Training

A core part of the mission of the Institute for Health Policy is to strengthen capacity in health systems and health systems management in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. In support of this, the Institute is able to act as a resource centre for training of health professionals, and for assisting training activities of other organisations. Currently, the Institute undertakes a number of activities in the training field. These include providing internships for undergraduate and graduate students, supervising theses of post-graduate medical students, and organising special courses and training visits for senior health managers and professionals. The Institute is also a founding member of the Asia Network for Capacity Building in Health Systems Strengthening (ANHSS), which brings together nine regional institutions and World Bank Institute in a joint collaboration to deliver training courses and knowledge products to strengthen regional capacity in health systems.

The Institute welcomes requests at any time from university students who wish to arrange internship experiences. These are particularly well suited for students who wish to further their interests in health policy and health economics related fields, by participating in the Institute's activities. Internships can provide an opportunity to strengthen analytical skills by working with real data, research an emerging policy issue, research and review the literature on a contemporary policy topic, and assist with on-going research projects. Given the Institute's portfolio and interests, internships can also provide unique opportunities for international students to apply cutting-edge analytic techniques or policy analyses to emerging issues in a developing country context. Examples of research projects that have been undertaken by recent interns include an international review of low-fertility trends and policy responses to develop policy implications for Sri Lanka, and an analysis of non-communicable disease mortality trends in Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Internships can be arranged as part of a required academic internship or practicum, or on a more flexible basis. In the past, most interns have been students at universities in North America, Europe and Australia, who have been pursuing masters degrees in health-related fields, such as public health, health economics, etc., but the Institute is also able to host doctoral students who wish to conduct doctoral research in Sri Lanka in areas of interest to the Institute. The Institute has a substantial resource base in terms of data sets and on-going research activities, which lend themselves to designing tailored student research projects.

Graduate and under-graduate students who want to undertake an internship at the Institute should contact us indicating their current academic status and affiliation, when and what type of placement they are interested in, and their specific interests if any.

The Institute provides on request specialised training or resource persons in fields where the institute has strong competencies, such as in health services management, health economics, health equity and health accounts, and the Institute is always interested in opportunities to share the results of its research through training events. Owing to its unique combination of staff with close links and experience of Sri Lanka's health services and its research expertise on the Sri Lankan health system, the Institute is also particularly well placed to provide foreign health professionals with in-depth exposures to different aspects of Sri Lanka's health system.

A key part of the Institute's training efforts is its involvement in the Asia Network for Capacity Building in Health Systems Strengthening (ANHSS), which brings together nine regional institutions and World Bank Institute in a joint collaboration to deliver training courses and knowledge products to strengthen regional capacity in health systems. Within ANHSS, the Institute is responsible for managing the Health Equity Cluster, which is tasked with delivering training courses and knowledge products related to health equity. For this, the Institute is able to draw on the expertise of the wider Equitap network. The first course from the Health Equity Cluster was delivered in The Philippines in 2010, and further courses are planned in coming years.

Recent examples of training programmes and events organised by the Institute include:

• MD Medical Administration Training
  Being accredited by the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) University of Colombo as a training unit, IHP entertains the MD Part II candidates in Medical Administration on a regular basis. The trainees identify the supervisor under whom they intend to work during their tenure at IHP. Senior Fellows Dr. Reggie Perera and Dr. Shanti Dalpatadu are the supervisors and guide the post-graduate trainees during their attachment. They are the future senior health managers of the Ministry of Health. The duration of training is one month. >>More...
• Training for Economics undergraduates
  IHP extended its training mandate to incorporate undergraduates reading for BA in Economics degree in an internship programme. Under this programme final year undergraduates of the University of Colombo who are following BA in Economics degree will be offered three-month student internships at IHP. The prospective trainees will undergo full-time training at IHP where they will acquire hands-on experience in statistics, health economics and issues pertaining to health policy. This programme operates as a joint arrangement between the Economics department of the University of Colombo and IHP.
• WHO Bangladesh NHA Training 2013
  A five-day training workshop on health accounts reporting for members of the Bangladesh National Health Accounting (BNHA) Cell was held from 16-20 September 2013 in Colombo. Main themes covered included an introduction to NHA and System of Health Accounts (SHA) frameworks and classification systems, design and execution of private hospital insurance and donor surveys and data coding and analysis using excel and STATA programs. A special session on tracking expenditure by type of disease was also conducted. . >>More...
• ANHSS Flagship Course on Equity and Health Systems, Tagaytay 2010
  This was the first course delivered by the ANHSS Health Equity Cluster. IHP was responsible for managing the course development and delivery. A team of international experts delivered a one-week course focused on sharing and building the knowledge of participants in the concepts of health systems equity, the indicators used to track equity, and the potential tools and interventions available to improve health systems equity outcomes. . >>More...
• Malaysia MOH NHA Training Course
  The Institute organized this customized training course for four staff from the NHA Unit of Malaysia MOH. IHP staff from its Health Expenditure Unit provided training in how to develop, improve and finalise national health accounts data. The training covered use of STATA, production of SHA tabulations, mapping processes and other areas relating to national and international classifications. This course was designed with the Malaysian National Health Accounts in mind, and also considered country specific issues. . >>More...