Education and Training

CapacityPlus Joins the Private Sector Working Group

Subrata RouthAs part of CapacityPlus’s commitment to advancing private-sector solutions for human resources for health, in October we joined the newly relaunched Private Sector Working Group (PSWG). This is a broad-based forum comprised of USAID, its implementing partners, and a number of other multilaterals and foundations such as the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation.

PSWG’s new role
With the growing role of the private sector in health and enlargement of the membership base, the PSWG is indeed challenged with a number of critical issues concerning expectation management and prioritization of activities. In the October 26 meeting participants asked:

  • What private sector engagements should PSWG focus on in the future—the not-for-profit private sector, commercial private sector, or both?
  • Which topics and issues are most relevant for the PSWG to address, based on the programmatic priorities of the health sector in developing countries as well as the scope of the group?
  • What are the best activities for the PSWG to pursue to most successfully contribute to its above-mentioned goals?

PSWG members will have the opportunity to voice their ideas on these and other questions in an upcoming online survey. Read more »

Addressing Human Resources Constraints in Public Health Supply Chains

Amanda PuckettAt the recent Critical Issues Series: Strengthening Human Resources for Supply Chain Management of Health Commodities event, IntraHealth International staff Uche Ekenna presented CapacityPlus’s new Life Cycle Approach to professionalizing under-recognized cadres.

Ekenna delivered key messages on workforce development, workforce effectiveness, and policy and planning to specific supply chain functions. His panel focused on the professionalization of under-recognized cadres—i.e., supply chain management professionals—and how the Life Cycle Approach can systematically address all crucial steps in the cadre professionalization process.

Hosted by the USAID DELIVER Project, this event featured presentations by human resources for health (HRH) and health commodities panelists, and offered experts a forum to discuss and identify future areas for building strong collaborations, sharing lessons learned, and identifying strategies to address human resources constraints affecting the distribution of health commodities to clients. Read more »

Global Leaders Speak Out for Health Workforce Partnerships

Uganda health studentsHealth education in the global context
At the Accordia Foundation’s Health Workforce Partnership Symposium, held September 14 in Washington, DC, US Ambassador Dr. Eric Goosby noted three key points about health education.

1) The US Government (PEPFAR) is committed to building health capacity in developing countries; 2) Over the long term, country ownership and sustainable national capacity is critical to this effort; and 3) PEPFAR will be working with the Global Fund to merge planning processes, initially in 10 countries, and by implication this includes health workforce education. Read more »

Good News about Training More Health Workers—But Will They Be Absorbed?

Amid the continuing health workforce crisis, I think it’s important to acknowledge the positive steps that have occurred. In terms of donor support, one such area involves commitments to provide funding and support at the country level to train new health workers.

Training new health workers: two positive steps
For example, in 2008 the Japan International Cooperation Agency announced a major program to train some 100,000 local health workers to tackle one of Africa’s most serious problems, the unacceptably high mortality and sickness rate among pregnant women, new mothers, and their children. Read more »

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