Roundtable on role of frontline health workforce in India
In November 2018, the George Institute for Global Health will bring together government officials, academics, international agencies and civil society organisations for a Policy Roundtable on the Frontline Health Workforce in India.
India’s newly established Comprehensive Primary Health Care program aims to provide access to essential health care at the community level. Health and Wellness Centres at the village level are being resourced with Community Health workers, Multipurpose Health Workers and a Mid-Level Health Provider. The aim of this round table is to bring the frontline health workers to the forefront of the conversation on primary health care, especially in the context of epidemiological transition and focus on life-course approach to health. This round table will be the inaugural session to establish a consortium for researchers, policy makers and civil society working with frontline health workers for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control.
The focus of the roundtable will be to understand how the workforce is trained, remunerated, motivated and retained to deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC). We will aim to explore key challenges particularly in relation to the recruitment of MLPs and interactions of the frontline health workforce team for the delivery of CPHC. The timing of this meeting is ideal given that it has been 40 years since the Alma Ata Declaration, nearly one decade of the ASHA program, and the beginning of the CPHC initiative.
The roundtable will comprise an initial set of plenary presentations from key decision makers involved in the implementation of CPHC in India, as well as a couple of presentations reviewing progress in India and internationally toward the SDG #3 goal via primary care. This will be followed by an interactive Q and A session, in which all participants will be encouraged to join in discussion. The day will be concluded by summarising the discussion and drafting recommendations for research and policy.
