This activity focuses on the staff of the health sector in pastoral areas, but emphasizes the need to introduce adaptations so as to take pastoralists into consideration.

It consists of:

• undertaking human resource development in pastoral areas in order to produce a sufficient number of people, a professional mix and type consistent with the national standard;
• creating incentive packages to increase recruitment and reduce the turnover of health-sector staff in pastoral areas;
• strengthening the human resources of the health sector in pastoral areas, with a special focus on women;
• conducting ‘professional training programs and special working procedures that meet the national standard and take the livelihood and life-style of pastoralists into consideration’.

COMMENTARY

Taking pastoralists into consideration. The description of this implementation activity acknowledges a need to adapt the professional capacity and working procedures of health-sector staff in pastoral areas. This adaptation should take into consideration the livelihood and lifestyle of people in pastoral systems, while keeping the quality of the service in line with national standards. This attention to ‘taking into consideration pastoral livelihood and life-style’ appears consistent with the intention manifested in the previous implementation activity under this strategy: the intention to secure pastoralists’ participation in all aspects of health services. In this light, taking pastoral livelihood and lifestyle into consideration means listening to the people in pastoral systems, those who are supposed to be reached by health services but have not so far been reached, and learn how to adapt services so that they are effectively within reach.

d. Expand and strengthen health infrastructure on the basis of the national standard on health service provision (p.54) »