Investigating the Factors that Influence Health Worker Performance: Lessons for The Gambia

Several factors influence the performance of health workers and this can result in problems in service provision. Health workforce performance is critical because it can impact on the delivery of health services and eventually on the health of populations. This research investigated the factors that influence health worker performance in Sub- Saharan Africa and in addition, examined the effects of financial and non-financial incentives in improving health worker performance. A desk review was conducted and it included two stages, first a general literature review was undertaken and then literature was reviewed more systematically to evaluate if supportive supervision interventions can be effective in improving health worker performance in LMICs. The results from the study indicated that financial incentives can be challenging and alone will not lead to improved performance and can even have conflicting effects. Nonfinancial incentives were shown to be equally as important in motivating, retaining and improving the performance of health workers in LMICs. The conclusions of this study demonstrated that supportive supervision interventions is effective in improving health worker performance in LMICs, however it requires commitment from higher authorities and substantial time and money to establish but it is achievable.msc_inhunpub1455_ethesesunpu