Abstract:

Health systems across Africa carry the significant burden of disease globally, a situation exacerbated by a critical shortage of health workforce required to meet this demand. This study assessed Botswana’s Human Resource for Health HRH strategy, focusing on its development process, content, and implementation challenges within the context of the World Health Organization’s Global Strategy on Human Resource for Health: Workforce 2030. A qualitative research design was used, involving document analysis through the policy triangle framework and key-informants’ interviews. Thematic and content analysis were employed to interpret data from HRH strategic documents and 38 interviews with key stakeholders. The findings reveal that Botswana’s HRH strategies are largely aligned with the global strategy particularly objective 1 & 2, emphasizing workforce performance and investment alignment. However, the strategy development process, though inclusive on paper, often lacks effective stakeholder engagement and is constrained by limited financial and human resources. These challenges contribute to weak implementation and poor sustainability of HRH initiatives. The study concludes while Botswana has made commendable progress in aligning its HRH efforts with global goals, addressing the systematic barriers, particularly stakeholder representation and resourcing, is critical to achieving long term improvements in health work force planning and implementation.

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