PHM-Exch> GLOBAL CONVERSATION ON HRH PRIORITIES - starting Monday 9 September

[Neil Pakenham-Walsh, UK]

Dear PHM colleagues,

JOIN US FOR A GLOBAL CONVERSATION ON HRH PRIORITIES
Sponsored by Global Health Workforce Alliance and HIFA2015

Ahead of the Third Global Forum on Human 
Resources for Health [10-13 November, Recife, 
Brazil] and in our efforts to promote multi 
stakeholder engagement, the Global Health 
Workforce Alliance and HIFA2015 are hosting a 
global conversation on the priorities in Human 
Resources for Health (HRH). These discussions 
will take place here on the HIFA2015 email 
discussion forum commencing September 9.  Join here: www.hifa2015.org

The main objectives of the conversation are to:
- Offer the opportunity for engagement in the 
lead up to the Forum and to start to explore some of the key issues.
- Enable the inclusion of the voices of 
stakeholders worldwide who may not be able to 
attend the 3rd Global Forum in person: all 
comments will be taken into consideration and a 
summary of the discussions will be presented at the 3rd Global Forum.
- Enable capture of key points from the above, 
thereby providing wider experiential input into the Global Forum.
- Stimulate increased sense of momentum and 
excitement as we approach the Global Forum.
- Widen the audience for GHWA to make 
commitments, announcements or statements before, during, or after the Forum.
- Encourage WHO country offices to describe their 
progress and challenges with regards to country-specific HRH commitments.
- Raise awareness of the HRH commitment process. 
Elicit new HRH commitments in the lead up to the Forum.

FORMAT
One new question will be the focus for discussion 
each week - for the next 5 weeks. Although the 
focus is on individual questions each week, we 
welcome contributions on any question at any 
time. The discussions will be housed in the 
context of various issues affecting HRH, e.g 
education, incentives (non-financial), retention, 
skills mix, health worker availability, 
accessibility and acceptability etc. We have put 
together a brief introduction to some of the 
priority issues.  This will be circulated as a 
separate message and is available here: 
http://www.hifa2015.org/wp-content/uploads/Background-Document-on-HRH-priorities.pdf 
. Please keep it as a reference for the 
discussions over the coming weeks. Throughout the 
discussions, we encourage responses that promote 
an integrated, systems-thinking approach to HRH 
development, recognizing the inter-dependence and 
synergy among the different areas of health 
workforce development. We look forward to your 
observations and recommendations on how better to 
support and strengthen the health workforce as 
the foundation for Universal Health Coverage.

QUESTIONS
Week 1: What have been the notable achievements 
in Human Resources for Health towards Universal 
Health Coverage - globally and/or in your country 
- over the past 10 years? What has worked? Share 
examples of success where appropriate.
Week 2: What are the notable failures? What has 
been done that hasn’t worked?
Week 3: What, in your opinion are the 
opportunities and challenges/obstacles in the 
“systems thinking” approach to HRH, as 
proposed by the GHWA/WHO framework [ 
http://tinyurl.com/lrym5l7 ] ­ which is the 
bassis for eliciting multi-stakeholder 
commitments? What are your suggestions for 
overcoming these obstacles? (Examples of success 
stories/best practices are welcome)
Week 4: What needs to be done (and why) over the *next* 10 years, and by whom?
Week 5: What will you and/or your organization do 
to help address the HRH crisis in the next 10 years?

We invite and encourage you to actively engage in 
this global conversation, which will serve to add 
further impetus to discussions in Recife. Let’s 
together rise to the grand challenge of ensuring 
that all people everywhere have access to a 
skilled, motivated and supported health worker, within a robust health system.

Please forward this message widely and invite people to join HIFA2015 here:
www.hifa2015.org

Sonali Reddy / GHWA Advocacy and Communications
Giorgio Cometto /Adviser to the Executive Director at GHWA
Neil Pakenham-Walsh/ coordinator of the HIFA2015 
campaign and co-director of the Global Healthcare Information Network

HIFA profile: Sonali Reddy is Advocacy and 
Communications Officer at the Global Health 
Workforce Alliance- GHWA/WHO in Switzerland.   reddys AT who.int

HIFA profile: Giorgio Cometto is Adviser to the 
Executive Director at the Global Health Workforce 
Alliance- GHWA/WHO in Switzerland. comettog AT who.int

HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is the 
coordinator of the HIFA2015 campaign and 
co-director of the Global Healthcare Information 
Network. He is also currently chair of the 
Dgroups Foundation (www.dgroups.info), a 
partnership of 18 international development 
organisations promoting dialogue for 
international health and development. He started 
his career as a hospital doctor in the UK, and 
has clinical experience as an isolated health 
worker in rural Ecuador and Peru.  For the last 
20 years he has been committed to the global 
challenge of improving the availability and use 
of relevant, reliable healthcare information for 
health workers and citizens in low- and 
middle-income countries. He is particularly 
interested in the potential of inclusive, 
interdisciplinary communication platforms to help 
address global health and international 
development challenges. He has worked with the 
World Health Organization, the Wellcome Trust, 
Medicine Digest and INASP (International Network 
for the Availability of Scientific Publications). 
He is based near Oxford, UK. 
www.hifa2015.org  neil.pakenham-walsh AT ghi-net.org