adapting strong partnerships to leverage ebola’s spotlight on frontline health workers
TRANSCRIPT
@FHWCOALITION | FRONTLINEHEALTHWORKERS.ORG
FRONTLINE HEALTH WORKERS COALITION:
Adapting Strong Partnerships to Leverage Ebola’s Spotlight on
Frontline Health Workers
Who we are
Frontline Health Workers CoalitionBackground and history
• Working coalition launched in January 2012
• Mission: An alliance of United States-based organizations working together to urge greater and more strategic U.S. and global investment in frontline health workers in developing countries as a cost-effective way to save lives and foster a healthier, safer and more prosperous world
• Members: 36 US-based members including NGOs, trade organizations, advocacy campaigns, corporations
• Secretariat: Housed at IntraHealth International’s Washington office
Examples FHWC Analysis & CommunicationsWe’ve elevated focus on the frontline health worker…
Fact sheets, policy analyses and reports on key issues such as centrality of frontline health workers to ending preventable maternal and child deaths
Major communications efforts to communicate the impact of frontline health workers worldwide
Regular communications efforts to highlight impact of frontline health workers as central to building resilient health systems
Advocacy AccomplishmentsWe’ve catalyzed a movement for frontline health workers …
Provided crucial Policy
Analysis
Advocated for USG HRH
Leadership
Successfully advocated for the a global effort for a robust
strategy to guide global health workforce strengthening efforts from 2016-2030.
Galvanized cross-agency Commitments
Helped Galvanize and highlight new commitments across USG global health programs, including USAID Vision for
Health Systems, PEPFAR 3.0 HRH strategy, and health workforce action
package in GH Security Agenda.
Urged greaterLegislative
Action
Advocated for legislative reporting requirements for
USAID and PEPFAR to report efforts to strengthen HRH in
developing countries.
Developed analyses, recommendations and fact sheets
that have served as crucial resources for key policy questions.
StrengthenedAccountability
Advocated for targets and indicators on health workforce in
the Sustainable Development Goals
Ebola’s spotlight on health workers & resilient health systems
TIME Magazine honors health workers as their “Person of the
Year” in 2014 and the Ebola epidemic highlights the critical
need for global health workforce strengthening
Mainstream media and prominent journalists
develop strong interest in issues surrounding health
systems and workforce strengthening
FHWC’s response to Ebola Calling for resilient, sustainable workforce in West Africa and worldwideFHWC-commissioned costing analysis of scaling up of health workforce in West Africa
November 2014 policy recommendations for action in West Africa and globally
Report calling for a common definition & reporting on community health workers
Multifaceted communications efforts
In Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone:
• Increase support for local health workers on frontlines of Ebola fight
• Build a responsive and sustainable supply-chain management system
• Ensure a sustainable frontline health workforce by supporting training programs (FHWC- Commissioned Costing Analysis showed it’s a low-cost investment with high potential returns)
• Address stigma
Key recommendations to US government
Worldwide
• Provide new investments to help jumpstart country efforts to strengthen capacity of their health workforces to prevent, detect and respond to public health emergencies
• Ensure through continued robust investments in global health that Ebola doesn’t set back extraordinary progress in saving lives and preventing the spread of diseases
• Provide specific targets for key health workforce targets in the Global Health Security Agenda action package on health workforce
• Advocate for adoption of global strategy on human resources for health with concrete targets and financing recommendations
• Create a multi-year, costed, cross-agency USG strategy for increasing access to frontline health workers in developing countries with an implementation plan
Key recommendations to US government
• Impact of Ebola on health workers and health services—strong linkages to IntraHealth International’s mission of improve the performance of (and protecting) health workers and strengthening the systems in which they work
• December 2014: IntraHealth President/CEO Pape Gaye testified during Ebola-focused US Senate hearing
“As this Ebola outbreak has already started to fade from the consciousness of some, one of the crucial underlying conditions that helped the virus spread remains the lack of a sustainable and resilient global health workforce.”
• January/May 2015: delivered statements to the World Health Organization
“help countries transition from independent emergency response units into sustainable capacity-building efforts fully integrated into ministries of health with close connections with other ministries”
• Advocacy work informed programmatic responses; lack of information in three most-affected countries made it difficult for ministries and partners to coordinate effective responses
• Worked on the ground with ministries and other partners (especially UNICEF) to develop real-time solutions based on existing technologies and platforms, including mHero: a mobile phone-based communications system that connects ministries of health staff with frontline health workers via two-way SMS text messages
• mHero currently being scaled up and replicated to address both emergency and long-term needs
• Ongoing work through Global Health Security Agenda to help countries become more resilient, to prepare for and respond to crises
Member Alignment
• Health workers’ need for on-demand, accurate information
• Challenge of coordination among responding organizations
• Potential to share resources and learning
Shared Training Resources
• Training Health Workers for Ebola webinar series
• HRH Ebola Resource Center
• Connecting global resources to local audiences and actors
Photo: EC/ECHO/Anouk Delafortrie
• Advocacy within the implementer community
• Power of a unified approach • Need for health information – potential of
conflicting messages
• Ongoing need for coordination
Lessons Learned
Ingredients for Success• Flexibility: Built-in ability and willingness
among partners/members to adjust coalition/alliance work quickly
• Trust: Established relationships with key stakeholders gave FHWC and members ability for expertise to be trusted by policymakers
• Be Bold: Swift, bold response needed to call attention to issues you have long been advocating for when the issue has the spotlight
Lessons LearnedIngredients for utilizing existing resilient health systems partnerships to bring attention to crisis issue
• Long-term/short-term advocacy: How to adjust advocacy for long-term strengthening of frontline health workforce to immediacy of challenges in emergency like Ebola epidemic while not straying from mission? Examples of partnerships you have engaged with?
• Connecting local to global: How to connect on-the-ground realities in West Africa to global health policy and investments?
• Ensuring attention to the issues without exploiting them: How to call attention to critical issues without exploiting spotlight?
• Maintain interest/adjust advocacy after emergency: How to maintain interest once emergency disappears from the headlines – focus partnerships on deeper policy issues (i.e. GH Security)
• How to mobilize/prepare for next emergency: How to translate lessons learned for advocacy to build resilient health systems to prepare for next emergency?
ChallengesQuestions for discussion
Thank You
Vince Blaser, Frontline Health Workers Coalition [email protected]
Laura Hoemeke, IntraHealth International [email protected] Holloway, Frontline Health Workers Coalition
[email protected] Moore, mPowering Frontline Health Workers