Documents from The First Conference of the Asia-Pacific Action Alliance

on Human Resources for Health (AAAH)

28-31 October 2006, Thailand

Click for The 1st AAAH Conference 2006 Photos

Click for The Conference Proceedings [636 Kb]

10.00-12.00 Thailand National Health Assembly and the development of Thai Health Workforce Strategic plan

The AAAH participants observed the development of Thai Health Workforce Strategic Plan as part of the 3-day National Health Assembly at Impact Arena, Nonthaburi where over 300 participants and representatives from various sectors congregated to discuss national health policies. Simultaneous tranlation into English was provided.

Open file :  Thai National HRH strategic Plan

13.00-14.30 Discussion on the experiences of the development of regional and national strategic plan.

After listening to the Thai case in the morning, participants discussed and shared their experience on national health health workforce strategy development with panelists from Philippines and Bangladesh. Updates on the national HRH strategy development from other AAAH member countries were explored. In addition, representatives from WHO SEARO and WPRO described the contents of recently approved regional strategic plans and their relevance to national health workforce strategy planning. The session was moderated by Viroj Tangcharoensathien.

Open file : SEARO Presentation by Dr Myint Htwe

                     WPRO Presentation by Dr Nukuro

                     HRH Development & Management: The Philippine Experience by Dr Ronquillo

15.00 – 16.30 The HRH Framework and Tools

The objective of this informative session is to familiarize AAAH participants with the Health Workforce Framework, a simple but comprehensive technical framework that would enable countries to develop a concrete national health workforce strategy, through a presentation by Mario Dalpoz (and Jim McCaffery). In addition, Roy Pargas and James Witte demonstrated the latest development of the HRH Situation Analysis/Policy Development Tools which is an ongoing project under the GHWA's Task Force on Tools and Guidelines.

Open file :  HRH Framework by Dr Dal Poz

                    SoftPoDD Tools by Dr Pargas

16.30 – 17.00 Opening Session

Official opening of the AAAH Conference by Thailand's Minister of Public Health, Dr. Mongkol Na Songkhla, and the Regional Director of WHO-South-East Asia Region, Dr. Samlee Plianbangchang.

Open file : Welcome remarks by Director of IHPP-Thailand

                    Opening Remark by Minister of Public Health - Thailand

                    Remarks by Regional Director WHO-SEARO

19.00- 21.30 Welcome Dinner and Remarks:

While enjoying the dinner, participants were briefed about latest political development in health workforce from our regional and global partners. Suwit Wibulpolprasert welcomed the participants with a summary of AAAH development since the last meeting in August 2005. Tim Evans of the WHO-HQ conveyed the messages from the World Health Report 2006 and its recommendation including the WHO's plan for the Decade for Human Resource for Health. Neil Squires of the European Commission summarized the necessity of HRH Development in response to the HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria and the MDGs. In addition, updates on global movement on HRH were provided by Sigrun Mogedal from NORAD with Lincoln Chen/Francis Omaswa of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA).

8.30-10.00 Health Financing and Health Workforce

This session explored how countries can effectively set their health financing policies to strengthen health workforce system. It was a presentation and panel discussion by Viroj Tangcharoensathien and Tim Evans, members of the Health Financing Taskforce, an independent entity aiming to accelerate the achievement of full, fair and effective financing for health in developing countries.

Open file :  Financing HRH by Dr Tangcharoensathien

                    Financing HRH by Dr Evans

10.30-12.00 Non-financial incentives to support HRH retention, productivity and equitable distribution

In addition to financial incentives, non-financial incentives play important roles in workforce recruitment, training, and retention. There was a discussion on country experience from Sri Lanka, Pacific Island countries, and Nepal with contribution from Francisco Campos with his experience from Brazil. The session was facilitated by Myint Htwe.

Open file : Non financial incentives country exp from Sri Lanka

                    Non-financial incentives country exp from Brazil

13.00-14.30 HRH knowledge generation, management, and sharing

This afternoon session examined effective ways to increase production of relevant knowledge for health workforce planning, management, and development and to promote knowledge sharing both within and between countries. Experience at the global level was shared by Jim McCaffery on the development of the HRH Global Resource Center and Tim Martineau on compilation of the HRH Tools Compendium. In addition, representatives from China and Cambodia discussed country needs and gaps from their perspectives. The session was facilitated by Eric Friedman.

Open file :   HRH Tool Compendium by Tim Martineau [Go to website]

                    HRH Global Resource Center by Jim McCaffery [Go to website]

                    Human Resource for Health in China by Junhua Zhang

                    HRH Knowledge: Needs and gaps in Cambodia

14.30-16.00 HRH in response to AIDS, TB, Malaria, MDGs, and Pandemic Flu

The purpose of this session was to explore the implications on health workforce system of AIDS, TB, Malaria, MDGs, and pandemic flu. Participants from Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam shared their experience on current roles and limitations of health workforce development in addressing these challenges. Neil Squires was the session's moderators.

Open file : Indonesia's Experience on HRH in response to health threats

                    Myanmar's Human Resources for Health by Dr Tin Min

                    HRD in respond to AIDS, TB, Malaria and MDGs in Vietnam

16.30-18.00 Globalization/International Trade and implications on HRH: Supply, Demand and Migration

This session explored the implications of globalization and international trade on health workforce system in member countries. Presenters from the Philippines, Thailand, and India described their countries' situation and the countering policies and actions. Experience from other regions such as the African Platform, and the LAC Alliance in dealing with the issues was also shared. The moderator was Suwit Wibulpolprasert.

Open file : Globalization and International Trade: Implications on HRH by Prof Lorenzo

                   Globalization and Trade in Health Services by Ms Pachanee

8.30- 10.00 Regional Alliance/platform on HRH:

Various forms and activities of existing regional health network or alliances were explored in this session to provide examples for further discussion/decision regarding AAAH's structure and actions. Jennifer Nyoni of AFRO and Charles Godue of PAHO were the resource persons on African and Latin-american experience in network development to improve member countries' capacity in HRH policy development and system strengthening. Manuel Dayrit was the moderator.

Open file : The Africa Health Workforce Observatory

                   The network of observatories of HRH: the experience of the Americas

10.30- 12.30 Group work

Participants were divided into three subgroups based on their interest to discuss about AAAH and its (1) regional level activities; (2) activities to support countries; and (3) governing structure, and funding mechanisms.

13.30- 15.00 Presentation and discussions 1: AAAH work-plan for the next two years

Representative(s) from the first group presented their choices of regional level activities that AAAH should pursue in response to the priority actions identified in the August 2005 meeting. The second group described their list of activities by AAAH to support and strengthen all or selected group of its member countries. Comments and discussion on these proposed activity lists by other groups' members were encouraged. The moderator of the session was Francis Omaswa.

Open file : Group A Regional Level Activities

15.00- 16.30Presentation and discussion 2: AAAH governing bodies and the funding

To continue from earlier session, the third group presented their proposed structure and governing system of the AAAH. Further inputs from all conference participants were collated with the aim to have a consensual agreement on AAAH structure. Kate Bond was the moderator.

Open file : Group C AAAH Governance & Structure

16.30-18.00 AAAH in relation to other related regional and global mechanisms

Kathy Cahill, Neil Squires, and Kate Bond shared their thought on the AAAH and its expected contribution to regional and global HRH development. In addition, potential contributions of existing regional and global mechanisms towards AAAH development were discussed.

Open file : Kathy Cahill - HRH and Regional Networks

                   Niel Squire - EC and HRH framework

                   Kate Bond - Regional networks and AAAH

9.00 – 10.30 Finalize AAAH Work-plan, its governing structure and collaboration with GHWA, other alliance/platform, and development partners

Piya Hanvoravongchai and Zhang Junhua presented the final draft of AAAH workplan and governing structure based on inputs from earlier sessions for approval by conference participants. Suwit Wibulpolprasert faciliated the discussion on the draft.

Open file : AAAH Workplan 2007 - 2008

11.00- 12.30 The way forward

This session was a venue for general discussion on remaining/emerging issues related to the future of AAAH and its partners and stakeholders. It was moderated by Lincoln Chen

* HRH Policy Clinic

AAAH Participants had an opportunity to consult the health workforce experts on country-specific issues related to national health workforce strategy development and other health workforce policy. Resource persons were from the World Health Organization, European Commission, Global Health Workforce Alliance, HRH Tool Compendium, and HRH Global Resource Center, among others. The informal consultation took place during coffee breaks and lunch breaks of the 2nd and 3rd day. Sign-up sheets for specific resource person were provided.

#HRH Situation Analysis and Policy Development Tools

The HRH Situation Analysis and Policy Development Tools were available for evaluation and consultation by all participants at the Conference Computer Room in Krung Sri River Hotel throughout the Conference period.