History

The Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health (AAAH) is a regional partnership mechanism established in 2015 to raise the international recognition of the need for global and regional action; and strengthen country health workforce planning and action.

Currently, AAAH has 18 members including ; 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’s 5 priority actions are the following: HRH advocacy, information monitoring, capacity strengthening, knowledge generation, and technical coordination.

AAAH is managed by a small Secretariat team under the guidance of the Steering Committee. Each country in the network has a focal point who acts as a coordinator between the AAAH and agencies within the country.

The Vision of the AAAH network is:

“Countries have strong HRH research, planning and management capacity to support the development of equitable and effective health systems in the Asia-Pacific region”

There are key actions to initiate HRH activities in the region, including advocacy and support for strengthening HRH planning and implementation; knowledge generation, management and sharing; and coordination and technical support with partners in order to build capacity for HRH research, planning and management.

2.1 Advocacy and support for strengthening HRH planning

AAAH website: www.aaahrh.org

AAAH newsletter: the AAAH newsletters have been published bimonthly since 2007 and are available for download from the AAAH Website.

Participation in other meetings/workshops: AAAH Secretariat staff and Steering Committee members have attended a number of HRH-related meetings to advocate the importance of HRH and create opportunities for collaboration with potential partners.

2.2 Knowledge generation, management and sharing

The AAAH Conference: the AAAH Conference had arranged on an annual basis in the second half of the year from 2006 to 2012. Then it has altered a biennial basis. It is an international forum aiming to facilitate the exchange of HRH knowledge and experience among the AAAH country members and international partners.

Knowledge sharing: Materials relating to the AAAH annual conferences e.g. proceedings from the 1^st-6^th annual conferences are posted on the AAAH website. The AAAH website also facilitates knowledge sharing through country based blogs, a register of researchers and their interests, and a web discussion board.

Knowledge generation, management and sharing: The 8th AAAH Conference 2014 was held in Weihai, China from 27th – 31st October 2014 on the theme of “Move Ahead: Strengthening HRH Strategies and Action towards UHC in Post-2015 era”.

2.3 Capacity Building

AAAH supports capacity building for a new generation of researchers to join the AAAH annual conference and make presentations and network with experts in other countries. At the 6^th annual conference, 72 abstracts were submitted representing all the AAAH member countries. Some of the selected presenters were newcomers to the field of HRH research and the AAAH Annual Conference.

Additionally, Sri Lanka is conducting a technical report on HRH under the priority country project, AAAH initiative, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.

AAAH has taken part in the development of the Asia Pacific Regional Network of Health Professional Training Institutes, supported by WHO/SEARO. Additionally, in 2012, there are 2 intersession activities which will strengthen in-country capacity in conducting research and create both in-country and network ownership and accountability:

1. Policy Mapping and Analysis of Rural Retention Policy
2. Policy Analysis on the Roles of the Public and Private Sectors in Health Professional Production/Employment