Task Sharing in Family Planning

• Published in: Studies in family planning Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 57 - 62
• Main Authors: Janowitz, Barbara, Stanback, John, Boyer, Brooke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2012; Wiley Subscription Services; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Birth control; Commentary; Community Health Workers; Cooperative Behavior; Decision making; Delivery Systems; Developing Countries; Distribution; Family Planning; Family planning services; Family Planning Services - economics; Family Planning Services - organization & administration; Female; Health; Health Professions; Health services; Health Services Accessibility; Humans; Injectable contraceptives; Male; Medical personnel; Midwives; Nurses; Oral contraceptives; Partnerships; Physicians; Pregnancy; Quality of Health Care; Rural Areas; Shortages; Social behaviour; Social organization; Values; Workers; World Health Organization
• ISSN: 0039-3665; 1728-4465
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2012.00302.x

Many developing countries face strains in meeting the demands for health services because of shortages of qualified medical personnel, especially in rural areas. The continued "brain drain" of trained medical professionals has exacerbated this situation, as has the increased demand for HIV services. These factors have contributed to a growing interest in the concept of "task shifting," described by WHO as a process of delegation or shifting of some tasks to less-specialized health workers (WHO 2007). "Task sharing," a similar concept, refers to a partnership in which different levels of providers do similar work, rather than having less-credentialed providers take over all provision of a service. A key assumption of both task shifting and task sharing is that, given adequate training and supervision, lower-level workers can provide services with adequate competency and quality. Although both terms are relatively new, the concepts have been applied for decades in family planning programs as tasks were shifted or shared between doctors and nurses, or between nurses and community health workers. This commentary focuses on task sharing and emphasizes the value of partnership in service provision. Adapted from the source document.