TRAINING -- The World Bank Institute is pleased to announce:


The 2013 Global Flagship Course on Health Systems Strengthening and Sustainable Financing:
The Challenge of Universal Health Coverage
Course dates: December 9-18, 2013
Course Location: Tokyo, Japan
Application deadline: TBD

Applications are submitted online: [http://wbi.worldbank.org/wbi/events] Link - TBD by July 2013

For further information please contact:
Ms. Ramona Tabang, email: rtabang@worldbank.org - For logistics questions
Ms. Joy de Beyer, email: jdebeyer@worldbank.org - For course content questions

The WBI 2013 Global Flagship course on "Health Systems Strengthening and Sustainable Financing: The Challenge of Universal Health Coverage" targets high-level and mid-level health and finance policy makers, development partners and other key stakeholders. It uses a practical and comprehensive framework for understanding health systems and their performance, and a structured approach to developing health system reform policies to improve system performance. It provides a unique opportunity for senior government officials and development partners to explore key issues in health financing, payment systems, organizational change, regulation and influencing provider/client behavior. The course engages participants using world class faculty, case-based learning, and peer to peer interactions to provide a dynamic and enriching 8-day learning experience.

Course Background

Many countries and agencies are interested in or strongly committed to the goal of universal coverage in health. This eight day course will apply the Flagship analytic framework to enable structured and strategic thinking about what it means and what it takes to move health systems towards universal coverage.

Policy makers from ministries of Health and Finance, development partners, and other stakeholders will engage together in systematic analysis of the challenges, opportunities and potential risks associated with using different policy levers to move health systems towards universal coverage. The course approach and purpose is not advocacy but analysis. During eight days of intensive interaction with peers and the Harvard and WBI faculty, participants will apply technical instruments to assess where their health systems are relative to their coverage goals, the determinants of progress and health system performance, and feasible policy options.

The course starts from the premise that Universal Coverage is not an end in itself, but a means-a means to better health outcomes, financial protection, and user satisfaction. There are many possible paths towards Universal Coverage. A country's starting point - defined by its existing patterns of financing, service delivery and financial protection mechanisms, as well as each country's economic, political and social situation - determines which directions are feasible.

Participants will consider the extent to which different groups in the population have access to the health services they need, and their levels of financial protection when using those services. The course will emphasize that what really matters is not coverage "in principle" or "on paper," but the actual, effective availability of health services, taking into account the costs to users and payers, and service quality/effectiveness. The course will also address the important role of prevention and health promotion -- the healthier the population, the more feasible and affordable it is to expand towards UHC.

The Flagship framework takes participants beyond the design of health systems and their financing, to also consider important ethical and political issues, and the different interests of the main groups and stakeholders affected by health policies (e.g. health care providers, patient groups, international drug companies, private sector entrepreneurs, etc). Most importantly, the Flagship approach focuses attention on implementation issues, such as organization and management, regulation, the design of payment systems, incentives for behavioral change, and the capabilities that need to be in place for successful implementation of different policy options.

Content

The course will use a mix of presentations, discussions, and case studies. Additionally, group work sessions will give participants the opportunity to apply the course concepts and content to the specific situation in their own countries; and to interact with and draw on the experiences of other participants/countries and the Harvard and WBI faculty. Participants should end the course with a clearer sense of the options, constraints, opportunities and priorities in considering the next major steps towards Universal Coverage.

Topics/themes that will be discussed during the course include:

•Why the focus on Universal Coverage?

•What Universal Coverage involves and its relationship with ultimate health system outcomes

•Different possible pathways to Universal Coverage

•The Flagship framework - enhanced to include the health system "building blocks," applied to the analysis of pathways to UniversalCoverage

•Ethics and the political economy of Universal Coverage

•Intermediate outcomes: quality, efficiency and access

•Financing options for Universal Coverage

•Paying and reimbursing providers

•Expanding coverage and the design of benefit packages

•Setting priorities and controlling expenses

•The importance of health promotion and prevention in making UHC feasible

•Improving performance in the public sector to expand coverage

•Universal Coverage and the private sector: contracting and regulation

•Leadership for implementing change

About the Harvard School of Public Health Faculty

Peter Berman
Adjunct Professor of Population and International Health Economics
Department of Global Health and Population

Michael R . Reich
Taro Takemi Professor of International Health Policy
Department of Global Health and Population, USA

Marc Roberts
Department of Health Policy and Management
Department of Globah Health and Population