Zambia
Government Response
Responsible unit/Department: (to be entered)
Achievements up-to-date:
The ongoing restructuring of the Ministry of Health; obtaining exemption of the social sectors from the Public Sector employment freeze; the successful allocation of K32 billion for 2005, K14 billion for 2006 and K22 billion for 2007 for the health sector, over and above the Personal Emoluments budget, to be used for the recruitment and retention of key staff and the introduction of a house loan scheme for Public Health workers;
District initiatives towards the provision of transport, group performance incentive schemes, top-up salaries for staff working in remote areas, renovation of houses, electrification using solar systems in remote areas, and many more…… these initiatives have already been implemented in districts such as Katete and Sinazongwe;
Planned Initiatives:
The Human Resources for Health strategic Plan (HRHSP) for the period 2006 to 2010, which was produced by the Human Resources Directorate sets our the strategy in Zambia for resolving the critical shortages of key human resources within the public health sector. The key strategies contained in the HRHSP focus on the attainment of the following goals:
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Increasing the numbers of trained staff and ensuring their equitable distribution
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Increasing the productivity and performance of health workers
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Ensuring an effective, ongoing and coordinated approach to human resources planning across the sector, through coordinated human resources planning based on the available data, and the development of Monitoring and Evaluation systems to track the progress of implementation of the HRHSP
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Strengthening the planning, management and development systems throughout all levels of Human Resources Management
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Attraction and recruitment of health workers back into the Zambian public health system
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Promoting the retention of health workers through various incentive schemes
- Strengthening of regulatory role of certification and registration of health professionals in order to effectively monitor and control the medical ‘brain drain’.
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