On December 13-14, the Capacity Project brought 24 global leaders in health workforce planning together to collaborate on the design of user-friendly software for workforce planning.

Participants came from USAID, WHO, World Bank, Asia-Pacific Action Alliance, Pan American Health Organization, Global Health Workforce Alliance, Africa Health Workforce Observatory, universities and ministries of health and labor. Funding from WHO made possible the range of participants; World Bank provided meeting space. Participants agreed that WHO’s health workforce projection model should be used as the basis for the software, and compiled a list of recommended features. The Capacity Project will use this input to develop iHRIS Plan—free Open Source software that will enable countries to analyze the health workforce, project for growth or decline, anticipate needs and model interventions.

The software will be released in June 2008 and piloted in Tanzania and Uganda.

January 2008