Transitioning health workers from PEPFAR contracts to the Uganda government payroll

Although increasing public spending on health worker (HW) recruitments could reduce workforce shortages in sub-Saharan Africa, effective strategies for achieving this are still unclear. We aimed to understand the process of transitioning HWs from President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) t...

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Main Author: Everd, Bikaitwoha Maniple
Format: Article
Published: Health Policy and Planning 2021
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/533
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author Everd, Bikaitwoha Maniple
author_facet Everd, Bikaitwoha Maniple
author_sort Everd, Bikaitwoha Maniple
collection KAB-DR
description Although increasing public spending on health worker (HW) recruitments could reduce workforce shortages in sub-Saharan Africa, effective strategies for achieving this are still unclear. We aimed to understand the process of transitioning HWs from President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to Government of Uganda (GoU) payrolls and to explore the facilitators and barriers encountered in increasing domestic financial responsibility for absorbing this expanded workforce. We conducted a multiple case study of 10 (out of 87) districts in Uganda which received PEPFAR support between 2013 and 2015 to expand their health workforce. We purposively selected eight districts with the highest absorption rates (‘high absorbers’) and two with the lowest absorption rates (‘low absorbers’). A total of 66 interviews were conducted with high-level officials in three Ministries of Finance, Health and Public Service (n=14), representatives of PEPFAR-implementing organizations (n=16), district health teams (n=15) and facility managers (n=22). Twelve focus groups were conducted with 87 HWs absorbed on GoU payrolls. We utilized the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to guide thematic analysis. At the sub-national level, facilitators of transition in ‘high absorber’ districts were identified as the presence of transition ‘champions’, prioritizing HWs in district wage bill commitments, host facilities providing ‘bridge financing’ to transition workforce during salary delays and receiving donor technical support in district wage bill analysis—attributes that were absent in ‘low absorber’ districts. At the national level, multi-sectoral engagements (incorporating the influential Ministry of Finance), developing a joint transition road map, aligning with GoU salary scales and recruitment processes emerged as facilitators of the transition process. Our case studies offer implementation research lessons on effective donor transition and insights into pragmatic strategies for increasing public spending on expanding the health workforce in a low-income setting.
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spelling oai:idr.kab.ac.ug:20.500.12493-5332024-01-17T04:44:46Z Transitioning health workers from PEPFAR contracts to the Uganda government payroll Everd, Bikaitwoha Maniple Human Resources for Health, health systems, decentralization, HIV, donor transition, implementation research, overseas development assistance Although increasing public spending on health worker (HW) recruitments could reduce workforce shortages in sub-Saharan Africa, effective strategies for achieving this are still unclear. We aimed to understand the process of transitioning HWs from President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to Government of Uganda (GoU) payrolls and to explore the facilitators and barriers encountered in increasing domestic financial responsibility for absorbing this expanded workforce. We conducted a multiple case study of 10 (out of 87) districts in Uganda which received PEPFAR support between 2013 and 2015 to expand their health workforce. We purposively selected eight districts with the highest absorption rates (‘high absorbers’) and two with the lowest absorption rates (‘low absorbers’). A total of 66 interviews were conducted with high-level officials in three Ministries of Finance, Health and Public Service (n=14), representatives of PEPFAR-implementing organizations (n=16), district health teams (n=15) and facility managers (n=22). Twelve focus groups were conducted with 87 HWs absorbed on GoU payrolls. We utilized the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to guide thematic analysis. At the sub-national level, facilitators of transition in ‘high absorber’ districts were identified as the presence of transition ‘champions’, prioritizing HWs in district wage bill commitments, host facilities providing ‘bridge financing’ to transition workforce during salary delays and receiving donor technical support in district wage bill analysis—attributes that were absent in ‘low absorber’ districts. At the national level, multi-sectoral engagements (incorporating the influential Ministry of Finance), developing a joint transition road map, aligning with GoU salary scales and recruitment processes emerged as facilitators of the transition process. Our case studies offer implementation research lessons on effective donor transition and insights into pragmatic strategies for increasing public spending on expanding the health workforce in a low-income setting. Kabale University 2021-10-08T17:17:45Z 2021-10-08T17:17:45Z 2021 Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/533 application/pdf Health Policy and Planning
spellingShingle Human Resources for Health, health systems, decentralization, HIV, donor transition, implementation research, overseas development assistance
Everd, Bikaitwoha Maniple
Transitioning health workers from PEPFAR contracts to the Uganda government payroll
title Transitioning health workers from PEPFAR contracts to the Uganda government payroll
title_full Transitioning health workers from PEPFAR contracts to the Uganda government payroll
title_fullStr Transitioning health workers from PEPFAR contracts to the Uganda government payroll
title_full_unstemmed Transitioning health workers from PEPFAR contracts to the Uganda government payroll
title_short Transitioning health workers from PEPFAR contracts to the Uganda government payroll
title_sort transitioning health workers from pepfar contracts to the uganda government payroll
topic Human Resources for Health, health systems, decentralization, HIV, donor transition, implementation research, overseas development assistance
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12493/533
work_keys_str_mv AT everdbikaitwohamaniple transitioninghealthworkersfrompepfarcontractstotheugandagovernmentpayroll