December Workshop Focuses On Workforce Planning Software Development

On December 13 and 14, the Capacity Project's human resources information systems (HRIS) strengthening team and 24 leaders in the field of international health workforce planning came together to discuss the design of user-friendly software  for health workforce planning.  Up until now, planning models have only been available in notoriously difficult-to-use spreadsheets.  IntraHealth’s team of Open Source software developers will be working with this group of experts to build free software that will enable countries to:

• analyze their current health workforce
• project their workforces’ growth or decline into the future
• anticipate their future workforce needs
• model interventions to close any gap between the available workforce and future needs.

Funding from the World Health Organization (WHO) made the wide range of attendees possible.  Noted participants at the event included Dr. Tom Hall, Dr. Peter Hornby and Dr. John Dewdney—architects of the current “gold standard” workforce planning model. The World Bank provided the venue and support for the event. Other participants included representatives of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which funds the Capacity Project, officials from Ministries of Health and Ministries of Labor from several countries, as well as representatives from WHO and the World Bank.

The attendants agreed that WHO’s standard human resources for health (HRH) workforce projection model is the best model available, but recognized that its rich, complex depth of data frequently produces results that are difficult to fully understand. They anticipate the development of software that will make the model more usable. Participants suggested user-friendly software features such as guided help and simple initial levels of information that could lead to more complex levels if the data and user needs required it.

At the end of the meeting most participants expressed interest in continuing to work with the Capacity Project’s HRIS strengthening team. Avenues of collaboration will include advice on software design, testing and documentation writing. Dr. Eddie Mukooyo, Assistant Commissioner Health Services, Ministry of Health, and Dr. Piya Hanvoravongchai, Coordinator, Thailand Ministry of Health and head of the Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health, volunteered to help pilot software in their respective areas.

“If we can have a software that is easy to use, that can inform our decision makers, policy makers, then yes, you’ve addressed one of our key challenges that we’re having in Uganda. And we look forward to collaborating actively and will be available to participate at all levels of progress in the design and development of this software. And I hope that Uganda will be available, and we are willing, to have it as a pilot study for this software.” –Dr. Mukooyo

Comprised of IntraHealth staff, the HRIS strengthening team represents a flagship area of technical leadership for the Capacity Project.