Cross-posted from: Reproductive Health E-Newsletter <reprohealth@lists.worldbank.org>
Call for Applications - Basics of Health Economics e-learning course in English
DURATION AND COURSE LOAD: 5 Weeks - 8 to 10 hours per week
DATES: 12 November - 17 December 2008
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 1 November 2008
PARTICIPANTS: (Health) Professionals
REGIONS TARGETED: Global
COURSE FEE: $200
ORGANIZERS: The World Bank Institute
LANGUAGE: English only
General Course Contact: Ms. Jo Hindriks; jhindriks@worldbank.org
For more information please go to our website:
http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/healthandaids/elearning
Click on the "Basics of Health Economics" link to see more information
And a link to the application form.
Some quotes of our past participants:
*"I really liked the learning experience. I had expected that an online course will be a passive learning experience, instead, it was
interesting, inspiring, with vibrant communication with other participants, the trainers provided feedback, it was not passive at all! I really wish I had been able to keep up for the entire time. (...) I am amazed at how incredibly well the course used the advantages of technology." *"I am about to write on the relevance and recommendations of a women's health and economic empowerment initiative, and what I have learnt here will enable me do it brilliantly!"
*"Thank you very much for this course. It has helped to solidify for me
So much of my daily work and made many concepts more clear."
*"You always led us to think a bit more practical and more structured. I learned a lot and my thoughts have been restructured in my head through this course. You provided us with very good tools."
Background of the Course:
In every country (and in many sub-national structures such as states and provinces), health economics plays, or should play, an important role in critical policy and operational decisions.
These decisions include:
a. The appropriate role of government, markets and the private sector in the health sector;
b. resource allocation and mobilization functions critical to addressing equity and efficiency of public spending;
c. resource transfer mechanisms to hospitals and health care providers and the incentive systems that underlie them;
d. organizational structures at the system level and the linkages between the levels;
e. organizational structures at the facility level;
f. mechanisms to change behaviors of the population at large and health system providers in order to achieve better health.
Health economists can contribute to better decision-making. Long term capacity building efforts, through degree programs in universities,
Should develop the human capital needed in health economics to address needs. But short- and medium-term needs cannot be met through deeper human capital investments through universities. Furthermore, health economists, even when they exist and are well trained, are not always part of decision-making structures in ministries of health. A clear gap exists for training and empowering, policy and operational decision makers on how health economics can contribute to strengthening the effectiveness of health systems by efficiently and equitably addressing the needs of the population.
Objectives
1. Expose participants to potential contribution of health economics to decision making in the health sector. At the end of the course participants can:
a. Use the economic rationale arguments to determine what government should or should not do;
b. apply economics to improve allocative efficiency in the health sector;
c. analyze economic arguments to help improve technical efficiency in the health sector;
d. explain how economics can help improve equity in the health sector.
2. Introduce participants to the language of economics and health Sector reform so they can be more effective communicators when working with the Ministry of Finance. By the end of the course participants can:
a. Correctly use the tools on market failures to justify the role of the public sector;
b. apply the different dimensions of efficiency to ensure a larger return to investments in the health sector.
Course Structure:
The course consists of ten modules, divided in three clusters.
Cluster 1 asks the question - "Why Health Economics?" It attempts to answer this question by introducing the concepts of Equity (module 1) and Efficiency (module 2).
Cluster 2 delves into what markets are and how they are different in the Health Sector. Modules 4-7 deal with the concepts of markets, supply and demand, and reasons why market would not function well in the health sector.
Cluster 3 then asks - "Who pays for what?" Modules 8-10 are concerned with health financing mechanisms (Module 8), health insurance (Module
9), and funding and remuneration in the health sector (Module 10).
Course Format
The course will be fully web-based. Given the need for "just in time" training, the course will be self-paced, with exercises, examples, case studies and self-tests. The students will be organized in time-bound cohorts that allow students to interact with other students through a discussion forum. The working language of the course will be English. Since this is an e-learning course there will be no travel involved. We require that you be able to set aside 8 to 10 hours per week to devote to the training.
The course targets non-health economists that contribute to the policy And operational decision making in the health sector. These would include:
a. Ministry of Health (MOH) staff at the policy and operational decision making levels in central and decentralized units;
b. Ministry of Planning staff working on the health sector;
c. Ministry of Finance staff working on the health sector;
d. academicians and technical consultants that support the above three groups;
e. civil society advocates that manage or support policy dialogue and monitoring in the health sector;
f. journalists that cover the health sector;
g. international organizations staff that work on the health sector.
Applications
On behalf of the course organizers, we take great pleasure in inviting you, or a member of your staff, to participate in this event. Please feel free to forward this announcement to anyone you think might be Interested to participate or nominate a participant.
We would also like to invite you to nominate participants from countries you work with. We are particularly interested in receiving nominations from the country PRSP teams, Ministries of Health, Finance/Planning, Women's Affairs, Parliament, etc, as well as NGOs, private sector organizations, the donor community and others working in this field.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 1 November 2008
Please apply online for this offering at:
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/wbi_learning/sec/app_form.cfm?sch_id=HNP09-01-237
Nota Bene:!!!! Make sure you copy the entire URL, starting from "http"
To "=HNP09-01-237" Some email clients insert linebreaks which will cause the above link to malfunction. Just copy and paste everything into your browser's address bar to remedy this situation. If you still have problems locating the electronic application form, please send an email to jhindriks@worldbank.org.
Upon acceptance you will receive information how to log on to the course.
Fees
The fee for this course is $200.
For any other information contact:
Jo Hindriks
mailto:jhindriks@worldbank.org