05 May HRH2030 Launches New Activity in Timor-Leste to Enhance HRH Training Data
The USAID HRH2030 program announces the start of a new collaboration with the Timor-Leste National Institute of Health or Instituto Nacional de Saúde (INS) to increase capacity to create and use human resources for health training data to strengthen and develop the Timor-Leste health workforce.
Timor-Leste is a young country, working to rebuild its health sector since gaining independence in 2002. With a stronger health system, the Government of Timor-Leste will be better equipped to respond to current and emerging health issues, relieve inequities in the health system, and improve overall health outcomes of the Timorese people.
The nation’s current human resources for health (HRH) challenges are many. Timor-Leste lacks sufficient quantity, skill mix, and distribution of qualified health workers, resulting in inequitable delivery of and access to quality services. Some of the underlying factors contributing to these HRH challenges include limited quality and use of HRH data for health workforce planning; inadequate in-service training and continuing professional development; and limited performance management and support. HRH2030’s goal is to teach health workers to generate, share, and use high-quality data in ways that result in more strategic and data-driven health care decisions.
“With this assistance we can work better together to improve our training data and also help improve our human resources at National Institute of Health.”
— INS Executive Director Célia Alexandre Gusmão dos Santos
The idea is that if high-quality training data are generated and shared among HRH stakeholders through a sustainable information system and if mid-level managers’ ability to use the data is increased, then better and more strategic decisions for allocating resources will result.
“This is an important step forward for health care in Timor-Leste. I am proud that we have been able to implement this program at a time when it is needed most. Developing health workers is clearly essential for the security of the United States, Timor-Leste, and the entire world.”
— U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Fitzpatrick
This HRH2030 activity supports the Timor-Leste Health Sector Strategic plan. To ensure its sustainability, HRH2030 will support the Government of Timor-Leste to develop a five-year roadmap for national stakeholders to continue institutionalizing HRH training data use for decision-making beyond the life of the HRH2030 program.
Photo: A patient receives care at the Lamalai Health Post in Timor-Leste in March 2019. Photo credit: HRH2030.