The 2008 Berkeley Conference on the Global Health Workforce: From Evidence and Research to Public and Health Care Industry Policy

Location: Berkeley, California, USA Conference

Dates: April 4-5, 2008

Abstract Deadline: October 19, 2007

Jointly sponsored by:

-World Health Organization’s Department of Human Resources for Health
-World Bank Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Africa Region
-Kaiser Permanente’s Institute for Health Policy
-University of California, Berkeley’s Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research
-University of California, Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
-Global Health Workforce Alliance

The conference will highlight recent research advances that address the lack of evidence in shaping health workforce public and health care industry policy, both within countries and across regions. Topics include how health workforce size, skills mix, and distribution affect health care delivery, as well as policy recommendations that work toward achieving adequate supplies of health workers. New and existing data sources that measure the health workforce’s capacity to meet a population’s health needs will be discussed, as well as techniques for modeling workforce supply- demand dynamics. The conference will also address ways to measure workforce imbalances and the implications of health workforce demographic change and migration on overall supply. Finally, it will discuss how features of the health care delivery system can affect health workforce demand and training, access to care, and quality.

Call for Abstracts

We invite researchers to submit an abstract related to the following themes, which may be from a country-specific, regional, or global perspective. Submissions from international collaborations are highly encouraged.

*The use of new and existing data sources and tools to measure and monitor the health workforce’s (including public health workers’) capacity to meet a population’s health care demand and needs.
*The use of innovative measures and predictive models to analyze health workforce supply-demand dynamics, as well as wage levels (especially for low-skilled workers).
*The effect of health workforce skills mix, geographical distribution, mobility, and workforce/population demographics on health care delivery, access to care, and quality.
*The health workforce demand and training needs under various health care delivery systems (e.g. nationalized, private, public-private insurance mix, managed care).

Required abstract structure: title, author’(s) name/affiliation, theme (from above), background, objectives, data, methods, results, and public and/or health care industry policy implications (and word count; 500 maximum).

Email abstract to Amy Nuttbrock at amynuttbrock@berkeley.edu by October 19, 2007 (17:00 PDT).

Notification of abstract submission results will be communicated by December 14. If accepted, you will need to submit your manuscript by March 14, 2008. Funding for travel and accommodations will be provided for presenters.

Conference attendance is free, but space is limited. To register, please RSVP to Amy Nuttbrock at amynuttbrock@berkeley.edu or call 1-510-643-4100. Registration deadline is February 29, 2008