WHO is calling for papers to the to the HRH Journal supplements issue, that will seek to expand the evidence base on implementation experiences of the Workload Indicators for Staffing Need (WISN) studies carried out in varying settings and the use of the WISN results to aid health workforce planning.
One of the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals aims to substantially increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries, especially in least developed countries and small island developing States. The WHO vision talks of healthier populations where everyone lives healthy, productive lives, regardless of who they are or where they live. Health workforce is a crucial component of health services and health systems necessary to achieve Primary Health Care (PHC) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health : 2030 aims to reduce the inequities in health workforce distribution and improve employment. WHO strives to build country capacity to plan for the health workforce, which is essential to deliver the required health services. The health crisis situations due to natural disasters, Ebola and the ongoing COVID-19 all call for the importance of evidence-based health workforce planning.
Many countries continue to plan health workforce based on population ratios and outdated staffing norms. Health policy planners need to be equipped to make decisions on the recruitment and deployment of health workers at the primary, secondary and tertiary level health facilities, considering the evolving health delivery models and population demands. Effective and efficient planning can only be achieved with supportive data and evidence. The WHO Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN) tool serves this very purpose to equip health managers with the data and evidence needed to plan and deploy the required health workforce with required skill mix in the required facilities following the principle of assessing the workloads of the health workers respective to population demands.
The papers will contribute to the ongoing efforts coordinated by the World Health Organization and its partners to build in-country WISN capacity and advocate for the need for evidence-based health workforce planning.
Full manuscripts should be submitted by 1 December 2020. For details refer to documents attached