Table 1 International calls to action for strengthening the HRH information and evidence base in countries, 2006-2011

1. Outcome Statement of the Second Global Forum on Human Resources for Health (2011)

“There is a need for strong national capacity in all countries to regularly collect, collate, analyze and share data to inform policymaking, planning, and management… Attention should be paid to aspects such as geographic distribution, retention, gender balance, minimum standards, competency frameworks, and reflect the diverse composition of the health workforce.”

2. World Health Assembly (WHA) Resolution 63.16: Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (2010)

Member States should:

· establish or strengthen and maintain, as appropriate, health personnel information systems, including health personnel migration, and its impact on health systems.

· collect, analyse and translate data into effective health workforce policies and planning.

3. Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action on HRH. Adopted at the First Global Forum on Human Resources for Health (2008)

Calls upon countries:

· to create health workforce information systems, to improve research and to develop capacity for data management in order to institutionalize evidence-based decision making and enhance shared learning.

· to develop standardized indicators and strengthen statistical capacity… [and to] monitor health workforce flows in and out of countries, making such data transparently available and using this information to inform policy and management decisions.

“Improved information, data and research… will be the basis for accountability between partners, stakeholders, countries and regions.”

4. WHA Resolution 60.27: Strengthening Health Information Systems (2007)

Urges Member States:

· to mobilize the necessary scientific, technical, social, political, human and financial resources in order [to] establish and operationalize health information systems as a core strategy for strengthening their national health systems.

· to determine programme-based information systems as subsets of national health information systems [and] to organize the harmonization of the various programme(s).

5. African Union: High Level Inter-ministerial Technical Consultation on Strengthening Political Support for Health Worker Development in Africa (2007)

“The quality of information on the health workforce available at national and regional levels should be improved. This requires investment at the national level in both research to identify health workforce needs and motivation and improving data collection for monitoring health worker numbers, distribution and mobility…”

6. Pan American Health Organization Resolution CE140.R13: Regional Plan of Action for Human Resources for Health (2007)

Urges Member States:

· to consider developing a national plan of action for human resources for health, with specific goals and objectives, an appropriate set of indicators and a tracking system.

7. European Commission: European Programme for Action to Tackle the Critical Shortage of Health Workers in Developing Countries (2006)

“The EU will support the mapping [and] analysis… on human resources necessary for effective advocacy and action… The EU will support [mechanisms to] collect, collate and analyse data, and disseminate information and advocate policy based on national HR information.”

8. WHA Resolution 59.27: Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery (2006)

Urges Member States:

· to provide support for the collection and use of nursing and midwifery core data as part of national health-information systems.