Ministering to health
More than a dozen serving health ministers from Africa, South East Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean gathered at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) this week for a three-day gathering that is a key part of a broader program to enhance the effectiveness of such officials in developing and middle-income countries. The aim of the Ministerial Health Leaders’ Forum, jointly convened with the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), is not to improve the ministers’ technical knowledge of health topics, but to help them become more effective leaders. The sessions, which ran through Wednesday, were participatory, allowing attendees to share their experiences and learn from each other as well as from faculty. “The principal purpose is to enhance leadership effectiveness of serving ministers of health with the goal of enabling them to carry out health reform in their countries in order to strengthen national health systems,” said Michael Sinclair, executive director of...