In the tradition of reformatory theology freedom is a leitmotiv for the evolvement of the importance of Christianfaith for salvation. Christoph Herbst studies the understanding of freedom through faith in three 19th- and 20th-century protestant classics. The detailed analysis of the concepts laid out by Wilhelm Herrmann, Rudolf Bultmann and Eberhard Jungel reveals an extensive consensus in the theological controversy: faith frees modern man from the fixation on objectivising rationality and the problematic effects it has on how he deals with himself and the world."

This book was produced to support the policy dialogue on Human Resources for Health (HRH) in Ghana. Despite some recent successes, further improvements in health outcomes are in part hampered by the lack of skilled service providers, or human resources for health (HRH), particularly in rural areas, that prevent critical health services from being accessed and adequately delivered to those that need them most. To address the lack of information to guide the development of policies and programs on HRH, the book aims to paint a comprehensive picture on HRH, consolidating new and existing evidence on stock, distribution and performance of health workers to focus on the "what", as in "What is the situation on HRH?" and the "how", as in "How is this situation explained?" . The book highlights in particular new evidence on some of the underlying determinants impacting stock, distribution and performance of health workers in Ghana, including health worker production and attrition, management and accountability structures, the capacity of health training institutions, and health worker compensation. As is made clear, any potential policies to improve the situation on HRH need to be well targeted, and take into account some of the fiscal and political challenges that are specific to the health labor market in Ghana. The data and findings presented in this book are the result of extended and close collaboration between the Ghana Ministry of Health, and the World Bank's Africa Region Technical Team on HRH and will provide a better basis for Ghanaian decision makers and external partners to dialogue on HRH and related policies, resulting in concrete HRH actions. More broadly, it will be of interest to all those working to improve Human Resources for Health in Africa and beyond.

Health indicators particularly on child health and malaria in Ethiopia have improved significantly in recent years, with the next challenge now focused on improving maternal health indicators. Improvements in Child health and Malaria in particular can be attributed to strong government commitment towards health results in the country, reflected in a number of notable policies and programs related to Human Resources for Health (HRH), in particular the health extension worker program. However, indicators related to maternal health, remain problematic. Ethiopia has one of the lowest levels of assisted deliveries in the region. Although increases in the number of health workers particularly in rural areas may have contributed to improving access to some health services, it is in the government s interest to further improve the stock, distribution and performance of relevant health workers in Ethiopia, particularly to bring about improvement in access to maternal health services for the poor. This document reviews the current HRH situation in Ethiopia, summarizes the evidence on population use of select health services, and offers relevant policy options to assist the government finalize its new Human Resources Strategy and address remaining health challenges."

'The Human Resources for Health Crisis in Zambia' is part of the World Bank Working Paper series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank s ongoing research and to stimulate public discussion. Despite reporting some health gains since the 1990s, health outcomes remain poor in Zambia and it will be very challenging to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The Government of Zambia recognizes that the improvement of child and maternal health and the reduction in mortality from HIV/AIDs and malaria require better access to an appropriate number of wellperforming health workers or human resources for health (HRH). This paper compiles recent evidence on the Zambian health labor market and provides some baseline information on HRH to support the government as it addresses its HRH challenges. In addition, the paper analyzes the available evidence on the national health labor market to better understand the number, distribution, and performance of HRH in Zambia.The paper also explains HRH outcomes by mapping, assessing, and analyzing pre-service education and labor market dynamics and well as the core factors influencing these dynamics. This working paper was produced as part of theWorld Bank s Africa Region Health Systems for Outcomes (HSO) Program.The Program, funded by the World Bank, the Government of Norway, the Government of the United Kingdom, and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), focuses on strengthening health systems inAfrica to reach the poor and achieve tangible results related to Health, Nutrition, and Population.The main pillars and focus of the program center on knowledge and capacity building related to Human Resources for Health, Health Financing, Pharmaceuticals, Governance and Service Delivery, and Infrastructure and ICT. More information as well as all the products produced under the HSO program can be found online at www.worldbank.org/hso ."

The human resources crisis in the health sector has been gathering attention on the global stage. To date, however, most of this attention has focused on shortages of health human resources (HRH) at the national level. At least as important are problems at the sub-national level. Massive geographic and skill mix imbalances are reflected in the perilous undersupply of HRH in most rural areas. Virtually all Sub-Saharan African countries suffer from significant geographic imbalances. Very little substantive information or documentation exists on the problem. Even less is known about the lessons from policies aimed at addressing urban-rural human resource imbalances, let alone experiences of Sub-Saharan Africa countries, with such policies. There also appears to be a disconnect between the objectives and efforts of policymakers on the one hand and the functioning of national health labor markets and labor market behavior on the other hand. This disconnect hinders policy effectiveness and the efficient utilization of resources intended to narrow urban-rural inequities. In Sub-Saharan Africa government policies, often limited to the management of public sector vacancies, appear to be elaborated, prescribed, and implemented independently of labor market considerations. Partly as a result, they are unable to effectively address urban-rural imbalances, which are an outcome of labor market dynamics. This report discusses and analyzes labor market dynamics and outcomes (including unemployment, worker shortages, and urban-rural imbalances of categories of health workers) from a labor economics perspective. It then use insights from this perspective as a basis for elaborating policy options that incorporate the underlying labor market forces. The goal of the study is to address undesirable outcomes (including urban-rural HRH imbalances) more effectively. The book is thus suitable for researchers, policy analysts and policy makers with an interest in understanding and improving the allocation of human resources for health in the developing world.