Subject: Sept IHD Global Staff Meeting Highlights
From: Diana Silimperi <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 13:44:51 +0000

Dear colleagues,

Thanks for joining us for the September IHD Global Staff Meeting. Attending the meeting were staff from 12 countries via webcast, several telecommuters, and staff from Cambridge and Bethesda.

The presentation slides and video will soon be available on AGI.

Highlights

•                    IHD working in 45 countries

•                    Total IHD staff 1,305 (1,107 overseas and 198 US-based); 43 new hires in Q1

•                    Division Overview – Projects:

o   36 Current Projects, ongoing work in 45 countries

Project offices in 33 countries, STTA in 12 additional countries

o   8 New Projects:

§  ADVANTAGE (sub)

§  AIDSFree (sub)

§  Gates Formative Research and Investment Case of PHC in Nigeria

§  Global Flu (led by USH)

§  HealthRise

§  Jordan Communication, Advocacy and Policy (J-CAP)

§  Kyrgyzstan TB

§  TASC4-Africa

o   7 Project Extensions/Ceiling Increases (in process): Georgia HSS, Ethiopia PHSP, Jordan HSS2, India Dimpa, PATHS2, Senegal HSS, Uganda IRS

o   2 Projects Ended: AZ-SHIP Azerbaijan, EEHR Albania

•                    Division Overview – New business to date in FY15

o   9 Proposals Submitted ($68.6M)

o   8 Awards ($73.9M+)

§  ADVANTAGE IDIQ (collaboration with IEG)

§  AIDSFree IQC (sub to JSI)

§  Gates Formative Research and Investment for PHC in Nigeria

§  CDC Global Flu (collaboration with USH)

§  HealthRise

§  Jordan Communication, Advocacy and Policy (J-CAP)

§  Kyrgyzstan TB

§  TASC4-Africa IQC

o   7 Extensions/Ceiling Increases ($71.6M)

§  Georgia HSS

§  Ethiopia PHSP

§  Jordan HSS2

§  India Dimpa

§  PATHS2

§  Senegal HSS

§  Uganda IRS

•                    Project Success Story: From Investment to Impact – Bold New Solutions for Financing Health Care in Kenya. Mbogo Bunyi, COP SHOPS Project / Kenya

Since 2003, Kenya has received significant USAID/PEPFAR support to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Health spending has increased from approximately USD$887M to almost $1.4B over the last decade. In response, HIV prevalence has decreased from 7.1% in 2007 to 6.1% in 2014. Furthermore, as much as 63% of people eligible are receiving life-supporting ART (up from 39% in 2007). However, despite valiant efforts by governments and the international community, the large gap in funding HIV services continues to grow because:

o   Treatment protocols continue to change and standards will continue to be set higher; newer, more expensive drugs and regimens will be introduced, and ART will be initiated earlier, putting more people on treatment for a longer period of time

o   Donor funding is predicted to decrease. Sustainable domestic sources of health financing must be identified to bridge this gap. Private health insurance is a potential source of this financing. However, the insurance industry faces challenges as evidence by low health insurance penetration at about 20%.

SHOPS is working with health insurers to overcome challenges associated with reaching informal sector workers through both supply and demand side approaches. This will increase the number of lives covered through private health insurance mechanisms. SHOPS Kenya HCF activities focus on generating data to develop innovative health insurance mechanisms; introducing capitation to the Kenyan market; and designing innovative channels to reach the target market.

To learn more about SHOPS Kenya work, contact: Mbogo Bunyi, Chief of Party, [email-masked]; Agnes Gatome-Munyua, Health Care Financing Advisor, [email-masked]; Josef Tayag, Health Insurance Advisor, [email-masked]

•                    Reputational Capital:

o   FY15 Q1Total: 56 (33% increase over FY14 Q1)

o   3 peer-reviewed journal articles accepted in Q1

o   Rena Kirsch, Sr. Knowledge Manager from Cambridge explained that Abt’s Reputational Capital Database stores and makes available information on all the external publications, presentations, and so much more that we do. The database serves as a source to share and learn from colleagues, can be searched for proposal and project purposes, and is mined by Abt’s corporate communications for external promotion purposes. As Rena says: “If it’s not there, it doesn’t count.” Remember it’s your responsibility to enter your own work in the database. The database can be accessed from AGI at: http://abtknowledge.cam.abtassoc.com/repcapdb/main.cfm. Direct any questions and suggestions to [email-masked].

o   Laurel Hatt, Abt’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) representative, explained the mission of the IRB to protect the rights, safety, and data of study participants, and ensure compliance with research ethics regulations. Complying with both Abt’s IRB and in-country IRBs is required. Direct any questions to [email-masked] or to [email-masked].

o   Contact: Thierry van [email-masked]

•                    Announcements/Upcoming Events:

o   Congratulations to Fall 2014 Abt Development & Dissemination (D&D) winners Alison Comfort and Jorge Ugaz!

o   Sept 30-Oct 3: Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, Cape Town, South Africa

o   Oct 17: IHD Townhall (US-based staff)

o   Oct 22-24: Global Conference on Social Franchising for Health, Mactan Island, Philippines

o   Nov 2-6: American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, New Orleans

o   Nov 15-19: APHA, New Orleans

o   Nov 19: IHD Quarterly Update (US-based staff)

o   Dec 17: IHD Global Staff Meeting

We look forward to “meeting” with you all again December 17, 2014!

(Sent to all IHD US & Field)