About

Despite the millions of donor funds focused on improving healthcare worldwide, health systems are failing to reach the populations they were built to serve across the developing world. In many cases, health indicators such as life expectancy, malnutrition, child mortality and HIV/AIDS infection rates have worsened over the last decade. Improving health care is not merely a matter of increased spending; without proper management, proper incentives, and the right measures of success, the resources available will not achieve the results intended.

On July 12, 2007 GBSN 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.

An article called "Managing for Better Health: a Framework for the Professionalization of Health Management in Developing Countries" came out of the fruitful discussion of the conference.
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Based on the lessons from the conference, GBSN is now carrying out a comprehensive survey of management education in three pilot countries: Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal which aims to identify strengths and highlighting gaps while documenting capacities of business schools and management training institutions. The Health Leadership and Management Training 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.

This survey will feed GBSN’s future program objective 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.

Agenda

Participants

Participants