Mburu Grace, George Gavin
School of Management, Information Technology & Governance, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med. 2017 Jul 31;9(1):e1-e8. doi: 10.4102/phcfm.v9i1.1355.
Shortages of Human Resources for Health (HRH) in rural areas are often driven by poor working and living conditions, inadequate salaries and benefits, lack of training and career development opportunities amongst others. The South African government has adopted a human resource strategy for the health sector in 2011 aimed at addressing these challenges.
This study reviews the challenges faced by health personnel against government strategies aimed at attracting and retaining health personnel in these underserved areas.
The study was conducted in six primary health care service sites in the Hlabisa sub-district of Umkhanyakude, located in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
The study population comprised 25 health workers including 11 professional nurses, 4 staff nurses and 10 doctors (4 medical doctors, 3 foreign medical doctors and 3 doctors undertaking community service). Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis.
Government initiatives including the rural allowance, deployment of foreign medical doctors and the presence of health personnel undertaking their community service in rural areas are positively viewed by health personnel working in rural health facilities. However, poor living and working conditions, together with inadequate personal development opportunities, remain unresolved challenges. It is these challenges that will continue to dissuade experienced health personnel from remaining in these underserved areas.
South Africa's HRH strategy for the Health Sector 2012/13-2015/16 had highlighted the key challenges raised by respondents and identified strategies aimed at addressing these challenges. Implementation of these strategies is key to improving both living and working conditions, and providing health personnel with opportunities for further development will require inter-ministerial collaboration if the HRH 2030 objectives are to be realised.
农村地区卫生人力资源短缺往往是由工作和生活条件差、薪资福利不足、缺乏培训和职业发展机会等因素导致的。南非政府于2011年通过了一项卫生部门人力资源战略，旨在应对这些挑战。
本研究回顾了卫生人员面临的挑战，以及政府为吸引和留住这些服务欠缺地区的卫生人员所采取的战略。
该研究在南非夸祖鲁 - 纳塔尔省北部乌姆卡尼亚库德的赫拉比萨分区的六个初级卫生保健服务点进行。
研究对象包括25名卫生工作者，其中有11名专业护士、4名注册护士和10名医生（4名医学博士、3名外国医生和3名正在进行社区服务的医生）。通过半结构化访谈收集定性数据，并采用主题分析法进行分析。
在农村卫生机构工作的卫生人员对政府的举措持积极看法，这些举措包括农村津贴、外国医生的部署以及卫生人员在农村地区进行社区服务。然而，生活和工作条件差以及个人发展机会不足仍是尚未解决的挑战。正是这些挑战将继续阻碍经验丰富的卫生人员留在这些服务欠缺地区。
南非2012/13 - 2015/16年卫生部门人力资源战略突出了受访者提出的关键挑战，并确定了应对这些挑战的战略。如果要实现2030年卫生人力资源目标，实施这些战略对于改善生活和工作条件至关重要，并且为卫生人员提供进一步发展的机会将需要跨部门合作。
