HEPNet project
Training materials on resource allocation, health sector reform, decentralisation, health care financing, policy analysis and access to health care (HEPNet project)
Background
Due to the limited capacity to undertake health economic analyses and the perceived need to develop and sustain a critical mass of people with relevant expertise in the African region, a key strategy to meet this need was to develop capacity through sharing resources for training, particularly training materials and expertise.
Collaborators and funders
This rich collection of training materials has been developed through the experiences of the authors in teaching and training around a variety of issues including planning, budgeting, resource allocation, health sector reform, decentralisation, health care financing and policy analysis. Many of these case studies draw on research experience and have been successful elements in formal training programmes for developing country audiences. Some were developed with a grant from the World Bank Institute under the Flagship Program on Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing.
Target audience
The materials can be used for a diverse set of target groups, but are primarily aimed at current and future health sector managers. They can be used for a one-week short course for health sector managers, or on an ad-hoc basis in post-graduate programmes such as Masters in Public Health programmes. In this case, individual case studies may be used where they meet a need within an existing Masters’ module, or in the case of the training materials on access to health care, the entire set of materials could form the basis for a new Masters module focussing on equitable access issues.
Use of materials
These may be used freely by any public training organisation on a not-for-profit basis (i.e. the materials may not be used for financial gain) provided that the author is acknowledged.
Training materials on resource allocation, health sector reform, decentralisation, health care financing, and policy analysis
- Case studies on planning, budgeting and resource allocation
- Case studies on health sector reform: preparatory analyses, capacity issues, monitoring & evaluation
- Case studies on decentralisation
- Case studies on health care financing
- Case studies on policy analysis
1. Case studies on planning, budgeting and resource allocation
Case studies on planning, budgeting and resource allocation
“HEUtown district: planning and resource allocation”
by Di McIntyre
Objectives
- To develop skills in undertaking a situation analysis, including:
- Evaluating the distribution of health care resources between health services;
- Evaluating the distribution of health care resources between geographic areas;
- Assessing staff workload patterns;
- Evaluating utilisation patterns
- To develop skills in health service planning, with a focus on resource allocation.
Download .pdf files:
“Resource allocation to regions and districts in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa”
by Di McIntyre
Objectives
- To demonstrate the process of resource allocation decision making;
- To develop a better understanding of equity in the geographic distribution of health care resources;
- To identify the indicators of relative need for health services that could be included in a resource allocation formula;
- To highlight the importance of identifying a realistic and appropriate time-frame for resource redistribution;
- To consider complementary actions needed to translate budgetary shifts into real redistribution of resources and health services on the ground.
Download .pdf files:
2: Case studies on health sector reform: preparatory analyses, capacity issues, monitoring & evaluation
Case studies on health sector reform: preparatory analyses, capacity issues, monitoring & evaluation
“National Health accounts and their use in informing health sector reform”
by Di McIntyre and Charlotte Muheki
Objectives
- To “demystify” the process of National Health Accounts (NHA) data collection and matrix compilation;
- To provide insights into data sources for NHA and highlight potential problems with some data sources;
- To develop skills in extrapolating certain expenditure estimates and in compiling NHA matrices;
- To highlight potential areas of double-counting when compiling NHA matrices;
- To develop skills in analysing NHA data to assess health system performance and inform health sector reform initiatives;
- To illustrate how non-financial data can assist in obtaining a more comprehensive health system analysis.
Download .pdf files:
3: Case studies on decentralisation
Case studies on decentralisation
“Country profile case study: assessing the rationale for, and forms of, decentralisation”
by Lucy Gilson
Objectives
- To review the differing experiences of selected countries with respect to their rationale for initiating decentralised health management and the types of decentralisation initiated;
- To compare and contrast experiences of the countries profiled with participants’ own experiences;
- To provide analytical frameworks for understanding different types of, and approaches to, decentralisation.
Download .pdf files
“Decentralisation drivers: What are they and what influence do they have on the objectives and form of decentralisation?”
by Lucy Gilson
Objectives
- To identify some key forces promoting and opposing decentralisation;
- To review the interests and concerns of different actors in relation to decentralisation;
- To consider the range of explicit and implicit objectives for decentralisation;
- To explore the trade-offs between particular objectives for decentralisation and the form it takes.
Download .pdf files
“Role play: Decentralisation and human resources development”
by Stephen Thomas
Objectives:
- To understand the importance of effective central government to a decentralisation programme;
- To understand that decentralisation is not just a once-off transfer of power but a process of continual development of a new system;
- To evaluate the appropriate roles and responsibilities of different levels of government in human resource development in the decentralised health sector.
Download .pdf files
4: Case studies on health care financing
Case studies on health care financing
“Role play: mobilising resources in a rural, low-income country context”
by Lucy Gilson with adaptations by Di McIntyre
Objectives
- To critically examine resource mobilisation alternatives for the health sector, on the basis of theory and country experience;
- To gain a detailed understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of alternative resource mobilisation strategies (tax-financing, user fees, community financing, health insurance and promotion and regulation of the private sector).
Download .pdf files
“Integrated health care financing approaches – household perspective: case Study from Burkino Faso”
by Jane Goudge and Veloshnee Govender
Objectives
- To strengthen/consolidate an orientation towards household concerns amongst policy makers and planners;
- To understand the types of economic burdens households have to cope with as a result of illness, and potential livelihood effects;
- To understand various coping strategies that poor households use
Download .pdf files
“Kenya: Policy development and implementation of user fees”
by Stephen Thomas
Objectives
- To consider technical design features and the process of implementation in the adoption of a new user fee policy;
- To consider ways in which design and implementation could have been improved.
Download .pdf files
“Health insurance: rural health care in China”
by Jane Doherty and Khethisa Taole
Objectives
- To provoke discussion about the factors influencing the likely success of community pre-payment schemes;
- To consider possible solutions to some of the problems raised.
Download .pdf files
5: Case studies on policy analysis
“South African social health insurance development in the 1990s: how design influenced actors’ positions”
by Lucy Gilson
Objectives:
- To use the South African experience of SHI development in the 1990s to:
- Understand the influence of actors over SHI design and implementation;
- Explore the types of SHI objectives and design details likely to impact on different actors;
- Consider the formal and informal mechanisms that give actors influence in policy development;
- Provide a foundation for determining the types of strategic actions that can be used to support SHI development.
Download .pdf files
“Stakeholder analysis exercise”
by Lucy Gilson
Objectives:
- To use the South African experience of SHI development in the 1990s to:
- Undertake a stakeholder analysis;
- Consider the influence of actors over policy change;
- Consider how stakeholder analysis can be used in developing strategic action to support policy change.
Download .pdf files
“Country group exercise: social health insurance development: stakeholder analysis”
by Lucy Gilson
Objectives
- To undertake a stakeholder analysis focussing on SHI development/implementation in the participant countries;
- To identify strategies that can be applied in taking the next step in SHI development within each country;
- To identify critical information needed to finalise strategy development within each country;
- To seek a common understanding amongst the different actors within the participant country groups of their own objectives and concerns in relation to SHI development, as a foundation for relevant action on returning home.
Download .pdf files
More information about these training materials.
Back to the top of the page Latest News
- New journal article: Moving towards universal coverageposted on 01 March 2010
- New information sheet: Who benefits from health care?posted on 24 February 2010
- New brochures about accessing health careposted on 16 February 2010
Latest Blog Posts
- The costs of HIV health careposted on 28 January 2010
