Relying on unique survey data, this paper analyzes the career preferences of future health workers in Rwanda, focusing on their sector preferences, their willingness to work in rural areas, their likelihood to migrate abroad, and their readiness to work in a high HIV prevalence environment. The findings show that health workers are not as uniform as is often thought, and can have very different preferences regarding wages, intrinsic motivation, and attitudes toward risk. But there are commonalities among future health workers, and the results highlight the importance of intrinsic motivation. To improve health policies, many governments have identified human resources in the health field as a policy priority. To improve policies, this paper provides evidence on health workers' choices and behavior, and it will be a valuable resource for government officials to design effective human resource policies. This working paper was produced as part of the World 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 in Africa 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.