On July 12, 2007 M.E.R.C. convened its International Advisory Board for Health Management along with several other experts and practitioners in the field of health management for a one-day workshop. This workshop focused on best practices and lessons learned in teaching leadership and management to health professionals, and using Business Schools as a venue for strengthening human resources for health in developing countries. This was made possible by a generous grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

M.E.R.C.’s next step will be to carry out a comprehensive survey of management education in three pilot countries; identifying strengths and highlighting gaps while documenting capacities of business schools and management training institutions. This survey will also seek to understand the role of management training in various sectors and will provide a solid foundation of knowledge from which to build a program aimed at strengthening human resources for health.

Based on this, M.E.R.C.’s future program objective is to embed into a local institution the capacity to run executive management and leadership training programs for public, private and government leaders influencing health policy. Follow-up management training for health managers and administrators will increase the efficiency, productivity, and ultimately the quality and scope of health services in the developing world. Embedding the program at a local institution will result in greater relevance to local issues and ensure long term sustainability. The pilot will be designed to be readily scalable and expandable for use elsewhere, and the network of schools will serve as an effective vehicle for transferring lessons learned during the pilot phase.

Participants