York teams up with leading international development think tank to host training day

Hosting a day’s training event for the 2015 cohort of Health Fellows accepted onto the Scheme, this year’s successful event signals future collaboration between CHE and the ODI.

The ODI Fellowship Scheme is a two-year long placement for post-graduate economists and statisticians within government agencies in more than 30 developing countries. This year Health Fellows are being posted to Ministries of Health in Haiti, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Thailand, and Zanzibar.

Over two years, Fellows are responsible for a wide-range of work including: improving planning and budgeting systems; devising strategic responses to major challenges such as HIV/AIDS; preparing national development plans and budgets; and producing and analysing economic statistics.

Owing to the Fellows’ varied academic backgrounds, the CHE training day provides a general introduction to key themes in health economics to aid cohorts in their new roles.

Several economists from the ODI and its Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure (CAPE) also attended, with presentations delivered by Professor Maria Goddard, Professor Luigi Siciliani, Professor Karl Claxton, Jessica Ochalek, Miqdad Asaria and Ryota Nakamura, as well as Francis Ruiz and Laura Morris from NICE International.

Robin Sherbourne, Head of the ODI Fellowship Scheme, said: “CHE support was critical in helping our young professionals increase their knowledge and understanding of health economics in the short period of time they have before starting their postings in eight developing countries where health issues are so important. I am also hoping this initial support will herald broader cooperation between CHE and ODI in future.”

The network forged between CHE and Health Fellows will enable CHE researchers to provide support to Fellows during their placements in low- and middle-income countries, and offer greater collaboration opportunities between York and the ODI.

The University of York will host next year’s event for the 2016 cohort of Health Fellows.

Notes to editors:

• The ODI Fellowship Scheme is a two-year long placement within government ministries in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).  Open to post-graduate economists and statisticians, successful applicants are allocated to a specific ministry: Finance and Planning; Central Bank; Trade, Industry, Commerce and Regional Integration; Agriculture; Environment, Water and Climate Change; Health; and Education, as well as other regional organisations and statistics institutions. For more information visit: www.odi.org/fellowship-scheme and  http://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi_fellowship_main_web.pdf
  

• CHE would like to thank Robin Sherbourne at the ODI and Paul Revill at CHE for their support with organising the event, and wish all of the 2015 Health Fellows the very best in their forthcoming placements.