Poster Presentation

Wednesday, July 9, 2008
9:45 AM - 10:30 AM

Wednesday, July 9, 2008
11:45 AM - 12:30 PM

Thursday, July 10, 2008
9:45 AM - 10:30 AM

Thursday, July 10, 2008
2:30 PM - 3:15 PM
This presentation is part of : POSTERS: Global Collaboration
International Consortium for Human Resources for Health (HRH) for Healthcare: Building Equitable and Sustainable Health Systems through Innovative Needs-Based Approaches for Health Human Resources Planning
Gail Tomblin Murphy, RN, PhD, School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, Francisco Eduardo De Campos, Secretariat of Work and Education Management in Health Ministry of Health Brasilia, Government of Brazil, Brasilia, Brazil, Gail Hudson, Ministry of Health, Government of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica, Felix Rigoli, Human Resource Development Unit, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA, Mario Dal Poz, Tools, Evidence, and Policy Human Resources for Health Department, World Health Organization, Geneva 27, Switzerland, Sandra MacDonald-Rencz, Health Canada, Office of Nursing Policy, Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada, and Margaret Gillis, Health Canada, Human Resources Strategies Division, Health Care Policy Directorate Health Policy Branch, Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Learning Objective #1: ... understand how to build capacity in understanding ways to address critical issues in the planning for HHR in the context of population health needs.
Learning Objective #2: ... understand ways to develop and test a country-specific planning tool to estimate the supply of, and needs-based requirements for, health care providers.

Human resources for health (HRH) planning presents challenges to health systems around the globe. Partners from Brazil, Jamaica, Canada, PAHO, and the WHO are collaborating on a program to enhance health care systems through HRH planning. This planning is based on the health needs of populations and considers demographic, gender and equity, political, social, economic, technological, and geographic factors as well.

This innovative program consists of three components: 1) needs-based HRH planning, 2) capacity-building and knowledge translation and, 3) evaluation. The objective is to build capacity in Brazil, Jamaica, and Canada for addressing issues in planning for HRH in the context of population health needs. Specific objectives include:

1) Developing and testing country-specific planning tools;

2) Applying these tools to estimate, in each country, over the next decade the providers required and available, and the difference between the two;

3) Identifying the factors affecting the supply of and requirements for providers, and translating these factors into policy options;

4) Creating capacity for needs-based planning and management by engaging policy-makers, managers and researchers;

5) Sharing lessons learned in building local capacity in the participant countries with other countries.

The program aims to improve health system governance and performance by developing, through international collaboration, workforce planning models that are focused on the health care needs of specific populations and testing the relative effectiveness of HRH policies and programs in those areas.

This program builds on previous and ongoing work of the Canadian team members, while contributions from Jamaica and Brazil will help adapt methodologies to accommodate the values, needs and policy constraints of different Low- to Middle-Income Countries. This international partnership permits the validation of methods and practices so that knowledge can be transferred globally. Lessons learned to date will be shared through Jamaica and Brazil case studies.