Table 1 Facilitating Factors and Barriers to Task Shifting in Uganda

• Policy on task shifting

• The name task shifting

• Standard Operating procedures

• Poor health worker pay and conditions of service

• Better candidates entering the professions

• Lack of awareness

• Evidence of successful task shifting

• Lack of legal protection

• Lax regulatory environment

• Lack of policy and guidelines

• Poor law enforcement

• Corruption

• Institutional or programmatic guidelines

• Poor planning, unregulated task shifting

• High demand for health services

• Professional boundaries and regulation

• Scarcity of skills

• Poor community attitude

• Focussed initiatives, e.g. home based management of fever

• Professional protectionism

• International commitments, e.g. MDGs

• Heavy workload and high disease burden

• Functioning referral chain

• Reluctance to change

• Greater awareness on what task shifting was all about

• Limited knowledge and skills

• A task shifting champion

• Unemployment or lack of job opportunities for health professionals