December 13, 2002

Launch of Lidernet Brazil
(December 3, 2002) Fortaleza, Brazil. The Secretariat of Health and the School of Public Health for the state of Ceará, Brazil today announced the official launch of Lidernet, an innovative electronic resource that reaches into one of Brazil's remotest regions to extend leadership development opportunities to hard-pressed public health managers and practitioners. Lidernet is a joint venture between Management Sciences for Health, the Ceará Secretariat of Health and the Ceará School of Public Health, with funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through MSH 's Management and Leadership Program (M&L).

The occasion was celebrated in Fortaleza at a gathering of public health faculty, public health managers, students, the state secretaries of health and administration, the state secretary of science and technology, members of the press (including TV), MSH do Brasil representative, Karen Lassner, and MSH consultant, Joel Keravec. One of Lidernet's principal leaders, Henrique Sá, called the launch, "a tremendous success and a memorable moment."

According to Cary Perry, M&L's team leader for the project, Lidernet was developed to help health managers regulate and coordinate Ceará's large, complex health system. "To ensure adequate health services for the state's seven million citizens, it was essential to expand and strengthen the health care leadership base," she said.

The idea for Lidernet was born some three years ago in a moment of creative brainstorming between MSH 's James Wolff and Ceará 's deputy secretary of health, Luis Eduardo de Menezes Lima. Building on Ceará's successful face-to-face Leadership Development Program taught by Luciano Braga to over 300 public health managers in the state, Lidernet is more than just a distance education course. It is a permanent community of self-directed learning tailored to the specific leadership and management needs of the public health sector in one of Brazil 's poorest but most innovative states.

Joseph Dwyer, M&L's director, said, "This is a very exciting step in the development of good leadership in health care. Congratulations to everyone in the US and Brazil who contributed to this special occasion!"

The current phase of the project includes a website with online management and leadership resources, four e-discussion groups of public health managers reaching some 125 managers, and the first module of the virtual Leadership Development Program. "Electronic tools like Lidernet can reach into the corners of the world and create a virtual community for isolated health care professionals," said Jude Griffin, MSH's senior manager of electronic products, "They empower poor regions to tap into rich worldwide resources that would otherwise be out of reach."

For more information about Lidernet, contact:
Cary Perry cperry@msh.org
Jude Griffin jgriffin@msh.org

The Portuguese language Lidernet website (still being updated and improved) can be viewed at: http://www.esp.ce.gov.br/lidernet/default.asp