Health and AIDS Newsletter, January 2005

  

Content of the Newsletter:
1. Note from Abdo Yazbeck, Program Leader of HNP Team
2. Highlights of upcoming events (coming 6 months)
3. Selected highlights from past 6 months (June - December 2004)
4. Internal Announcements
5. External Announcements

 1. Note from Abdo Yazbeck, Program Leader of HNP Team
As we start the new year, The Health, Nutrition, and Population Team of the World Bank Institute wants to thank those of you that participated in our events last year and for making 2004 a banner year for the HNP Program. While the bulk of this issue of our Newsletter is looking forward to the upcoming events in the first six months of 2005, we also highlight some of the successful events of the last 6 months.

The Tsunami in South East Asia will have a lasting effect on the populations of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other countries in the region. We hope that you and your families were not severely affected by the tragedy. As you will note in the Newsletter, we have a number of events scheduled for South East Asia in the coming few months. We are currently reviewing these events to determine whether some of them should be delayed or canceled given the current focus in the region on humanitarian efforts.

One of the exciting elements of the 2005 HNP program is the number of new courses we are in the process of piloting. The past year has allowed us to build content in areas you have told us are important to you. In future issues of the Newsletter, we will share with you the descriptions of some of our new products. In the coming 6 months we will be piloting up to four new web-based courses on the basics of health economics, elements of health finance, gender health and poverty, and essential public health functions. This provides an opportunity for some of you to help pilot these new courses. As pilots, they will be free to you, and in return we ask to receive input for improving and strengthening the courses.

Finally, in the next issue (July-Dec 2005), we will introduce you to some of our regional and country partner institutions who customize, organize, and deliver a large share of our events. We are happy to report that in 2004, working with our regional and country partners, we were able to deliver courses completely or partially in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian. It is our hope to translate some of our web-based courses in the coming years.

Wishing you and yours good health and a happy new year and looking forward to your engagement in our courses and events.

Abdo Yazbeck, Program Leader

 2. Highlights of upcoming events

The HNP Team offers global, regional and country focused events.

GLOBAL EVENTS

* Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Poverty Reduction, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform from 14 to 25 March 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand. The two-week course is designed for staff from governments, donor agencies, international organizations, the World Bank, the private sector and PVOs/NGOs involved in health and government-initiated health sector reforms in WB client countries. In addition, the course targets trainers from regionally-based capacity building and research institutions as well as academics and researchers working in the areas of health, public administration or social sector reform. This face to face course which uses highly interactive participatory training techniques will be held at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. The course is intensive and consists of presentations, readings, case examples and group work. Participants are expected to have excellent English language skills to fully participate. Participants are responsible for purchasing their own airline tickets and will be charged a course fee of $1,300 and should expect to incur additional expenses locally for accommodation and meals. Contact person: Lan Joo, Ljoo@worldbank.org

* Conference for the Health and Education Sectors on Main messages of the World Development Report (WDR) 2004: InWEnt, GTZ, and the World Bank are holding a conference in Bonn on May 12-14 2005 to follow-up on the main findings of the 2004 WDR on "Making Services Work for Poor People". The main objective is to go beyond the report's recommendations and discuss how to improve accountability by reviewing the implementation lessons from donors and technical agencies, particularly at the country level. Focusing on the Education and Health sectors, the conference will examine how best to implement policies as recommended in the WDR and identify operational challenges. The conference would also explore avenues for collaboration with donors and partners to ensure better accountability in the social sectors. Contact person: Tanya Ringland, sringland@worldbank.org

* Web-based Elements of Health Financing Policy, an Internet Based Course, to be piloted in the Spring of 2005. This six-week e-learning course for health professionals inside and outside the World Bank will cover the following issues: Why is public financing necessary? What is the best source of financing and when? How can we best: i. Manage and allocate public funds for medical care? ii. Motivate physicians in the community? iii. Motivate hospitals? iv. Integrate private and public finance? This course is self-paced and will have a bulletin board for participants to share their work and experiences. Contact person: Jo Hindriks, jhindriks@worldbank.org

* Web-based Course on Health Outcomes and the Poor. WBI, in close collaboration with WHO, will offer the successful Health Outcomes and the Poor course both in French and in English in the spring of 2005. Exact dates are to be determined and will be communicated separately. This fee-based course is fully web-based and lasts 6 weeks. It takes participants through the health related parts of a Poverty Reduction Strategy Document, and examines how the health outcomes of the poor are addressed in these documents. The course employs interactive on-line group work and requires a commitment of at least 8 hours per week to complete successfully. Contact person: Jo Hindriks, jhindriks@worldbank.org

* Self-Paced Web-based course on Basic Health Economics. This course aims to expose participants to potential contribution of health economics to decision making in the health sector. It will also introduce participants to the language of economics and health sector reform so they can be more effective communicators when working with the Ministry of Finance. The course is self-paced and will be offered as a pilot with a limited set of modules in the spring of this year. Contact person: Jo Hindriks, jhindriks@worldbank.org

* Gender, Health and Poverty in South Asia, is a fully facilitated internet based course. The development of this course is nearing completion and a pilot version will be offered later this winter and spring of 2005. It deals with the interrelationship between poverty, health and gender and touches upon issues such as gender violence, gender and HIV/AIDS, making health services work for women in poverty. The course employs frequent on-line interaction with fellow participants and facilitators and requires a commitment of at least 8 hours a week for 6 weeks. Exact dates will be communicated at a later date. Contact person: Jo Hindriks, jhindriks@worldbank.org

* Strengthening the Essential Public Health Functions, a fully facilitated internet based course. This course is being developed in close collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). A set of modules will be piloted in the spring of 2005. The course looks at the 11 essential public health functions as defined by PAHO and the US CDC. The objective of the course is to develop leadership and competencies in the assessment and performance of the ‘Essential Public Health Functions, and contribute to the strengthening of effective national public health systems. Contact person: Jo Hindriks, jhindriks@worldbank.org

* Private Health Insurance in Developing Countries, March 15-16, 2005, At the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, In collaboration with the IFC and WBI of the World Bank Group and University of California at Berkeley and University of Zurich. This conference presents the preliminary work from a large international review of the potential role of private health insurance in complementing other known health financing instruments – government subsidies, social health insurance and community-based financing – in securing better financial protection and access to health care in developing countries. In addition to the speakers, invited participants include policymakers from developing countries, leaders from the health insurance industry, international development partners, and academics. Web Link including online registration http://hc.wharton.upenn.edu/impactconference/

AFRICA (Sub Saharan) REGIONAL AND COUNTRY EVENTS

* West Africa Regional: Distance Learning Course on Health Financing for Francophone Africa (starts on 14 February 2005, by VC) HNP382-97-197 An introductory course via Distance Learning on health financing for low income countries in francophone Africa. It is designed for distance learning via video conferencing. The objectives are to enable participants to understand the specificities of financing in the health sector, the role of the various actors involved, the typology of financing mechanisms, the process of allocating financial resources and of regulating supply and demand. The course is designed for professionals, government officials, from the health and social protection sectors interested in better understanding the modalities and processes of financing health services in their country. Invited countries are: Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Senegal.  Partner(s): CERMES Paris, CERDI Clermont-Ferrand. Contact person: Shenna Ross, sross1@worldbank.org

* West Africa Regional: Videoconference Series on Health Insurance for Francophone Africa (starts in mid-February) HNP382-01-201 A series of six videoconferences will take place on topics related to the expansion of coverage of health risks in low-income countries in francophone Africa. This series follows up on the face-to-face workshop on health insurance conducted in France in May 2004. Objective(s): To enable participants to share and discuss experiences in designing and implementing various forms of health insurance and give them access to expert advice to help advance their plans and expand protection against the costs of health problems. Audience: Participants in Joint Africa Institute seminars from French-speaking African countries with access to VC facilities, health insurance professionals, and Bank and other aid agency staff. Partner(s): CESAG Dakar, CERMES Paris, WHO Geneva, ILO, and CERDI Clermont-Ferrand. Contact person: Shenna Ross, sross1@worldbank.org

* West Africa Regional: Francophone Africa-Contracting Policies in the Health Sector, 11-16 April 2005 in Ouidah, Benin. This regional workshop is part of a program of three workshops designed to inform decision and policy makers of the strengths and weaknesses of the various mechanisms of contracting as tools to improve access to quality health care and efficiency in the use of limited resources. This workshop will address "Contracting policies". Others address the issues of "Contracting between NGOs and Ministry of Health" and of "Contracting between community financing schemes and providers of services". Objectives : At the end of the course participants will be able to: (1) identify the various dimensions and components of contracting policies (2) identify the specificities of the process of designing and implementing contracting policies (3) draft a contracting policy and review it critically. The workshop includes the following activities: brief presentations and discussion of concepts, techniques and tools, and of country experiences; group work and critical review by the participants and the trainers. Audience: Country teams of Government officials from relevant ministries and agencies, and representatives from NGOs, of private provider organizations involved in the contracting of Health Services in Francophone Africa.

Partners: WHO-Geneva, WHO-Brazzaville, CESAG, Dakar, IRSP, Ouidah (Benin). Contact person: Gilles Dussault, gdussault@worldbank.org

* West Africa Regional: Francophone Africa-Contracting between NGOs and Ministry of Health, 18-23 April 2005, in Dakar , Senegal. This regional workshop is part of a program of three workshops designed to inform decision and policy makers of the strengths and weaknesses of the various mechanisms of contracting as tools to improve access to quality health care and efficiency in the use of limited resources. This workshop will address "Contracting between NGOs and Ministry of Health". Others address the issues of "Contracting policies" and of "Contracting between community financing schemes and providers of services". Objectives: At the end of the Course participants will be able to: (1) identify the various dimensions and modalities of contracting; (2) identify the specificities of contracting between ministries/ public agencies, NGOs, private organizations, etc, (3) develop a contracting project (4) experience the process of contracting. The workshop includes the following activities: brief presentations and discussion of concepts, techniques and tools, and of country experiences; group work and critical review by the participants and the trainers. Audience: Country teams of Government officials, from relevant ministries and agencies, and representatives from NGOs, of private provider organizations involved in the contracting of Health Services in Francophone Africa. Partners: WHO-Geneva, WHO-Brazzaville, ENEA, Dakar (Senegal), IRSP, Ouidah (Benin). Contact person: Gilles Dussault, gdussault@worldbank.org

* West Africa Regional Pilot Course on Hospital Reform, May 9-13, 2005, HNP382-93-194 This course will address two main issues: (a) determinants of the hospital's role in the health care system and (b) improvement of hospitals' efficiency. The experience and lessons learned from ongoing reforms will be used to develop and present a framework for decision-makers. Objective(s): Provide and support guidance for decision-makers in charge of designing and implementing hospital reforms. Hospital managers and regional and national MOH senior officers from SSA countries. http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/hospitalreform  Contact person: Eric de Roodenbeke, ederoodenbeke@worldbank.org

* Lusophone Africa: Course on Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing, 9-13 May, in Luanda, Angola. This course will bring participants to speak a "common language" about the various dimensions of health sector reform and sustainable financing options. They will have an opportunity to assess how well their national health system rates on performance criteria such as efficiency, equity, and sustainability, and to identify alternate paths their national health system could take, and why it would be desirable to pursue some paths over others. They will also reflect on the options of strategy and learn about tools and instruments available to conduct reform of their national health sector, and discuss their relative feasibility. Audience: teams of high-level policymakers and civil society leaders from the five Portuguese-speaking African countries, as well as East-Timor engaged in health sector reform activities. Partners: Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal), Universidade Agostinho Neto (Luanda, Angola), WHO-Geneva, WHO-Brazzaville. Contact Person: Ms. Trudy Ofwono, Tofwono@worldbank.org

ASIA REGIONAL AND COUNTRY EVENTS

* Asia Regional: Singapore Senior Policy Seminar on Hospital Reform and Restructuring, February 21-25: Throughout the world, governments are reassessing their role in health service delivery. They are doing so in response to common problems with public sector service delivery: inefficiency, poor quality and inadequate responsiveness to users, waste, and sometimes fraud and corruption. The aim of this seminar if to provide an analytical framework intended to help policy makers and governments improve the performance of their public hospitals by applying a variety of organizational and management reforms. This seminar intends to provide the participants with a deeper understanding of the forces shaping hospital performance with emphasis on external incentives, market exposure, internal management empowerment, accountability, and skills. The target audience of 40 persons, includes senior government officials from countries in East and South Asia, involved with hospital reform and restructuring. The course is delivered in partnership with The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National University of Singapore. Contact Person: Tazim Mawji, tmawji@worldbank.org(Due to the humanitarian disaster in South East Asia, this course is not likely to take place in February).

* Asia Regional: Reaching the Poor Program dissemination/training event. Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 10-12, 2005: In February of 2004, the World Bank organized a conference in Washington that brought together researchers and policy makers interested in finding ways to make sure health, nutrition, and population services reach poor and vulnerable populations. Half of the papers presented were in part financed by the Reaching the Poor Program, managed by the World Bank in partnerships with the Gates Foundation and the governments of Sweden and the Netherlands. The success of the Washington conference has led to requests that dissemination and training events take place in Africa and Asia. The first Africa event will take place in Zambia in January and the Asia event will take place in Colombo. Contact Person: Tanya Ringland, sringland@worldbank.org

* Afghanistan Flagship Course, March 12-24, 2005: The goal of this course is to improve the capacity of mid- to high level government officials to design and carry out health sector reform. The course intends to provide the participants with a deeper understanding of the forces shaping health sector development in light of these current economic pressures and of the various options for health finance reform. The course is designed to introduce government officials in Afghanistan at all levels to the essential concepts of the Flagship Framework. The course will focus on three main themes: An Introduction to the Flagship Framework, Hospital Reform and Restructuring, and Targeting Public Subsidies. The teaching materials will include those developed for previous WBI Flagship Courses as well as those customized for the Afghanistan course. The course will be taught in English. The audience (of about 40-50 persons) will consist of mid- to high level government officials as well as members of civil society. WBI Contact Person is Tazim Mawji, tmawji@worldbank.org

* Bangladesh Flagship Course, April or May, 2005 in Dhaka: The goal of this course is to improve the capacity of mid-to high level government officials to design and carry out health sector reform. The course intends to provide the participants with a deeper understanding of the forces shaping health sector development in light of these current economic pressures and of the various options for health finance reform. It is designed to introduce government officials in Bangladesh, at both the state and union-level, to concepts of the Flagship module on "Analyzing Health Sector Performance". It combines a variety of theoretical lectures with exercises designed to facilitate the application of abstract concepts to the current reality of participants actual situations. The course will be taught in English. The targeted audience (of about 40-50 persons) consists of mid- to high level government officials from various ministries, involved with health sector reform. Contact person: Tazim Mawji, tmawji@worldbank.org

* Effective Public Private Partnerships in Bangladesh January 30 - February 3 2005: In Bangladesh, the private health sector is increasingly recognized as a significant part of the overall health system. In light of the growth in the delivery of health care services by the private sector as well as the increased demand for private health care services, this course will focus on building more effective partnerships between the public and private sectors for improved health outcomes. This course will address key policy issues as well as provide in-depth knowledge on how to create an enabling environment for the private sector. It will introduce participants to assessment tools and use the case based approach and the sharing of country experiences to allow participants to gain insight from the valuable experiences of their counterparts. The audience includes senior to mid-level policy and decision makers from the government, development partners, academic and research institutions, NGOs, and the private sector. Contact Person: Tazim Mawji, tmawji@worldbank.org

EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA REGIONAL AND COUNTRY EVENTS

* Regional Flagship Course on Health Sector Reform for the Europe and Central Asia Region, in June in Hungary, HNP382-76-176 This two-week course will cover an integrated version of three modules on analyzing health sector performance, financing health care, and purchasing health services. The course draws extensively on health sector reform experience in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as successful and unsuccessful learning experiences from the European Union and other OECD countries. Objective(s): To enable policy makers to assess strengths and weaknesses of health system performance, analyze the advantages and disadvantages of various policy instruments in addressing particular performance problems, and highlight practical skills needed to implement designed reforms. Audience: Mid- to high-level government officials and health insurance fund managers, high-level public health officials, managers of provider institutions and others involved in health sector reform and implementation, and World Bank staff working in resident missions from Eastern and Central Asia. Partner(s): Semmelweis University, please contact the university at evetovits@emk.sote.hu

LATIN AMERICA REGIONAL AND COUNTRY EVENTS

* Course on Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing for Guatemala, end of February, in Guatemala City, HNP382-77-177 This two-week course is part of the Flagship Program on Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing to be delivered at the request of the Government of Guatemala. The course is designed to help decision makers and policy makers diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of their health care systems and critically review available options for change. It is primarily intended for Guatemalans, but participants from neighboring countries are welcome, especially in Central America. Objective(s): To enable participants to speak a "common language" on dimensions of health sector reform and sustainable financing options and assess how well the national system rates on performance criteria such as efficiency, equity, and sustainability. Audience: Senior public and NGO officials involved in planning or managing government-initiated health sector reforms and compulsory social health insurance programs as well as staff from the World Bank, donor agencies, and NGOs. Partner(s): Bitran y Asociados - contact Bitran y Asociados for more information at rodrigo.munoz@bitran.cl

* 9th International Health Miami Summit - Private Health and Consumer Choice: Lessons for Public-Private Partnerships (April 2005) - The expanding importance of consumer engagement in health policy and the purchasing and providing of healthcare services will be featured in the 9th International Summit on Private-Public Health Collaboration. Leading staff from the World Bank Institute will join with over 300 senior executives from health plans and hospital groups from over 40 countries across the globe to explore international trends and innovations in consumer directed health plans and provider consumer relations management. Over 30 faculty will help explore best practices among some of the world’s leading health systems. Discounted registration for affiliates of World Bank, USAID and DFID, as well alumni of the Cambridge International Health Leadership Programme of England.

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGIONAL AND COUNTRY EVENTS

* National Flagship Course on Analyzing Health Sector Performance in Yemen. This four day senior policy seminar will take place in Sana'a, March 1-5, 2005. The MOH needs to update its 1998 Health Sector Strategy which will then be translated into the MOH’s next 5 year plan. This first course on "Analyzing Health Sector Performance" will support the MOH in this process. It is expected that by the end of the training program, the participants will be able to: 1) speak a common language about dimensions of health sector reform and sustainable financing options 2) place their health system in a taxonomy of health systems in accordance with its structural, financial, and functional characteristics 3) assess how well their health system rates on performance criteria such as efficiency, equity and sustainability 4) determine alternate paths their health systems could take, and why it would be desirable to pursue some paths over others 5) understand how to move their health system from its current state to a participant-defined future state and 6) understand how to select and apply tools and procedures to make desired changes and to assess their effects. Contact person: Hadia Samaha Karam, hsmaha@worldbank.org

* Iran Study Tour on Primary Health Care, April 30-May 8, 2005. This seven-day study tour is structured into themes, with its initial content broadly focusing upon the structure of PHC in Iran and methods of delivering different services and their impacts. It is expected that at the end of the Study Tour, participants will be able to 1) understand the structure and programs of PHC in the Islamic Republic of Iran; 2) Understand theoretical aspects of construction Primary Health Care services and structure; 3) have developed competence in a range of core construction PHC programs and structure and development skills; and 4) have developed the necessary understanding and knowledge to underpin and apply these skills. The program focuses on the development of the knowledge and skills to support good practice in Primary Health Care issues. Learning takes place in three main ways: 1) First through interaction with specialist staff and associates of the Ministry of Health of Iran and Medical Science Universities, who have extensive experience of design, implementation, development and analyzing PHC services; 2) through discussions with lecturers and other participants in team working groups; 3) the program incorporates field visits to a number of health facilities and organizations in different levels. The program is intended for the wide range of those who have the responsibility for designing and implementing primary health care policies. Participants are expected to cover their own travel costs, hotel, and subsistence as well as a fee of $1,350. Contact person: Hadia Samaha Karam, hsmaha@worldbank.org

* Regional Workshop on Health Sector Reform with a focus on Health Insurance in the North Africa. This 4 day workshop will take place in Tunis, March 28-31, 2005 and is co-organized by the Africa Development Bank, WHO/EMRO, and WBI/WB. The objective of the workshop is to have a better understanding of the reform experiences in the targeted countries and to identify further training needs in specific areas of health reform. The audience will include mid-level government officials from MOH, MOF, MOSA, NGO, Academia, Donor agencies from Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, and Syria. Contact person: Hadia Samaha Karam, hsmaha@worldbank.org

 3. Selected highlights from past 6 months (June - December 2004)

The LAC Regional Course on Flagship Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing is the 8th version of the Flagship course and took place in San Sula, Honduras from July 12-23, 2004. This initiative was a collaboration between WBI HNP, Bitran and Associates, and la Secretaría de Salud y del Programa de Reforma del Sector Salud de Honduras. With a total of 43 participants mainly from Honduras, the course was a success and very well received by all who participated. Contact person: Isabelle Rocha Pimenta, irochapimenta@worldbank.org

The Nigeria National course on Achieving the MDGs: Poverty Reduction, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform, was held from September 13-24, 2004, in Abuja, Nigeria. 35 participants, including very senior personnel attended including the Commissioner for Health, three Permanent Secretaries and several Directors. Generally, the participants were drawn from Ministries of Health and Economic Planning, State Planning Commissions, Government House and State Hospitals. Sponsors included: World Bank Assisted HSDP Projects (20 participants), UNFPA (12 participants), McArthur Foundation (1 participant) and two participants (from Federal Ministry of Health, and APIN Project) were supported by The Nigerian Network. The goal of this course was to improve reproductive health outcomes in Nigeria in the context of health sector reforms by strengthening the skills and capacity of key actors to develop and implement population and reproductive health programs that are more efficient, equitable and financially sustainable. The content of the course was in part updated from the Anglophone course which was delivered in June 2004 in Nairobi. The course was successfully customized to the Nigerian context, with specific sessions based on federal and/or state issues and data. Contact person: Meri Helleranta, Mhelleranta@worldbank.org

The Nigeria National Course on Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing - Training of Trainers This course, which took place from October 4-8, 2004 in Abuja, was organized in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health and Bank Operations. This course was customized through health sector reform experiences and lessons learned in Nigeria and African countries. It focused mostly on the Health Insurance Scheme which Nigeria is beginning to implement country wide and offered an integrated version of a one-week module from the “Flagship Core Course on Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing: Health Financing and Provider payment mechanisms.” The goal of the event was to provide decision makers from Nigeria’s thirty-seven states with analytical tools to assess strengths and weaknesses of the performance of their health systems and highlight practical skills needed to implement designed reforms. Ultimately, 57 participants from the 37 states, the Federal level and the private sector attended the course. State participants were either health commissioners, permanent secretaries, finance or planning directors. At the closure of the event, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal MOH and WBI was signed by the Permanent Secretary for the Federal MOH and a one year learning program has also being discussed. In addition, the Center for Health Systems Studies and Development was identified as a potential WBI partner. The Center was recently created and launched by the Federal MOH as a para-public capacity building entity for health sector reform. Contact person: Stephane Legros, slegros@worldbank.org

The LAC DL Course on Targeting Health Care Subsidies was the first WBI HNP e-learning course in Spanish. It took place from October 13-November 26, 2004 with a total of 17 participants. This pilot course was held for different countries in LAC (Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Dominican Republic), and it laid out a successful path for future courses. Contact person: Isabelle Rocha Pimenta, irochapimenta@worldbank.org

Global Core Course on Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Poverty Reduction, Reproductive Health, and Health Sector Reform was held in Turin, Italy from October 18-29, 2004. The sixth Annual Global Course on Population, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform went remarkably well. There were nearly 180 applications for the 55 spaces we had initially planned for. The course was attended by 54 participants from 30 countries. There was strong representation from WBI priority countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Kenya, Nigeria) as well as partner and donor agencies, including UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO, USAID, Swedish Sida, Canadian CIDA, Danida, DFID, and The Wallace Global Fund. All these participants brought their skills, experiences and wisdom together throughout the course through their active participation, which contributed a great deal to the success of this sixth Global Course. One very successful change was in the way we managed participant's action planning exercise on the final day. Five teams spent the final morning developing recommendations on how to improve the way PRSPs address a reproductive-health related issue (maternal health, youth, integration of RH and HIV/AIDS, RH in sector-wide programs, and gender issues). Each team prepared a short presentation of their recommendations and reported them back to a panel of Bank managers organized and chaired by Abdo Yazbeck (Kei Kawabata, HNP Sector Manager HDVPU, Akiko Maeda, HNP Sector Manager MNAHD, Elizabeth Lule, Senior Population/Reproductive Health Advisor, and Kees Kostermans, Lead Health Specialist/Acting Manager SASHD) during a closing live video session. Participants were very positive about having an opportunity to interact with Bank managers, who provided many useful comments and insights on their reports. Contact persons: Meri Helleranta, Mhelleranta@worldbank.org or Lan Joo, Ljoo@worldbank.org

The First Central Asia Flagship course on Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing (training of trainers) was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, from October 18-29, 2004. The face to face course was organized in partnership with the Health Management Training Program of the Reform Department of the Ministry of Health and the Hospital Association of the Kyrgyz Republic and WHO-Euro for the technical side. The course opened the HNP Capacity Building Hub for Central Asia-Caucuses based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for the low incomes countries of the former Soviet Union. It covered an integrated version of several Flagship modules: (i) Analyzing health system performance; (ii) Financing health care; (iii) Purchasing Health care; and (iv) organization of service provision. It also included many country examples from the region with a particular focus on the highly sophisticated Kyrgyz Model of Health Reform. Participants developed a 5-year action plan for their country as a final product of the course. 57 applicants attended the course from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. USAID through AED and ZdravPlus project financed 26 Central Asian participants. WHO-DFID Health Policy Analysis Project supported 12 Kyrgyz participants. WHO-EURO supported most participants from the Caucasus. The World Bank, UNICEF, USAID also enrolled several of their local staff for the course. Contact person: Stephane Legros, slegros@worldbank.org

Facing the Challenges of the Health Workforce in World Bank Operations This workshop was jointly organized by WBI and the HNP teams of the AFR and LCR Regions of the Bank on 28 October in Washington. More than 100 participants from International organizations, donors, major Washington-based NGOs, heard presentations from representatives of WHO, IDB, IMF and Bank staff on current knowledge and practices to address health workforce issues, particularly in Africa and LAC. Presentations and discussions can be seen on B-span, at http://info.worldbank.org/etools/bspan/EventView.asp?PID=1326&EID=654
Contact person: Gilles Dussault, gdussault@worldbank.org

Health Workforce Policy Development, a regional workshop, was held from November 8-12, 2004 in Accra, Ghana. Six country teams from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia participated. These were composed of a mix of representatives from the health, finance, civil service and education sectors. The face to face workshop was offered in collaboration with the Joint Africa Institute, which provided financial and logistical support, with the HNP Hub, and with the World Health Organization, which provided technical inputs. Contact person: Gilles Dussault, gdussault@worldbank.org

Workshop on Contracting between Mutual Insurance Societies and service providers, A regional workshop on Contracting between Mutual Insurance Societies and service providers, took place at the École Nationale d'Économie appliquée (ENEA), in Dakar, Senegal, between 22 and 27 November 2004. It was offered in collaboration with WHO (Geneva and AFRO) and ILO. 25 participants from 8 countries (Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal) attended. This is part of a series of workshops on Contracting in the health sector aiming at creating regional capacity to develop partnerships that improve access to health services. In addition to the topic addressed during that workshop, the series offers workshops on Contracting Policies in the Health Sector, and Contracting in between NGOs and Ministry of Health (see Highlights of upcoming events)

Hospital Reform and Financing was held from December 6-10, 2004 in Dakar, Senegal. In partnership with the Government of Senegal, WBI and the French Cooperation, the course had 115 participants attending from 14 African countries and France (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DRC, Cote D'Ivoire, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Chad, Togo). Although hospital reform is a major concern for all these countries, very different strategies have been adopted to drive and implement the reform. If some countries have made significant progress in better defining the role and mission of hospitals as well as their growing accountability, most of these efforts have been focused on output. As agents of change, participants will forward that a major challenge in the coming years along with the MDG agenda and evolving aid support, is to be more result oriented. Another conclusion from the event is that better use of existing resources and funding of hospitals is a core issue. Absence of clear policy on health care financing, weak criteria for budget allocation, civil servant status and inadequate rules for the use of public funds are major reasons for the performance of the hospital sector. Proceedings of the seminar will be available in May. Additional information can be found at: http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/hospitalreformor in French at http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/reformehospitaliere. Contact person: Eric de Roodenbeke ederoodenbeke@worldbank.org

 4. World Bank Institute Announcements

a. There will be a new World Bank Institute "Learning Catalogue" printed for distribution in January 2005. This catalog lists events taking place in multiple disciplines within the World Bank Institute including health, social protection, education, trade, urban management, private sector development, etc. If you would like a copy of this catalogue, please send an email to wbihdhnp@worldbank.org. If you have questions about a specific course, please do remember to list the title of the course and course dates or the course code, i.e. HNP382. The electronic version of the WBI catalog can be viewed at: http://www.worldbank.org/wbiprograms 

b. The events offered by the Health, Nutrition, and Population team are usually offered in coordination with partners in varied countries, please visit our website for more information concerning the registration process and contact persons: http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/healthandaids/

c. As funding is usually very difficult to obtain, we ask that participants who register be prepared to pay the expenses for travel, lodging, and in some cases, course fees. We no longer offer scholarships but ask that you contact the World Bank Office in your country for more information on possible funding sources.

 5. External Announcements

Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries

The largest generation of young people in history is now making the transition from childhood to adulthood. Eighty-six percent of this group, nearly 1.5 billion individuals, live in the developing world. The lives of many of these young men and women are profoundly different from those of their parents. While change itself is not new, globalization has accelerated its speed and scale.

Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries, edited by Population Council researcher Cynthia Lloyd and published by the U.S. National Academies' National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, reviews the available research and presents policy and program recommendations.

This report finds that, compared to the situation 20 years ago, young people are entering adolescence in better health and reaching puberty earlier. They are also more likely to attend school, more likely to postpone entering the labor force, and more likely to delay marriage and childbearing. These broad statements, however, capture only the average tendencies for young people in developing countries. Despite dramatic progress in certain areas, many young people still lack adequate schooling and good health-both of which are essential for ensuring their productivity and well-being.

Related information, resources, and a link to the pre-publication report (that can be reviewed free of charge) is located at: http://www.popcouncil.org/mediacenter/PresskitNAS.html. The final version of the document will be available in 2005.

Latin America and Caribbean Health Sector Reform Initiative - http://www.lachsr.org
This website guides the user in collecting and sharing information developed within and outside the framework of the LACHSR Initiative on Health Sector Reform (HSR) and health system strengthening in the Region of the Americas. Contact person is Dr. Priscilla Rivas-Loria: rivaspri@paho.org

PAHO position paper on the MDGs - Final paper found at:
http://www.paho.org/english/gov/cd/cd45index-e.htm

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