The motivation, impact and challenges of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste

The health sector in Timor-Leste is overseen by the Ministry of Health (MoH). It is composed of both the government run health system and a plethora of non government players. These range from large NGOs to smaller organisations and individuals, many of whom opportunistically become involved in the...

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Main Author: Comfort, Jude
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Sense Publishers 2008
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26509
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author Comfort, Jude
author_facet Comfort, Jude
author_sort Comfort, Jude
building Curtin Institutional Repository
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description The health sector in Timor-Leste is overseen by the Ministry of Health (MoH). It is composed of both the government run health system and a plethora of non government players. These range from large NGOs to smaller organisations and individuals, many of whom opportunistically become involved in the reconstruction process. There has been a groundswell of support from overseas countries keen to assist in the rebuilding of the formerly neglected Timor-Leste. Foreign health workers are involved in many levels of health service delivery, policy development and strategic planning. A large foreign workforce remains in Dili at the Dili Hospital, MoH and NGO head offices. Foreign health workers are also found in rural districts, working in a range of settings. This mix of government and NGO health service delivery is complex and not all activities are well documented (key informant Mol•!).This chapter will initially provide a background of the role of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste, then explore their motivations and challenges, and finally briefly discuss the impact of their work. Much of this chapter has been drawn from a qualitative research project completed in Timor-Leste in 2005. This was an exploratory case study using qualitative metltodology that included in-depth inter­ views with foreign health workers, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. The chapter contains illustrative quotes from these interviews.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-265092017-01-30T12:53:48Z The motivation, impact and challenges of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste Comfort, Jude The health sector in Timor-Leste is overseen by the Ministry of Health (MoH). It is composed of both the government run health system and a plethora of non government players. These range from large NGOs to smaller organisations and individuals, many of whom opportunistically become involved in the reconstruction process. There has been a groundswell of support from overseas countries keen to assist in the rebuilding of the formerly neglected Timor-Leste. Foreign health workers are involved in many levels of health service delivery, policy development and strategic planning. A large foreign workforce remains in Dili at the Dili Hospital, MoH and NGO head offices. Foreign health workers are also found in rural districts, working in a range of settings. This mix of government and NGO health service delivery is complex and not all activities are well documented (key informant Mol•!).This chapter will initially provide a background of the role of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste, then explore their motivations and challenges, and finally briefly discuss the impact of their work. Much of this chapter has been drawn from a qualitative research project completed in Timor-Leste in 2005. This was an exploratory case study using qualitative metltodology that included in-depth inter­ views with foreign health workers, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. The chapter contains illustrative quotes from these interviews. 2008 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26509 Sense Publishers fulltext
spellingShingle Comfort, Jude
The motivation, impact and challenges of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste
title The motivation, impact and challenges of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste
title_full The motivation, impact and challenges of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste
title_fullStr The motivation, impact and challenges of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste
title_full_unstemmed The motivation, impact and challenges of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste
title_short The motivation, impact and challenges of foreign health workers in Timor-Leste
title_sort motivation, impact and challenges of foreign health workers in timor-leste
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26509