP has placed more than 1,500 health professionals in Southern Africa, half of whom are from abroad.
Check out AHP’s website, and consider working with them to deliver health care to the rural poor in Africa. If you have friends or colleagues who might be interested in this critically important opportunity, please spread the word!
Posted in: AHP, Africa Health Placements, GHA, Global HEALTH Act, Health, Health Rights Advocate, Lesotho, Swaziland, africa, phrstudents, south africa
Discussion: Comment Here »
Robert S. Lawrence, MD, a founding member of PHR and the Chair of PHR’s Board of Directors, has been awarded the Sedgwick Memorial Medal at the 137th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA). The medal, considered the APHA’s most prestigious award, was presented at a ceremony in Philadelphia on November 10, 2009. The Medal recognizes Dr. Lawrence as
an individual who has demonstrated a distinguished record of service to public health while tirelessly working to advance public health knowledge and practice.
Upon learning of the award, PHR’s CEO, Frank Donaghue, said:
Physicians for Human Rights warmly congratulates and applauds our Board Chair, Robert Lawrence, MD, the recipient of one of the highest honors bestowed by the APHA. The 2009 Sedgwick Memorial Medal — a true accolade of the profession — signals colleagues’ recognition of Dr. Lawrence’s exemplary accomplishments in the field of public health. His leadership has helped PHR bring a human rights perspective to vital issues such as fighting global AIDS, strengthening the health workforce, addressing inequities faced by women and children, and promoting accountability and governance in health systems.
The Sedgwick Medal honors Dr. Lawrence’s long and remarkable career in public service. As Professor and Director of the Center for a Livable Future at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. Lawrence has worked to eliminate racial and income-based disparities in health-care access across the United States. Educated at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Lawrence has taught at top US universities, served as a director of health sciences at the Rockefeller Foundation and has been a principal force for establishment of human rights programs in schools of public health. He is a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine and is a past recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Prize.
Dr. Lawrence co-founded PHR, and has participated in human rights investigations with PHR and other organizations in countries including Chile, the former Czechoslovakia, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Kosovo, the Philippines, and South Korea and South Africa.
Posted in: APHA, American Public Health Association, Events, General Human Rights, Health Rights Advocate, Women, aids, albert schweitzer humanitarian prize, bloomberg school of public health, center for a livable future, czechoslovakia, egypt, el salvador, frank donaghue, guatemala, harvard college, harvard medical school, institute of medicine, johns hopkins university, kosovo, philippines, robert lawrence, sedgwick memorial medal, south africa, south korea
Discussion: Comment Here »
