The Health Policy Project has ended, but work continues under a new USAID five-year project, Health Policy Plus (HP+).
NEWS & VIEWS
Photo by Health Policy Project
June 18, 2015
KABUL, Afghanistan—On June 16, 2015, the Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health launched the Health Economics Exchange Forum (HEEF). HEEF is an online forum aimed at knowledge sharing across Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean region, set up by the Health Economics and Finance Directorate (HEFD) with the support of the USAID-funded Health Policy Project (HPP)/Afghanistan. The launch event was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Public Health, donor community, implementing partners, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
The website has three key features:
- Resources: Users can access health economics and finance publications, news, training opportunities, and useful links.
- Member Exchange: Users can start their own discussions about health economics and finance topics, ask questions to solve problems, and share collaboration and job opportunities.
- Facilitated Discussions: In these discussions, held over the course of several days and moderated by a HEEF technical facilitator, users can share their thoughts, best practices, questions, and ideas on specific health economics and finance topics.
During the event, Dr. Ahmad Shah Salehi, director of the Health Economics and Finance Directorate, welcomed the audience and spoke of his hope to make this website a vibrant online community with information and resources on health economics and finance for the region.
Dr. Ahmad Jan Naeem, deputy minister for Policy and Planning, shared his excitement for Afghanistan to spearhead knowledge sharing in this area, since the country and the region often lack access to data and best practices to improve healthcare.
Ms. Karla Fossand, health team leader of the USAID Afghanistan Office of Social Sector Development, congratulated the Ministry for this achievement. She saw great potential in HEEF as a platform to facilitate interaction among policymakers, NGOs, and civil society for informed decision making.
Dr. Mir Hashimi and Mr. Qiamuddin Sabawoon of HEFD explained the features of the website with a video presentation. They encouraged all audience members to sign up to the HEEF and to take part in the facilitated discussion on Afghanistan’s pathway to Universal Health Coverage (to be held online June 21–25, 2015).
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