STRENGTHENING THE ESSENTIAL PUBLIC HEALTH FUNCTIONS

E-Learning Course

Deadline for submitting applications is 15 November 2006

This e-learning course on "Strengthening the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF)" is held between 10 January and 8 May 2007, in close collaboration with the World Bank Institute and PAHO Human Resources for Health Unit, through the Virtual Campus for Public Health. The overall objective of the course is to develop leadership and competencies in the performance and assessment of the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF), as a critical component in strengthening national capacity in public health.

The course will be delivered as a web-based course, making use of the latest distance learning techniques, including virtual group work, action learning, discussions and debates and other participatory learning techniques.

Description:

The challenge in addressing MDGs related to health is to strengthen the health sector through better policies and institutions, improved household practices, improved service delivery, tackling human resources and pharmaceutical market constraints, strengthening core public health functions, and sustainable financing. Most governments are struggling with scaling up to achieve health-, nutrition- and population-related MDGs. This course will enable participants to apply methodology and diagnostic tools to assess and monitor EPHF performance at national and subnational levels; design plans of action and strategies to strengthen public health functions and capacities within a specific country context; analyze the contribution of health systems and EPHFs in achieving MDGs; employ strategies for encouraging participation of key stakeholders in achieving public health objectives and reorienting health care services; and identify health problems requiring cross-sectoral strategies for solutions.

Duration and Course Load:

Three-track thirteen-week course, 10 January - 8 May 2007, 8 to 10 hours per week. See below for more information about the tracks.

Dates and Cost:

Participants:

This course will target technical cadre of Ministries of Health, mid-level policy makers, World Bank staff, PAHO and WHO staff, other development agency and donor agency staff and other agents of change.

Language:

English only

General Course Contact:

Jo Hindriks at jhindriks@worldbank.org

Background of the Course
Objectives
Course Structure
Course Format
Application
Fees
Contact Information

Background of the Course:

At the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, the 189 states of the United Nations reaffirmed their commitment to work towards a world in which elimination of poverty and sustainable development would have the highest priority. The World Bank and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) along with numerous organizations are committed to an unprecedented global effort to work towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as part of their corporate mandates.

Since the Summit, it has become apparent that the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is at risk in many parts of the world. Nearly over a half of the targets and the MDGs directly or indirectly concern health and at present there are several alarming trends in health indicators that need to be addressed in order to achieve the MDGs. Moreover, poor health contributes to declines in per capita income and productivity, ultimately undermining these countries efforts to reduce poverty.

As the World Bank analysis of MDGs shows in the Health, Nutrition and Population Millennium Development Goals, Rising to the Challenges, effective interventions exist, the challenge is to strengthen the health sector through: stronger policies and institutions; improved household practices; improved service delivery; tackling of human resources and pharmaceutical market constraints; sustainable financing and the strengthening of core public health functions.

With regard to the latter, there is a growing consensus on the need to strengthen the public health capacity of national health systems as an indispensable condition to attain, and more importantly, to sustain the health MDGs. However, the consensus is broader in scope, as all nations, rich and poor have to address health challenges linked to their socio-epidemiologic and demographic profiles and trends, in a context of globalization.

PAHO, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Latin American Center for Health Systems Research (CLAISS), developed a set of 11 Essential Public Health Functions that captures the role of national health authorities in public health. An instrument was prepared to assess the performance of these functions and further applied in 42 countries and territories in the Region of the Americas, providing a rich experience and strong empirical basis for the development of specific plans of action.

Similarly, the World Bank recognized the importance of embracing the principles and practices of public health through a public health note and the adoption of a Poverty Reduction Strategy framework.

To ensure the relevance and quality of its content and delivery, the e-learning course has been designed and organized by leading experts in the fields of public health and distance learning. Along with these technical content experts, the course designers have ensured that the course blends technical knowledge and policy relevance with the right mix of interactivity and practical examples to stimulate the learner.

Objectives:

The overall objective of the course is to develop leadership and competencies in the performance and assessment of the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF), as a critical component in strengthening national capacity in public health.

At the end of the course participants will be able to:

• Apply the conceptual framework that supports the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF)
• Describe and analyze each of the EPHF in detail;
• Apply the methodology and diagnostic tools to assess and monitor the performance of the EPHF at the national and sub-national levels;
• Design plans of action and strategies to strengthen public health functions and capacities within a specific country context;
• Analyze the contribution of health systems and EPHF to achieve the MDG making use of the provided framework;
• Employ strategies for encouraging participation of key stakeholders in achieving public health objectives and reorienting health care services; and
• Identify health problems that require cross-sectoral strategies to address them.

Course Structure:

The course is structured around the 11 Essential Public Health Functions as identified by PAHO and will be clustered in an introductory module and 3 tracks.

• Introductory Module


• Track 1: Basis and Organization
  
  1. Health Situation Monitoring
  2. Surveillance and Risk Control
  3. Human Resource Development
  4. Emergencies and Disasters
• Track 2: Strategy and Policy
  
  5. Policy Development
  6. Regulation
  7. Health Promotion
  8. Research
• Track 3: Access and Quality
  
  9. Quality of Services
  10. Equitable Access
  11. Social Participatio
  12. Inter-sectoral Action for Healt

Course Format:

Students will take the course entirely through the internet (World Wide Web). Upon acceptance as participant you will be given a course ID and password, with which you will be able to access the course site. The format of the course relies heavily on 'action learning' which means that you will be required to actively participate in all online activities, which will mainly consist of reading the course content and posting assignments and reacting to other participants' postings. As most of the weeks' assignments are based on team work and joint products, it is imperative that you are able to log in and work on the course regularly so that your team can effectively produce the team products, and that you can adhere to deadlines. Active participation is required to qualify for receiving a completion certificate.

Technical Requirements: Participation in the course requiresthat you have the following items in place: an internet connection, the Internet Explorer browser and the Acrobat Reader, Flash Player (vs. 6 or higher)and a CD-ROM drive. More detailed technical requirements will be sent upon confirmation of participation.

The working language of the course will be English. Because of the nature of internet based learning, you will have to have well to excellent English writing skills, since all the communication within the course will be in written format.

Since this is an e-learning course there will be no travel involved. We require that you be able to set aside 8 to 10 hours per week to devote to the training. It is important that you get your manager's approval for this time commitment prior to applying to this course. We advise spreading the workload out over the week, working everyday on it for an hour or two, rather than doing it all in one day. This will enable you to actively participate in all discussions and respond to your fellow participants' postings in a timely manner and thus satisfying the completion requirements for this course.

Your feedback on the course will be used for future improvement of the course.

Applications:

On behalf of the course organizers, we take great pleasure in inviting you, or a member of your staff, to participate in this event. Please feel free to forward this announcement to anyone you think might be interested to participate or nominate a participant.

We would also like to invite you to nominate participants from countries you work with. We are particularly interested in receiving nominations from Ministries of Health, Finance/Planning, Parliament, etc, as well as NGOs, private sector organizations, the donor community and others working in this field. We encourage teams from each country to participate and collaborate in this course.

Please go to the online application form for this offering at: http://info.worldbank.org/etools/wbi_learning/sec/form_e.cfm?sch_id=HNP07-01-101
(Make sure you copy the entire URL, starting from "http" to "HNP07-01-101")

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 15 November 2006

If you have problems locating the electronic application form, please send an email to jhindriks@worldbank.org. Upon acceptance you will receive information how to log on to the course.

Fees:

The course fee is $750. here are no fee waivers. Please refer to sponsor agencies, such as bilateral and multilateral aid organizations in your country for financial support.

Contact Information:

For any other information please contact:

Jo Hindriks
Health and AIDS Team
Human Development Group, World Bank Institute, The World Bank
1818 H. St., N. W., Washington DC, 20433
Room J3-179; Mail Stop J3-302
E-mail: jhindriks@worldbank.org
Check out our Website: www.worldbank.org/wbi/healthandaids

Link to the World Bank Web based course.