First preparatory meeting of the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health takes place in Recife, Brazil
Geneva, Recife - 16 September - “Health is the number one concern of the people of Brazil, and we look forward to welcoming the international community to Recife to advance the global debate on health workforce issues.” – said Governor Campos, of Pernambuco State, Brazil.
The first preparatory meeting of the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health was held on 13-14 September in Recife, Brazil. Select Alliance Board members, high-level officials of the Government of Brazil, WHO and PAHO representatives, select member organizations of the Alliance and other country and agencies representatives participated at the meeting to chalk out early plans and processes for the landmark forum on HRH, which will be held from 10 – 13 November, 2013, at the Pernambuco Convention Centre in Recife, Brazil.
The preparatory gathering provided an opportunity to identify the theme of the Forum, which will relate to the health workforce dimension of universal health coverage. The Government of Brazil, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) will be patrons of the Forum, while the Alliance will be its convener. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in addition to the Government of Brazil, WHO and PAHO, are among the partners who have already committed to support the event organization. A process has been initiated to identify other co-hosts and partners of the conference. Dr David Evans, acting Assistant Director General for Health Systems and Services at WHO, said “WHO fully supports the Third Global Forum on HRH as a critical platform to further the understanding of and building the commitment for the health workforce actions required to achieve universal health coverage”.
Over the two day period, the delegates met with the Governor of Pernambuco State - Eduardo Campos and with the Secretary of Labor and Education Management in Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr Mozart Sales, who shared the perspective of the Brazilian Government on health workforce development issues, and expressed whole-hearted commitment to the organization of the event. Dr Sales explained that “Brazil has the biggest universal health coverage health system in the world: we are keen on sharing our extensive experience in health workforce development, and also to hear examples of innovation and best practice from the rest of the world.” The delegates also attended a graduation ceremony of over 1,000 community health workers in Pernambuco State, and had the opportunity to hear perspectives of Brazilian community health workers on their work in support of advancing health care coverage of priority health care prevention and treatment services in their country.
Over the following weeks and months, the Alliance Secretariat, in collaboration with the Government of Brazil, patrons, co-hosts and Alliance members and partners, will facilitate a participatory process to develop the event programme and related activities. Relevant information will be regularly disseminated through the Alliance website, newsletter and other relevant mechanisms.
One of the key responsibilities of the Alliance, also reflected in its new strategy 2013-2016, is to convene a regular Global Forum on Human Resources for Health. The First Global Forum on Human Resources for Health (Uganda, 2008) resulted in the development of a global roadmap for HRH development (the Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action); at the Second Global Forum (Thailand, 2011) countries and stakeholders reconvened to review progress made, and renew their commitments through an outcome statement that called commitment for increased investment, sustained leadership and adoption of effective HRH policies.
