XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

JS-59

Creating a Sustainable and People-Centred Health Workforce: Connecting Global and Local Perspectives

RC15 Sociology of Health (host committee)
RC52 Sociology of Professional Groups

Language: English

The importance of a sustainable and people-centred health workforce is now well recognised. International organisations and many countries have taken action to improve health workforce governance. However, it remains unclear how health workforce policies can be translated into practice, which policy levers exist to enhance effective policy implementation, and what role professional associations play. There is also very little knowledge about the importance of health systems and governance for creating a people-centred health workforce and the possibilities for translating health workforce models from one country to another. The proposed workshop aims to connect health workforce research from different countries and regions, to contribute new knowledge on how to respond to major health workforce challenges, and to foster comparative research and policy learning. Major themes include: a review of the composition and changing skill mixes of the health workforce, the development of integrated education models, improved coordination of data sources, and the governance of mobile health workers to improve equity between and within countries and reduce ‘brain drain’ effects. We invite contributions that address these topics from different perspectives. We are especially interested in comparative research, but also welcome in-depth single country or regional research.