Financing the Education of Health Workers

"Technology is changing health care but the benefits will come from how health workers use it. It is their skills, wisdom, empathy and compassion that will make sure patients and populations benefit."

"Providing high quality of education programs for health workers is a central theme of the US 1 billion Health in Africa initiative that I manage at the World Bank/International Finance Corporation. The research done for this publication shows that delivering such programs are both affordable and feasible in low- and middle-income countries, not just in higher income contexts. Africa is in dire need of new and innovative approaches in education to offer to its youthful population, in order to reap the demographic dividends."

Alexander S Preker is an Executive Scholar and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, New York University and Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. He is one of the Commissioners for the Global Commission on Pollution, Health and Development, a Member of the Board of the USA HealthCare Alliance, and the Chair of the External Advisory Committee for the International Hospital Federation. He is the Editor-in-Chief for the World Scientific Series on Health Investment and Financing. He is also President and CEO of the Health Investment & Financing Corporation and a member of the board of several of the companies. He is a Founding Member of the New York Chapter of the Keiretsu Forum, an LLP with Keiretsu Capital and an active investor in early stage companies that have a potential high impact in the health sector. Prior to his current work, Mr Preker had a distinguished career, working at different times for International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and World Health Organization (WHO). From 2007 to 2012, Mr Preker was Head of the Health Industry Group and Investment Policy for the International Finance Corporation (IFC). In this position, he led a team of advisors and analysts that worked with policy makers, investors and health businesses in improving the market environment for private sector participation in the health sector in developing countries. Previously, as Chief Economist for the health sector, he coordinated the technical team that prepared the World Bank's Health, Nutrition and Population Sector Strategy in 1997. During the past 15 years, this strategy has provided a vision for the World Bank's engagement in the health sector in low- and middle-income countries, leading to an annual lending pipeline of about US3 billion and total portfolio value in the range of US15 billion. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor for Health Care Management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and an Executive Scholar at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

Hortenzia Beciu is director for the Middle East and Africa at Johns Hopkins Medicine International. She provides direction and oversight in project management, research and analysis, and she participates in Johns Hopkins Medicine International strategic planning. She has extensive experience in the health sector, working with governments, development partners and various health industry groups (hospital sector, pharmaceuticals, medical technology and information technology). Before joining the Johns Hopkins team, she worked at the International Finance Corporation as coordinator for its relations with the health industry and review of investment climate and business environment issues related to strengthening the role of the private health sector in emerging markets. She also led a large review on the financing and economics of scaling up education for health workers in low- and middle-income countries. She worked for several years at the World Bank, conducting high-level health policy reviews and designing, implementing and supervising health systems projects. She was the country lead for Sierra Leone, under a ministerial leadership initiative, conducting dialogue with the government, coordinating activities with other development partners, and providing technical support in such areas as health financing, donor coordination and health insurance. Jointly with the United States Agency for International Development and other partners, she helped the government of Liberia with its post-war health care reconstruction efforts. She also led one of the World Bank programs for scaling up education of health workers. Prior to her work at the World Bank, she worked with the Pan American Health Organization and the Institute for Health Services Management in Romania. She holds a medical degree from the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Romania and a master's degree in global health from George Washington University.

Eric Keuffel is a specialist in health finance and policy with over 20 years of experience in industry, policy and academic roles in health economics, finance and operations. Currently he serves as Founder and Principal at the Health Finance and Access Initiative. An expert on international health systems and pharmaceutical policy, he has worked as an Assistant Professor and Instructor at both the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and the Fox School of Business (Temple University). He has publications in both health policy and health economic journals/books and has presented his research at numerous international and domestic conferences. Keuffel has also served as a consultant to the World Bank/IFC and has extensive commercial consulting experience advising healthcare industry, government and institutional clients on strategy, policy and economic issues. He has taught health finance/economics, health policy and international health systems at the graduate and undergraduate level. Recent consulting engagements include work for multinational pharmaceutical clients, USAID, the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Princeton University (Magna cum Laude), his Master in Public Health (MPH) from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and his doctorate in Applied Health Economics and Managerial Science from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania). Prior funding sources include the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Sample Chapter(s)
Preface
Foreword
Chapter 1 - Transformative Learning in Health Education for a New Century: Interdependence in the Education of Health Professionals