Africa Region HRH Conferences

Past Conferences

Health Metrics Network’s Technical Working Group meeting, July 2006, Geneva:  The Africa HRH team represented the Bank at the Technical Working Group on HRH metrics in the Health Metrics Network of WHO and presented and discussed the Bank’s Africa region work on HRH data collection (HRH census, Training institution survey, Motivation studies etc).  The HRH team contributed and participated in the technical working group’s joint effort to make decisions on 1) the classification of health workers, 2) identification of core HRH indicators, 3) data sources for HRH indicators, and 4) priorities for investment and capacity building in HRIS. For a summary of the meeting output, click here.

Health Workforce Observatory September 26-29, 2006, Arusha: Together with the Capacity Project, ECSA Health Community and the WHO, the World Bank financed and co-hosted a conference on the Africa Health Workforce Laboratory from September 26-September 29, 2006. Held at the ECSA headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, the meeting focused on developing mechanisms to create up-to-date and reliable information that enables evidence-based decision making for HRH. Participants from 15 African countries attended, including human resources directors, researchers, academics, heads of human resources information systems (HRIS) and professional regulatory bodies. The focus of the meeting was on health workforce information, analyzing and building evidence on labor market dynamics and discussion the future of the HRH Observatory. The meeting presented an opportunity for global donors to discuss the importance of HRH, listen to countries’ needs, and collectively engage in collaborative solutions to address the HRH crisis. Participants made significant progress in building consensus and developing a sustainable center in the region for addressing Human Resources for Health. Click on the following link to view the conference report.

High Level Inter-Ministerial Health Workforce Meeting, March 3-5, 2007 Botswana. The Africa HRH team provided key input to the draft ministers’ recommendations on HRH and served as rapporteur for the session on HRH planning.  The draft recommendations contain support for key strategies on issues which the Bank Africa HRH team is especially supportive: evidence-based planning, performance-based incentives, cadre mix, and private sector options and does not contain any issues on the team’s negative list: across the board wage increases, exclusive physician/nurse care models, etc.  The international dialogue has progressed so that there is now a greater understanding and acceptance of performance-based incentives and increased allocative efficiency via the training and hiring of front line workers.  Of note was the considerable interest in distance education, especially to pool regional educational resources, but little thinking had been done on access to broadband or to the sustainability of such arrangements.  There was also an over-reliance by countries on the expectation of receiving additional funding in order to make progress on HRH, even though much can be done without additional money.  Paralleling this, most countries expressed a reliance of external solutions, with little awareness of their own power to make effective change or negotiate with receiving countries.  Also of note is that the International Council of Nurses and some national nursing and physician councils remain opposed to the introduction or expansion of front line and mid-level cadres.  However, their opposition is increasingly outweighed by the reality of the unaffordability of the exclusive physician/nurse model.

Second meeting of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) Task Force on scaling up education and training of health workers, 12–13 April 2007, Johannesburg, South Africa. The Bank’s HRH team attended this meeting by the Task Force, which brings together a group of leaders in health and education to champion the need for increased investment in the education and training of health workers in developing countries, build commitment to action and oversee the development of practical proposals for action. The Task Force presented their work program to the Africa Union as part of its deliberations on how to address the HR crisis in the Africa region. The Task Force members re-enforced their commitment to provide politically feasible and financially affordable recommendations for countries and donors for scaling up production of health workers. The Bank’s permanent representative to the task force was identified as Christian Baeza.  Click links for a detailed overview of the task force members, and what the task force intends to achieve.

Upcoming Conferences