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The project aimed to strengthen national policy capacity in four low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) along the Belt and Road to expand and transform the health and social workforce for the achievement of SDGs.

Overall, the project enhanced intersectoral commitment, social dialogue and policy dialogue for health and social workforce investments and action. This was reached by improving health and social workforce data and evidence to inform national strategies, strengthening the capacity of policy makers and social partners to develop and implement national health workforce strategies, mobilizing resources and negotiating agreements to maximize the mutuality of benefits from international health worker labor mobility.

The main deliverables of the projects by country include:

CAMBODIA

• Revival and operationalization of the Human Resources for Health (HRH) Oversight Committee with its governance, functional, and operational capacity to lead the national HRH agenda, including during the period of COVID-19 disruptions.
• Major workforce policy and planning outputs, including a Workload Indicator of Staffing Need (WISN) analysis of health centre level facilities and the Annual Health Workforce Report 2020.
• Support to the development of the new Health Workforce Development Plan and the corresponding strategies for the new Health Strategic Plan 2022-2030.
• Development of an integrated strategic health workforce framework to enable the delivery of the 2030 Cambodian SDG targets and the government¡¯s long-term Vision 2050 agenda.

KYRGYZSTAN

• A Basic Health Workforce Planning Model to make projections and deliver better health workforce data and policies addressing current imbalances in the health workforce and other HRH planning challenges.
• Establishment of a taskforce with the Ministry of Health to improve primary healthcare and change its mode of operations, including revising the staffing scheme and workload standards and making amendments to the current regulatory legal acts.
• Development of the National Information System for Resource Management (NISUR) as part of the implementation of the target model for the national digitalization agenda.
• Revision and renewal of HRH regulations on norms and standards to minimize outdated and fragmented health workforce regulations and internal acts.

NEPAL

• Provision of technical assistance in the multistakeholder consultation and development, endorsement, dissemination, and implementation of the HRH strategy 2021-2030.
• Assessment of the workload indicators of staffing need (WISN) in nine health facilities of three provinces resulting in a policy brief and report on the workload requirements for primary health care centres and health posts.
• Consolidation and validation of data on all newly registered health professionals in the Integrated Human Resource Information System (iHRIS).
• Development of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) online modules on topics of infection prevention and control, aerosol therapy (oxygen and nebulization), communication, as well as a CPD guideline for nursing professionals.

SRI LANKA

• Establishment of an inter-ministerial steering committee to build consensus and a shared agenda on HRH development priorities, including dispute resolution among the state sectors.
• Training of 40 state sector health administrators and representatives of health sector trade unions on dispute prevention and dispute resolution, as well as 540 focal points responsible for maintaining provincial and district level HRIS-streamline data flow to provide real-time disaggregated data. This required the preliminary development of training manuals and guidelines.
• Development of the National Cadre Norms 2021, an evidence based operational guide for national and provincial health planners for the planning and implementation of health services in more than 1500 health facilities.
• Implementation of the National Health Workforce Accounts, which was instrumental in expanding disaggregated data collection at provincial and district levels.
• Support in the elaboration of the National HRH Strategic Master Plan 2022-2030, including an HRH agenda for the planning and management of more than 140,000 state sector health workers. The strategy and planning were endorsed by the end of the project.

Resources