"Bringing health workers into public service on the African continent"
We are a social profit organisation with a dedicated team of people working with a network of
government bodies, private sector institutions and civil society organisations.
About AHP
What we do
EXPERTISE AND SERVICES
With 25% of the global burden of disease, sub-Saharan Africa languishes with only 3% of the world’s healthcare workers. Africa Health Placements (AHP) is a human resources solutions and services organisation that has been changing the face of public health in southern Africa, creating new outcomes for healthcare facilities that might otherwise be defunct by now. We define ourselves as “social profit” because our work, while mostly donor-funded, delivers profit in terms of improved healthcare and social indicators.
Health Workforce Planning: Developing health workforce plans, tools and systems to ensure accurate HRH information is available so that healthcare workers are placed where they are needed the most.
Workforce planning includes drafting national and district-level health workforce plans and developing national and district-level health workforce planning systems and tools. Facility profiling and HR needs assessments are performed and HR prioritisation plans are developed.
Recruitment: Recruiting management, clinical professionals and support staff for rural and urban government and NGO facilities, facilitating the registration of foreign-qualified doctors and nurses, and orientating foreign-qualified doctors.
AHP, as an independent organisation, is ideally placed to assist public sector staffing because we are not bound by the political and promotional protocols of government, and because we can specialise in providing the most professional recruitment services necessary to make the biggest impact possible. Since 2005, AHP has assisted with the placement of more than 2 600 local and foreign-qualified healthcare professionals in southern Africa.
Orientation includes clinical, cultural and logistical support. District and facility-based induction programmes are also developed.
Workforce Support: Ongoing support for health workers, with a focus on rural areas.
AHP’s Health Workforce Support Programme is aligned with government policies, and activities include capacity building and transferring skills to district management teams with a focus on human resource management elements. This includes developing and implementing retention interventions through building HR management capacity that targets improved employee engagement.
Support is offered to doctors, dentists, pharmacists, clinical associates and community service officers. Factors that affect retention are addressed, including frustrations around logistics, professional relationships and isolation.
HRH Systems Consulting: Extensive monitoring and evaluation, as well as research on aspects of HRH.
This allows AHP to advise on policies to address HRH needs and draft and implement plans to execute policies around HRH. AHP also assesses and improves recruitment and registration systems. Furthermore, skills are transferred in health workforce planning, recruitment and workforce support.
Have a look at our 2013 profile for more information on AHP:
- Africa Health Placements Org Profile 2013 (pdf)
