Call for working group members: Learning for quality health services

9 March, 2021

Quality of health services is critical to achieving universal health coverage (UHC). Overall, between 5.7 and 8.4 million deaths are attributed to poor quality care each year in low- and middle-income countries, accounting for up to 15% of overall deaths in these countries. Improving access to health services must go hand-in-hand with improving the quality of these services. Further, poor quality health services - particularly unsafe care - can decrease people's trust in the health system.

The WHO Global Learning Laboratory (GLL) for Quality UHC and Healthcare Information For All (HIFA.org) are pleased to announce a call for its Working Group on Learning for Quality Health Services. Working Groups (WGs) are convened to shape the technical scope of thematic discussions for the HIFA and GLL learning communities, spanning a collective 20,000 members ranging from health workers, policy-makers, sub-national health officers, civil societies, professional bodies and researchers and many others.

What is expected as a working group member?
* Collaboratively work to identify thematic areas of discussion with relevance to quality of care.
* Facilitate and participate in thematic discussions on the HIFA-knowledge platform.
* Synthesize insights from thematic discussions.
* Work with HIFA and GLL teams to translate the insights into learning briefs.
* Meet online as needed to adjust ongoing and planned activities.

What is the profile of working group members?
The ideal candidates should have grounded understanding of quality of care, and experience /knowledge of quality of care at different levels of the health system (national, sub-national/district, or facility level).

The 8-12 individuals that will form the working group will have a multi-disciplinary background. Selected individuals will work closely with the WHO HQ Quality of Care team and the HIFA secretariat. All working group members will serve on a pro bono basis. Individuals participating in this collaboration will have the opportunity to work with the WHO and HIFA teams to shape a global dialogue on quality of care; to moderate a global discussion on quality of care to inform country action;  catalyze peer-to-peer exchanges; and contribute to evolving initiatives to further the quality agenda

Interested? Please send an email to GLL4QUHC@who.int stating:
  *   Name, email and organization
  *   Summarize in a paragraph (no more than 250 words) why you are interested in joining the Working Group.

Deadline to submit is Friday, March 12 2021. The first meeting of the working group will be held late March. This phase of the project will continue to February 2022.

About the collaborators
The GLL aims to connect those involved in quality health service delivery by sharing knowledge, experiences and ideas; challenging ideas and approaches; and sparking new thinking for quality UHC. HIFA  is a global social movement to improve the availability and use of reliable healthcare information in low- and middle-income countries.