Learning from health workforce development strategies for a resilient health system in the context of recurrent epidemics in Guinea

Guinea is a country with critical health workforce development challenges and with a high risk of epidemic-prone disease emergence. The country is endemic to meningitis, yellow fever, measles, and recently, viral haemorrhagic fevers including Ebola and Lassa fever. These diseases have recently posed significant human health and development challenges in many African countries. Despite the post-Ebola (2014–16) health workforce development efforts, the country continues to face challenges in preparing for and effectively responding to epidemics. The Guinean health system also faces challenges for equitable and quality health services delivery. The present doctoral research aims to contribute to health workforce development by identifying and assessing reform strategies and their implementation that can improve health system resilience in the context of recurrent epidemics in Guinea. This will be an explanatory mixed-methods study using policy analysis, and qualitative and quantitative approaches. This research will be conducted in two main phases. The first phase will consist of a Health Labour Market Analysis approach to explore the contribution of the postEbola health workforce reforms to improving the availability and distribution of skill mix health workers in 11 health districts in Guinea. In the second phase, a sequential explanatory mixedmethods study design will be employed to assess the contribution of post-Ebola health workforce development strategies to the implementation of the integrated disease surveillance and response system; and the improvement of malaria health services delivery for children underfive and pregnant women, including during recurrent epidemics. This doctoral research is the first of its kind in Guinea and will provide lessons on how to develop the national health workforce for improving the resilience of the health system in the context of recurrent epidemics.