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How Were Return-of-Service Schemes Developed and Implemented in Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho?

Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho are three Southern African countries that make use of return-of-service (RoS) schemes to increase human resources for health in their countries. These initiatives bind beneficiaries to a pre-defined period of service upon the completion of their studies based on the le...

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Autores principales: Mabunda, Sikhumbuzo A., Durbach, Andrea, Chitha, Wezile W., Moaletsane, Oduetse, Angell, Blake, Joshi, Rohina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10218024/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37239798
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11101512
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author Mabunda, Sikhumbuzo A.
Durbach, Andrea
Chitha, Wezile W.
Moaletsane, Oduetse
Angell, Blake
Joshi, Rohina
author_facet Mabunda, Sikhumbuzo A.
Durbach, Andrea
Chitha, Wezile W.
Moaletsane, Oduetse
Angell, Blake
Joshi, Rohina
author_sort Mabunda, Sikhumbuzo A.
collection PubMed
description Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho are three Southern African countries that make use of return-of-service (RoS) schemes to increase human resources for health in their countries. These initiatives bind beneficiaries to a pre-defined period of service upon the completion of their studies based on the length of funding support received. We aimed to review the history of these policies to understand the conceptualisation, intent and implementation of these schemes. We used a multi-methods research design which consisted of a literature review, a policy review and semi-structured interviews with policymakers and implementors. All three governments have a combination of grant-loan schemes and full bursaries or scholarships. The policies have all been operating for over 20 years, with Eswatini’s pre-service policy being the oldest since it was introduced in 1977, followed by Lesotho’s 1978 policy and Botswana’s 1995 pre-service policy. These policies have never been reviewed or updated. RoS schemes in these countries were introduced to address critical skills shortages, to improve employability prospects for citizens, to have competent public sector employees by global standards and to aid the career progress of government employees. Ministries of Health are passive role players. However, these schemes can only be efficient if there is clear cooperation and coordination between all stakeholders.
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spelling pubmed-102180242023-05-27 How Were Return-of-Service Schemes Developed and Implemented in Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho? Mabunda, Sikhumbuzo A. Durbach, Andrea Chitha, Wezile W. Moaletsane, Oduetse Angell, Blake Joshi, Rohina Healthcare (Basel) Review Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho are three Southern African countries that make use of return-of-service (RoS) schemes to increase human resources for health in their countries. These initiatives bind beneficiaries to a pre-defined period of service upon the completion of their studies based on the length of funding support received. We aimed to review the history of these policies to understand the conceptualisation, intent and implementation of these schemes. We used a multi-methods research design which consisted of a literature review, a policy review and semi-structured interviews with policymakers and implementors. All three governments have a combination of grant-loan schemes and full bursaries or scholarships. The policies have all been operating for over 20 years, with Eswatini’s pre-service policy being the oldest since it was introduced in 1977, followed by Lesotho’s 1978 policy and Botswana’s 1995 pre-service policy. These policies have never been reviewed or updated. RoS schemes in these countries were introduced to address critical skills shortages, to improve employability prospects for citizens, to have competent public sector employees by global standards and to aid the career progress of government employees. Ministries of Health are passive role players. However, these schemes can only be efficient if there is clear cooperation and coordination between all stakeholders. MDPI 2023-05-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10218024/ /pubmed/37239798 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11101512 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Mabunda, Sikhumbuzo A.
Durbach, Andrea
Chitha, Wezile W.
Moaletsane, Oduetse
Angell, Blake
Joshi, Rohina
How Were Return-of-Service Schemes Developed and Implemented in Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho?
title How Were Return-of-Service Schemes Developed and Implemented in Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho?
title_full How Were Return-of-Service Schemes Developed and Implemented in Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho?
title_fullStr How Were Return-of-Service Schemes Developed and Implemented in Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho?
title_full_unstemmed How Were Return-of-Service Schemes Developed and Implemented in Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho?
title_short How Were Return-of-Service Schemes Developed and Implemented in Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho?
title_sort how were return-of-service schemes developed and implemented in botswana, eswatini and lesotho?
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10218024/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37239798
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11101512
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