Health Systems Strengthening and Global Governance | June 3-7, 2024

“I liked the course format, with a presentation on a topic, starting from the foundations to more complex elements. I particularly liked the fact that the presentations were thought of as a coherent and structured whole and made sense in the progression of the week. It was obvious that the course had been designed and prepared thoughtfully.”

– Health Systems Strengthening participant

COURSE FORMAT

Online only. Course will be live approximately 8:00am-1:30pm (Montreal time), with break, each day June 3-7, 2024. Live content will be recorded and available until July 1, 2024. Asynchronous content will be included as part of the self-directed learning for some of the sessions and will be discussed in the course.

This course is offered with the University of Ottawa.

DESCRIPTION

This course provides an overview of a systems for health approach to understanding global health inequity. A conceptual framework that integrates the health systems building blocks with the interaction of social determinants of health and policies in other sectors form the basis of this course. The interactive sessions will be led by a faculty expert and will have opportunities for small breakout sessions. There will be short presentations by students regarding their breakout session discussion and assigned readings.

COURSE DIRECTORS

Janet Hatcher Roberts, BA, MSc
Affiliate Scientist, Bruyere Research Institute, University of Ottawa
Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Ottawa
Adjunct Professor, Department of Community Medicine and Epidemiology, Centre for Global Health, Dalhousie University

Innocent Ntaganira, MD, MSc, MA
Member of the Advisory/Honorary Board of the Pegasus Institute

Srikanth Kondreddy, PhD
Adjunct Professor, University of Ottawa, School of Epidemiology and Public Health
Founding member and Vice-president of Policy and Research with UrbanHealth360

PREVIOUS COURSE FACULTY

• Orvill Adams - Adjunct Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa
• Alison Krentel - Assistant Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa; Scientist, Bruyère Research Institute
• Vijay Kumar Chattu - Research Fellow, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; Public Health Consultant- World Bank Group; Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health, University of Alberta; Senior Fellow, WHO Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation, Technology Assessment for Health Equity
• Kiran Saluja - Research Associate Bruyère Research Institute
• Don de Savigny - Professor Emeritus, Health Systems and Policy Research; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel
• Ron St John - Former Head of Emergency Preparedness at PHAC; Former Head of Emergency Preparedness at PAHO; Infectious Disease Specialist
• Vivian Welch - Editor-in-Chief, Campbell Collaboration; Investigator, Bruyère Research Institute; Associate Professor, School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa
• Peter Tugwell -Professor, University of Ottawa; Co-Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment for Health Equity
• Enis Baris - Professor of Practice, McGill University
• Jennifer Petkovic - University of Ottawa, Bruyere Research Institute
• Shehzad Ali - Canada Research Chair in Public Health Economics, University of Western Ontario
• Val Percival - Associate Professor, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University
• Fawad Akbari - Aga Khan Foundation Canada
• Ivy Bourgeault - Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa

Faculty are still being confirmed and there may be changes to the above list.

CONTENT

Over the past 20 years we have seen that having a strong health system is critical to realizing the improvements needed in health and health equity throughout the world. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) have also caused us to reflect on the positioning of health and health care within an intersectoral and intersectional vision of progress toward improved health and well-being. Now, more than ever, we see the impact of the global COVID pandemic not just in terms of health, but the impact, interaction and competing priorities of the related economic turn, governance, human resources, poverty, housing, gender and education which are creating, and will continue to create, significant inequities globally. Understanding and being able to incorporate a “lens” that examines and critically appraises a systems for health approach is essential for those working in the health and social policy domains, or in other policy domains, research or academia to support the move forward to better health and well-being of those who live and should flourish on this planet.

This course builds the participant’s ability to understand health systems. The course utilizes problem-based learning, case studies, comparative analysis, and practice exercises to engage learners in following topics:

1. Introduction to health systems and unpacking perspectives
2. Burden of disease and context of equity
3. Equity, gender and global health challenges
4. Sustainable and responsive human resources for health leadership
5. Global governance and COVID-19
6. Healthcare financing from a global perspective
7. Health systems perspective on infectious diseases in developing countries and resource poor settings

OBJECTIVES

• Understand and apply a health systems framework in a global health context
• Understand integrative and interdisciplinary approaches to service delivery, programs/interventions and policy development
• Understand approaches for assessing progress in improving global health
• Understand key concepts of equity, gender and human rights and the interrelationships with vulnerable populations
• Understand the principles and opportunities for global health research

TARGET AUDIENCE

This course is intended for health practitioners in a global context, researchers, and policy/decision makers to be able to integrate a systems for health and equity lens into their everyday work and activities. It is not critical for participants to come from a public health/healthcare background, but it does provide a foundational base to understanding some of the issues taught in the course.

ENROLMENT

Limited to 100 online participants.