Blog Archive
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Jan 11, 2010
Welcome to IntraHealth's Global Health Blog
Pape Speaking at Global Health Council Conference Welcome to IntraHealth’s Global Health Blog, a space for open discussion on the major issues facing the global health community. We will be sharing perspectives from the field, with a focus on the challenges and successes of health workers as we support the building of human resources, systems strengthening and equal access to high quality health services in communities across the developing world. We find ourselves at a critical juncture where we, the global health community, must further advance human resources for health knowledge and practice. Worldwide, the health worker shortage is over 4 million. The impact of that number increases exponentially when you consider how many patients each missing health worker might have helped every day. We at IntraHealth passionately believe that an appropriately trained, highly motivated, fairly compensated health worker is at the center of any functioning health system. Supporting health workers and the systems that support them is our core work. The ultimate goal is a more efficient and effective global health workforce that will reach... Read More » -
Jan 8, 2010
The Role and Value of International Organizations
As we enter into our 30 th year of operation, we at IntraHealth are reflecting on the evolution of our organization and the role of the wider community of international non-governmental organizations. Now, as funding levels from government and private sector are at all time highs, there is more discourse around the role of international organizations and increasing cynicism about their value—why not just fund local institutions directly? Aren’t such organizations just inefficient bureaucracies with bloated headquarters and high-priced staff? These are critical questions that we all need to be asking ourselves and finding answers that lead to improved ways of doing business. IntraHealth, like many global health organizations that have been in existence for decades, has always held true to the international development foundational principles of local ownership, capacity building of southern institutions and individuals, equal partnership, and mutual respect. We celebrate the increased attention and resources being invested in strong and vibrant southern institutions. We continually strive to invest more and more resources into the countries where we work. At the... Read More » -
Jan 6, 2010
Global Health and Open Source in Africa—Why Is It Important?
The term open source refers to software source materials or source codes made freely and openly available with permission to be redistributed, customized, repurposed and rebuilt, legally and most often without fees—as opposed to proprietary software where the codes are kept private, must be bought, and usually cannot be significantly modified by the user. Here’s a good definition from the Open Source Initiative http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd IntraHealth is an avid supporter of open source systems because we have found that they encourage collaboration, transparency and efficiency, while investing money into local capacity-building instead of software licenses. Open source allows for collaborative creativity as well as localized customization, and adaptation, while promoting independence and local enterprise. Even better, when significant contributions are made they can be shared openly and easily with others. According to independent market research , more than half of the world’s largest companies have implemented, are piloting, or are expanding their use of open source computing other studies put the number at 85% with continued... Read More »
