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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
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