Salaries and incomes of health workers in sub-Saharan Africa

Task shifting in HIV/AIDS: opportunities, challenges and proposed actions for sub-Saharan Africa

“…A survey in Nigeria found that 45% of staff supplemented their income privately. 42 Poor working and living conditions of staff are also important issues, particularly in rural areas. In a report from Lusikisiki, South Africa, where a third of all nursing posts were vacant, only one-third of the 12 existing clinics had electricity, barely 8% had running water and half lacked nursing accommodation.…”

Analyzing the Determinants of Health Worker Performance

“…40 McCoy et al (2008) follow a similar approach to generate insights on earnings of health workers in the public sector across four African countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia). They conclude that pay structures and levels of income vary widely across and within countries; they also underline that accurate and complete data are scarce.…”

“…In low-income countries (LICs), health workers in the public sector receive income from various streams of revenue. Some of these revenue streams are official ones, paid by their primary employer (that is, the government); these include a base salary, although-as noted by McCoy et al (2008)-this component is usually relatively small. The base salary is always supplemented by various cash or in-kind benefits, such as rural allowances or a share of the user fees charged by the facility in which the health worker is employed.…”

“…Recent studies have highlighted the importance of providing an appropriate salary to attract health workers to underserved areas (Bärnighausen and Bloom 2009;McCoy et al 2008;Rockers et al 2012;Willis-Shattuck et al 2008). Salary, however, is only one of many factors that health workers consider when making choices about where to work Dambisya 2007;Kruk et al 2010;Rockers et al 2013).…”

Better Drug Therapy for the Children of Africa: Current Impediments to Success and Potential Strategies for Improvement

“…Strategies to acquire dedicated fiscal resources to increase training opportunities for health care workers and community health volunteers across all relevant disciplines must be identified and implemented. Attention should also be paid to ensuring the appropriate mix and distribution of personnel alongside improved implementation of retention initiatives to minimize brain drain [24][25][26][27][28][29]. A parallel opportunity exists for thorough exploration of task-shifting innovations that have much to offer in Africa.…”