Prepared by: Dr. Musa Ajlouni January, 2010 - World Health ...

6.Governance for HRH6.1 HRH policies and plansJordan, as any other countries, has a formal cycle of health policy formulation andplanning with a logical sequence of steps. The National Health Strategy for 2008-2012 ,which was set by the High Health Council, identifies national health priorities,which lead to sectoral and sub-sectoral policies, which are then translated intosectoral and sub-sectoral allocative plans or programmes of work, and finallybecome operational or activity plans. The Human Resource Development (HRD)policy is part of the general health policy. Thus, the linkage between overall healthand HRH policies is therefore ensured, and HRD is recognized as being crucial andcentral to health systems development.The main principal HRH policy areas as presented in the National Health Strategyfor 2008-2012 were: 14Management issues – Development of performance based incentive system forHRH, assessment of HRH management, establishment of HRH Observatory,development of national plan for HRH management, development of job descriptionmanual for HRH in MOH as first stage.Institutionalizing of post service training – development of national continuingeducation programs for all categories of HRH, development of in-service and abroadtraining plans.Rational production and education of HRH – forming of national committee toestimate the needs for HRH, development of policies that are designed to ensurethat the health personnel produced are consistent with the needs of the country, aplan for educating and training the required numbers and types of health personnel.A national stakeholders meeting to secure sufficient support for HRH developmentheld in June 2008 with WHO facilitation from H.E. the Prime Minister, H.E. theMinister of Health, HHC Secretary General, directors of private hospitals, thepresidents of health professions associations, NGO's and academic institutions.During this meeting there was national consensus on the need for implementing oneconsolidated and comprehensive national HRH strategy, and standardization of theHRH policies, management functions and practices in the field. As a key product ofthe national stakeholders' meeting, a national HRH Task Force was formed with adecree from the Prime Minister of Jordan and terms of reference was developedaccordingly (annex 1). Since it was established, the HRH National Task force hasbeen meeting on a regular basis to address and solve pressing issues pertaining toHRH in Jordan. 3766