On 14-15 March, RESYST held a workshop on the role of the private sector in health worker training, in Bangkok, Thailand.
The aim of the workshop was to discuss emerging research findings about the impact of private sector nursing schools on the production of nurses in Thailand, Kenya and India – all of which suffer from nursing shortages and a mal-distribution of workers within them.
The workshop formed part of a strategy to communicate with policymakers, and to jointly identify key conclusions and policy recommendations from the research. It was attended by health policymakers from Thailand, India and Kenya, including senior advisors to the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand, and representatives from the Council of Nurses in both Kenya and India.
Together policymakers and researchers identified common findings from the country experiences, and policies to ensure that private sector training institutions contribute positively to country health systems.
The discussion also focused on key human resources for health challenges, including:
- What strategies, linked to health worker training, can best improve retention of nurses in rural and underserved areas?
- What, if anything, should training institutions do to limit the migration of health workers?
- How can governments ensure adequate quality of nursing graduates, from both public and private training institutions?
Finally, the group discussed how researchers can work with policymakers to better understand the role of the private sector going forward, and identified policy priorities in the three countries. A more detailed report containing these conclusions and policy recommendations will be available soon.
More about the research here.
