Health Professional Education in the WHO Western Pacific Region

Date: 2013
WHO CC involvement: Professor John Daly, Michele Rumsey

An informal consultation on health professional education in the Western Pacific Region was held in Manila, Philippines 10-12 June 2013, facilitated by WHO WPRO. Universal health coverage is a challenge for many countries due to a lack of human resources for health. A major component of the Human Resources of Health Action Framework (2011- 2015), adopted by WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in 2011, recommends that education and training needs strengthening to develop the skills of a competent health workforce.

WHO CC UTS were present to discuss the work hawse have contributed on faculty development needs assessment in the region. The objectives of the workshop were to: Review and share experiences in health professional education in the Western Pacific Region; identify areas to improve health professional education; and identify areas of technical cooperation and follow-up actions.

To scale up human resources for health it is vital to align educational institutions and health service delivery as well as enhanced cooperation between the education and health sectors.

Thirteen countries in the Western Pacific region were present at the workshop with representatives from World Health Organization (WHO) from EURO, WPRO and AMRO, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and WHO Collaborating Centres and universities in the region.