Background
The Asia Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health (AAAH)
In 2005, AAAH, a regional partnership mechanism, was launched by 10 founding member countries in response to international recognition of the need for global and regional action to strengthen country capacity for human resource for health (HRH) planning and management. The AAAH is part of a larger movement to enhance HRH development as articulated in Kampala Declaration and the Agenda for Global Action. The AAAH membership is gradually expanded. From 2005 to the present, membership has increased to 18 countries; 9 from the South East Asia (SEA) region including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and 9 from the Western Pacific Region (WPR): Cambodia, China, Fiji, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa and Vietnam. AAAH coordinates with partners to strengthen joint effort in advocating the HRH, provides technical support and augments country-level HRH development through regional collaboration. It aims to ensure sustained commitments addressing HRH needs through research, and contribution to policy development
The conference is a main platform that AAAH has organized for learning and sharing knowledge related to HRH and strengthening HRH capacities among the member countries. The conference was held every year between 2006 and 2012, and then every 2 years since 2014. With regard to the AAAH work plan in 2014-2016 and 2016-2018 based on the 9th and 10th AAAH conference’s conclusion in 2016 and 2018, member countries have identified three priority areas for regional collaboration on a) accreditation of health professional training institutes, b) HRH unit and coordinating function, and c) national health workforce account (NHWA) that are in line with the milestones in the year 2020 of the Global Strategy on HRH: Workforce 2030.
In addition to these milestones, AAAH members have also identified common priorities for HRH to be achieved by 2030 which include a) equality of access to health workers, b) halving dependency on foreign trained health workforce, and c) completing rate of health professional graduates. Rural retention strategies and assessment were also emphasized to help strengthen health systems in order to achieve universal health coverage (UHC).
The Global Strategy on HRH: Workforce 2030
Although health workers are recognized as important component of health systems, many lower middle-income countries had low level of investment in health workforce and have faced many challenges in terms of quantity, quality, accessibility, and retention of health workers. These affect access to health service and hamper achievement of UHC (SDG3.8). Therefore, to tackle HRH issues, the Global Strategy on HRH: Workforce 2030 had been developed since 2013 with an overall goal to improve health, social and economic development outcomes by ensuring universal availability, accessibility, acceptability, coverage and quality of the health workforce through adequate investments to strengthen health systems, and the implementation of effective policies at national, regional, and global levels. In 2015, the World Health Assembly had adopted the Global Strategy on HRH[1].
There are 13 milestones of the Global Strategy on HRH: Workforce 2030; seven of them were committed as fast track milestones to be achieved by 2020; while the remaining six milestones to be achieved by 2030.
The seven fast track milestones are:
- Milestones 1.1: By 2020, all countries will have established accreditation mechanisms for health training institutions.
- Milestones 3.1: By 2020, all countries will have inclusive institutional mechanisms in place to coordinate an intersectoral health workforce agenda.
- Milestones 3.2: By 2020, all countries will have an HRH unit with responsibility to develop and monitor policies and plans.
- Milestones 3.3: By 2020, all countries will have regulatory mechanisms to promote patient safety and adequate oversight of the private sector.
- Milestones 4.1: By 2020, all countries will have made progress to establish registries to track health workforce stock, education, distribution, flows, demand, capacity and remuneration.
- Milestones 4.2: By 2020, all countries will have made progress on sharing HRH data through national health workforce accounts and submitting core indicators to the WHO Secretariat annually.
- Milestone 4.3: By 2020, all bilateral and multilateral agencies will have strengthened health workforce assessment and information exchange.
Six milestones were determined to achieve in 2030. Four are national levels and two are regional and global levels, as follows:
- Milestone 1.2: By 2030, all countries will have made progress towards halving inequalities in access to a health worker.
- Milestone 1.3: By 2030, all countries will have made progress towards improving the course completion rates in medical, nursing and allied health professionals training institutions.
- Milestone 2.1: By 2030, all countries will have made progress towards halving their dependency on foreign-trained health professionals, implementing the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.
- Milestone 2.2: By 2030, all bilateral and multilateral agencies will have increased synergies in official development assistance for education, employment, gender and health, in support of national health employment and economic growth priorities.
- Milestone 2.3: By 2030, partners in the Sustainable Development Goals will have made progress to reduce barriers in access to health services by working to create, fill and sustain at least 10 million additional full-time jobs in health- and social-care sectors to address the needs of underserved populations.
- Milestone 2.4: By 2030, partners in the UN Sustainable Development Goals will have made progress on Goal 3c to increase health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of health workforce.
The 10th AAAH conference in 2018 in Hanoi had discussed, updated progress and drawn lessons on implementing the Global Strategy on HRH2030 among member countries as well as identified its challenges and potential solutions to overcome. The main recommendations were highlighted on rural retention, building infrastructure (e.g. HRH database and tracking system), heath workforce competency (e.g. standard curricula, career pathways, transformative learning, and license exams), and domestic and international collaboration (e.g. bilateral agreements) among all stakeholders to mitigate HRH migration.
The 11th AAAH conference planned for 2020 is an opportune time for AAAH members to recognize roles of nurses and midwives on health system; review if the 2020 milestones were fully or partially accomplished in their respective countries; and identify challenges and solutions if they are not accomplished.
With reference to the seven fast track milestones, AAAH will prioritize discussion on milestones 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, and 4.2. The agenda will focus on the achievement and identifying challenges in the four selected fast track milestones, what concrete actions are required for implementing 2030 milestones, the solutions to overcome main HRH issues experiencing among AAAH members (e.g. international migration, rural retention, domestic education and training, and roles of private sector on health service provision). This will also strengthen the HRH networking across institutes, researchers, policymakers and international development partners in the Asia Pacific region so as to reach the successful implementation of the HRH strategies.
Theme
Accelerate Progress towards Achievement of 2020 and Actions for 2030 Milestones of Global Strategy on HRH
Objectives
General objectives
The 11th AAAH conference aims to update achievement of 2020 milestones (especially milestone 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, and 4.2), to identify unaccomplished 2020 milestones of the Global Strategy on HRH: Workforce 2030 in the Asia Pacific region, its challenges and solutions to address them, and to share good practice on HRH strategies, implementation, and solutions to address challenges of HRH 2020 milestones and main HRH issues in the Asia Pacific region and plan for implementing 2030 milestones of the Global Strategy on HRH: Workforce 2030 by AAAH members.
Specific objectives
- To update the 2nd review of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel on its relevance and effectiveness, and review progress of implementation of the Code in AAAH member countries, in particular bilateral and/or multilateral agreements in relation to international recruitment of health personnel
- To review the achievements of 2020 milestones (1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3), focusing on milestones 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, and 4.2 in respective AAAH countries, identify challenges and propose solutions to accelerate and sustain progresses.
- To discuss strategies and concrete actions for 2030 milestones; in particular rural retention, increasing domestic education and training capacities in order to halve inequalities to access a health worker and minimize dependency on foreign trained health professionals.
Venue
Novotel Yangon Max, Yangon, Myanmar
Date of Side Meeting
9 August 2020
Date of Conference
10 – 12 August 2020
[1] https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/250368/9789241511131-eng.pdf;jsessionid=8D4178AD2FE2D346BA2635414960F32E?sequence=1
Conference Program
Date | Time | Topic / activity | |
SIDE MEETING | |||
DAY BEFORE CONFERENCE
9 August 2020 |
09.00-12.00 | Focal point meeting:
Discussion on achievements of 2020 milestones (1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3), identify good practices and challenges, propose solutions to accelerate and sustain progresses |
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13.00-16.00 | Side meeting organized by development partners:
- HRH 2030, USAID (TBC) |
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16.00-17.30 | Meeting of AAAH’s Steering Committee, Organizing Committee and development partners | ||
MAIN CONFERENCE | |||
DAY 1
10 August 2020 |
08.00-08.30 | Poster Presentation: Round 1 | |
08.30-10.00 | Session 1: Opening ceremony
Opening addresses: · Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region (To be confirmed) · Minister, Ministry of Health and Sport, Myanmar (To be confirmed) · Dr. Tran Thi Mai Oanh, Chairperson of AAAH Steering Committee AAAH award ceremony: · Keynote speech by AAAH awardees |
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10.00-10.30 | Coffee break | ||
10.30-12.30 | Session 2: 2020 International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife: Nurses and midwives for achieving UHC and SDGs
Moderator: Keynote speakers:
Panelists:
Discussion:
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12.30-13.30 | Lunch
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13.30-16.30 | Session 3: Updated review of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel and effect of bilateral and/or multilateral agreement
Chair: Presenters: · Dr. James Campbell, WHO HQ (TBC): Outcomes of the 2nd review of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel from Expert Advisory Group (EAG) · OECD (TBC): Situation and trends of international migrant of health personnel in OECD Country presentation: Situation of international migrant of health personnel, and success and challenges of bilateral and/or multilateral agreement on international recruitment of health personnel and health system
Reflection:
Discussion or Q and A |
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19:00-21:00 | Welcome dinner (TBC) | ||
DAY2
11 August 2020 |
08.00-08.30 | Poster Presentation: Round 2 | |
8.30-09.30 | Session 4: Global achievements of 2020 milestones of the Global HRH Strategy: Workforce 2030 and movement towards 2030 milestones
Chair: Dr. Tran Thi Mai Oanh Keynote speaker: Dr. James Campbell, WHO HQ (TBC) Presenters: Regional achievement · Dr. Tomas Zapata, WHO SEARO (TBC) · Dr. Hazarika Indrajit, WHO WPRO (TBC) |
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09.30-10.30 | Session 4 Cont.: Country achievement of 2020 milestones of the Global HRH Strategy
Moderators: Panelists: · Representatives of countries from SEA and WPR: Accreditation mechanisms for health training institutions (Milestone 1.1) Lesson learned about: 1) What have been achieved? How were they implemented? What are the enabling factors for these achievements? 2) What have not been achieved? What were the lesson learn? What are the barriers for unachieved milestones and proposed solutions? Reflection:
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10.30-10.45 | Coffee break | ||
10.45-12.30 | Session 4 Cont.: Country achievement of 2020 milestones of the Global HRH Strategy (Cont.)
Moderators: Panelists: · Representatives of countries from SEA and WPR: Inclusive institutional mechanisms (Milestone 3.1) and HRH unit (Milestone 3.2) Lesson learned about: 1) What have been achieved? How were they implemented? What are the enabling factors for these achievements? 2) What have not been achieved? What were the lesson learn? What are the barriers for unachieved milestones and proposed solutions? Reflection:
Group discussion of participants (working group):
Q and A |
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12.30-13.30 | Lunch
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13.30-17.00 | Session 5: Equalities in access − rural retention strategies and domestic production
Chair: Presenters: · Dr. Tomas Zapata, WHO SEARO: Synthesis case studies on best practice of rural retention in SEA countries (TBC) · Xx [to be identified]: 3 case studies on rural retention strategies · Xx [to be identified]: Progress of policies on scaling up domestic production to reduce reliance on foreign trained health professional and increase rural retention · Dr. Manuel M. Dayrit, Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, Philippines: Progress of private sector’s roles on domestic production and rural retention Reflection:
Group discussion of participants (Working group):
Q and A |
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DAY3
12 August 2020 |
08.30-10.45 | Session 6: Health workforce registry and National Health Workforce Account (NHWA): Core indicators and the use of HRH data (milestone 4.1, 4.2)
Chair: Presenters: · Dr. Khassoum Diallo, WHO HQ: What are core indicators of NHWA? Why are they important and how to select them to support health policies? Updated report of NHWA of SEA and WPR · Xx [to be identified]: How to use HRH data for formulating health policies Country presentations: Update on NHWA and how to utilize HRH data to formulate health policies and its challenges in national level · One country from SEA · One country from WPR Reflection: Dr. Khassoum Diallo, WHO HQ (TBC) Discussion and Q and A |
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10.45-11.00 | Coffee break | ||
11.00-12.00 | Session 7: Contributions by development partners in implementing the Global Strategy on HRH: Workforce 2030 (milestone 2.4)
Moderator: Dr. Suwit Wibulpolprasert, International Health Policy Program Foundation, Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Foundation, Thailand (TBC) Panel discussion: · WHO representative: How to accelerate the progress of the Global HRH Strategy on HRH · ADB representative: Contribution to accelerate implementation of the SDG’s 3c goal in health workforce · USAID representative: Contribution to accelerate implementation of the SDG’s 3c goal in health workforce · JICA representative: Contribution to accelerate implementation of the SDG’s 3c goal in health workforce Discussion or Q and A |
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12.00-13.00 | Lunch | ||
13.00-15.30 | Session 8: Accelerate implementation of 2030 milestones
Chair: Dr. Tin Tun, Deputy Director General Department of Human Resource for Health, Myanmar (each country’s commitment) Group discussion: · Priorities and how to accelerate implementation of unfinished 2020 milestones and 2030 milestones · Group presentation Conference wraps up by AAAH Secretariat: · Reflection and commitment from countries and partners towards 2030 milestones |
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15.30-15.45 | Closing ceremony | ||
15.45-16.00 | Coffee break and Bon voyage | ||