health cadre

[francais_espanol]

Hello,

I have seen the term "health cadres" in several articles and reports I've read but am not 100% sure I know what it means. The context is health-care services in a developing country. In this particular situation they are health cadres working in HIV/AIDS (although I don't think health cadres are particular to HIV/AIDS).

Here is an example of a sentence :

"Health cadres gained knowledge in HIV issues allowing them to compete for jobs with AIDS Service organisations"

Would they be community health workers? Health professionals (i.e. doctors, nurses, etc)? Health policy makers?

Thank you in advance.

 

[sdgraham]

It appears to be another case of injecting military terms into local jargon in an attempt to appear erudite.

See cadre

All I can infer is that the term is being used to describe some sort of group, but beyond that, I would make no assumptions.

 

[francais_espanol]

Thanks sdgraham. I also get the impression it's describing some sort of group but I'm not too sure which one it is. I'm wondering if health workers and health cadres are the same thing.

 

[owlman5]

I agree with SD Graham. I'd read it as a fancy way of saying "health team". Such a team could have almost any type of specialists in various health-related fields.

 

[almufadado]

"Cadre" is used in other languages as "staff", "personnel" or "trained personnel". Although in English is not common to see it used like this, the general meaning is of:

• core group/staff/personnel;
• A nucleus of trained personnel around which a larger organization can be built and trained;
• A person that is part of organization's core group.

 

[panjandrum]

Based on a very cursory look through several pages of examples, I suggest that "health cadre" is a term used outside the UK and US. I got the impression that most of the links relate to Asian and African contexts.
It looks as if it is a term used to refer to a set of people who are not specialist health workers but are given quite specific training so that they can undertake quite specific health-related activities in contexts where there is a severe shortage of fully-qualified workers.
I may be mixing up information picked up from Médecins Sans Frontières.

 

[francais_espanol]

Thank you everyone for your help.

Panjandrum, I believe that you are right. From what I understand as well, cadres is a term used in Asian and African contexts (developing country contexts). If there is anyone who works in international development or community development and can confirm this, I would be most grateful.

 

[almufadado]

(...) Training a new community health worker takes between a few months and a year depending on the competencies required, a stark contrast to the three or four years required for a nurse to fully qualify. For a doctor it takes up to eight years.

(...)
Over the past few years, a number of countries, including Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi and Uganda, have made progress in task shifting. Ethiopia, for example, created new health worker cadres and accelerated pre-service training of a number of cadres.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25256&Cr=AIDS&Cr1=health


"Cadre" is, just like in French, Portuguese, signifies in general term a person that has been trained to be part of any sort of organization, from political, to ONG's.



In Africa this has also been used to describe the indoctrinated members of political factions, that have active members with specific tasks and are part of the nucleus, of the core of the organizations.
In this context you can say :

"Hardcore members of the Faction = the backbone of the Faction."




In the UN's local sponsored organizations, for the various programs, this personnel constitute the framework (cadre), the backbone of the hability to take action on the ground.


In Health issues, this personnel framework requires skilled cadres that are able to face up the challenges, because they have been trained to do so.

 

[francais_espanol]

Thank you, almufadado. Do you think the term health professionals and health cadres would be equivalent?

 

[almufadado]

Thank you, almufadado. Do you think the term health professionals and health cadres would be equivalent?

As the context talks about "in a developing country.", I would rather say "health workers" or "health technicians". As they gained field experience by direct contact with the problem, this is a plus on a job application, so it is also fair to called them "skilled health workers".

Example:

As the numbers of AIDS patients grow, there will be a greater demand for skilled health workers, medication and hospital facilities. ...

http://www.google.pt/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fipsnews.net%2Fafrica%2Fnota.asp%3Fidnews%3D33396&ei=JjEyTLCGM8TKjAfypoSXBg&usg=AFQjCNEYZaxEIgMcyst1rLb0fjYrpUDFOw

 

[huntdag]

I'm currently objecting to the repeated use of the term 'cadres' in a document on management of the global health work force that I have been invited to comment on. It was used to refer to defined occupational groups (or perhaps the framework for defining occupational groups) within national health work force HR and infromation systems.

My main objection is that many readers would have trouble understanding the term in this context and is eloquently confirmed by the comments in this thread.

In relation to the last two comments I would add that 'health professionals' is a generally narrower term that refers to health workers in jobs that require a high level of university education.