Our dear colleague and cherished friend Gilbert Kombe passed away unexpectedly early Friday morning, November 6th, 2009, at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C. Gilbert is survived by his wife, Karin Theophile Kombe, a son, Adrian Kafita, and daughter, Emily Porter, of Takoma Park, Maryland.

USAID's Africa Bureau hosted a Health Systems 20/20 panel on November 24, 2009 to discuss the impact of increased development assistance on national investments in health in developing countries. Financing is a key element of sustainability, a concept that is getting much needed attention from the United States government through PEPFAR's partnership frameworks and as an operating principle in the Obama administration's Global Health Initiative. This topic is also very timely in light of international donor initiatives such IHP+ and the proposal to expand the Global Fund's scope in health systems.

The Health Systems 20/20 Presentation Series takes place monthly at the Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC. November's presentation features Rena Eichler and Alix Beith speaking about "Who is Doing What with Pay for Performance in Developing Countries: A Snapshot of Findings from an Online Survey," November 30, 2009, 2:00-3:30 pm. Read more about the schedule and download past presentations after the jump.

Upgrades to the Health Systems Database include the addition of health system indicators, data from other sources (such as the Demographic and Health Surveys, [DHS]), enhanced data downloading and charting features, display of data on a Google map, and more comprehensive country fact sheets.

Over the past two decades the emergence of several large disease-specific global initiatives (GHI) has shifted the way development assistance in public health is provided. To help assess the interaction between GHIs and country health systems, Health Systems 20/20 staff Susna De, Wenjuan Wang, Jenna Wright, and Takondwa Mwase participated in the WHO Maximizing Positive Synergies Collaborative Group. Their multiple-country analysis on financing HIV/AIDS work contributed to the Group’s report, the highlights of which appear in a recent Lancet article.

Kenya, like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has been affected by shortages of health workers in the public sector. Data on the rates and leading reasons for health worker attrition in the public sector are key in developing effective, evidence-based planning and policy on human resources for health. Health Systems 20/20 and Abt staff members Slavea Chankova, Stephen Muchiri, and Gilbert Kombe co-authored an article entitled “Health workforce attrition in the public sector in Kenya: a look at the reasons” recently published in Human Resources for Health.

Many African countries are interested in health insurance and are experimenting with different forms of risk pooling. Health Systems 20/20, in coordination with the World Bank and WHO, is organizing a hands-on workshop to help countries chart an informed and responsible path towards a form of health insurance that fits their needs and resources.