WHO-CDC Collaborating Center for Global Public Health Workforce Development – Progress and Possibilities

In March 2006, sponsored and supported by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), CDC was designated as a WHO Collaborating Center for Global Public Health Workforce Development (WHO-CDC CCGPHWD). The collaborating center focused on evaluation, information dissemination, research, provision of services, and human resources training. Initial members included long time global health training programs such as the Field Epidemiology/Laboratory (FETP/L) program and Sustainable Management Development Program (SMDP) and partners from across the agency including Global Aids Program (GAP), Division of Reproductive Health, Global Health Communications and Division of Laboratory Systems. This session describes the accomplishments and challenges during the first designation period 2006 -2010 and describes the updated plan for 2010 – 2015. The CC now resides in the Center for Global Health (CGH). CDC has global program assignees in 54 countries and more than 1500 locally employed staff. The updated work plan proposes to identify best practices in CDC-sponsored global workforce activities and to develop workforce assessment tools to use in CDC's country-specific plans. The Collaborating Center will continue to convene discipline specific educational events focused on epidemiology, laboratory systems, and sustainable management which build capacity for a broad range of public health programs. The presentation addresses the importance of coordinated approaches to building workforce capacity as a strategy in health systems strengthening. The challenges of establishing and maintaining cross-agency collaboration (CDC) and cross – sector engagement (PAHO and WHO) on complex issues like global workforce and human resource systems development is discussed.