TGHC Collaboration Workshop: Global Health System Strengthening

The Triangle Global Health Consortium (TGHC) is an interdisciplinary collaboration of academic, governmental, business and nonprofit organizations working together to establish North Carolina as an international center for research, training, education, advocacy and business development dedicated to improving the health of the world’s communities.

It is the goal of the TGHC, through our collaboration workshops and other strategic activities, to develop coordinated initiatives that can significantly impact global and domestic health. As such, the focus of our first collaboration workshop, held on December 2 at RTI International, was global Health System Strengthening (HSS). The day-long, invitation-only workshop consisted of an active, facilitated discussion between the specialists at each of the following TGHC member institutions (listed alphabetically): Duke University, Family Health International, IntraHealth International, Futures Group International, North Carolina State University and RTI International.

The goals of the workshop (click here for the agenda and speaker bio’s) were to:
• understand the unique contributions the members of the Triangle Global Health Consortium want to make in HSS going forward
• develop a shared vision & focus for innovation in HSS

E. Wayne Holden, Executive Vice President, Social, Statistical and Environmental Sciences, opened the workshop, calling for people to take off their institutional hats in favor of collaboration.

Maurice Middleberg, Vice President and Global Policy Director for the CapacityPLUS Project at Intrahealth International kicked off the presentations from the member organizations of the TGHC. These presentations served to profile the work being done in health system strengthening at 6 of the TGHC’s member organizations. The World Health Organization’s framework for action was used by each presenter as the common framework to communicate the HSS work being done at their organization. To view each presentation, click on a link below.

•IntraHealth International
Maurice Middleberg, VP, Global Policy Director, CapacityPLUS Project
•North Carolina State University
Lukasz Mazur, Extension Assistant Professor / Senior Engineer, Industrial Extension Service
•Duke University
Caroline Hope Griffith, Associate in Research, Duke Global Health Institute
Aisha Jafri, Associate in Research, Duke Global Health Institute
•Futures Group International
Farley Cleghorn, Senior Vice President & Chief Technical Officer
•Family Health International
Bruno Bouchet, Acting Director, Health Systems Assessment and Development
•RTI International
Susan Settergren, Senior Research Health Policy Analyst

TGHC member presentations were followed by an exciting panel discussion titled “Hearing from our Funders”, where advisors from the CDC, USAID, NIEHS and the World Bank joined us to talk about their priorities for HSS and to give us insight into changes happening as a result of President Obama’s Global Health Initiative. To view presentations or notes taken, click on a link below.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Michael Friedman, Senior Medical Advisor for Health Systems Strengthening and Team Lead for the CDC’s new Health Systems and Integration Branch within the Global AIDS Program
• U.S. Agency for International Development
Laura Harley Andes, Public Health Specialist
• National Institute of Environmental Health Science, National Instit...
Sally Tinkle, Senior Science Advisor
• The World Bank
Armin Fidler, Lead Adviser, Health Policy and Strategy, Human Development Network

Niamh Darcy, ICT Program Manager at RTI International, captured these highlights of the Q&A session, where our panel was asked some not-so-easy-to-answer questions.

After an intense morning of sharing information, thirty HSS specialists from six of the TGHC’s participating organizations came together in three break-out work groups to develop joint proposals for collaboration in:
• Group 1: Measurement and Evaluation
Chair: Johannes Van Dam, Director of Health Services Research, Family Health International
Speaker: Eckhard Kleinau, Director/Senior Technical Officer, Analysis, Information Management & Communications (AIM) Activity/USAID
• Group 2: Advocacy and Policy
Chair: Susan Settergren, Senior Research Health Policy Analyst, RTI International
• Group 3: Building Capacity and Sustainability
Chair: Rebecca Kohler, Vice President, Strategic Development and Communications, IntraHealth International

These proposals will go in front of the TGHC’s leadership council for consideration. It is likely that many if not all of the proposals will become part of a strategic vision and plan for collaboration amongst TGHC members going forward, and that many of the workshop attendees will be involved in the ongoing efforts of the TGHC HSS Specialty group.

To review the literature on the Impact of Health System Strengthening.