Strong, well-functioning health systems need strong leadership, management, and governance. Over the next couple of weeks, leading up to conversations that MSH is hosting at the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research next month in Vancouver, we will be sharing stories and insights about the role of leadership, management and governance in health systems strengthening. This is the third in a series of four blog posts on this topic. See the full series [4]

In my nearly 20 years of experience in global health, I have seen that leadership and governance often receives little attention, even though it is an essential building block of any strong health system.

This is why LeaderNet [5] – an online global community of health professionals – recently hosted a seminar entitled Dream Teams: Bringing Boards and Staff Together for Organizational Success [6].

The seminar aimed to bring leadership and governance to the forefront of the conversation, providing a forum for global health professionals to exchange ideas, experiences, and resources about leading teams that work at all levels of health systems around the world.

The benefits of good health governance are far-reaching: Leaders who govern facilitate the work of health managers. Health managers facilitate the work of health service providers.
- Management Sciences for Health

On May 11-13, 2015, the USAID-funded Leadership, Management & Governance (LMG) Project [9], led by Management Sciences for Health (MSH), conducted an online seminar on LeaderNet [10] titled Unleash the Power of Good Governance [11]. Over the three-day seminar, 93 participants representing 75 organizations in 36 countries discussed challenges to good governance among public and civil society organizations, and how to overcome them. The seminar was offered in three languages: English, French and Spanish, and encouraged learning through source materials, the facilitators, and one another.

Three themes emerged from among the online discussion threads:

More than 10 years ago, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) developed its Leadership Development Program [20] (LDP), a structured program for leadership development that ties together personal development and real life challenges, utilizing a team-based, action learning approach to improve health outcomes.

This week, May 26 through May 28, all health leaders and managers interested in the LDP, and the new and improved LDP Plus [21] (LDP+), are invited to participate in a free, three-day online seminar on MSH’s LeaderNet [22].

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) hosted [25] an interactive, three-day, online seminar on the West African Ebola outbreak [26] on LeaderNet.org, October 28-30, 2014. Edited summaries from seminar facilitators (MSH Global Technical Lead on Malaria and Communicable Diseases, A. Frederick Hartman, MD, MPH, Days One-Three, and co-authored by Independent Pandemic Planning Advisor, Lisa Stone, Day Two), appear below. You can access seminar archives, including resources for preparedness and response, by joining LeaderNet.org [5].

Day One (Oct. 28): Mobilizing community-based care

Many thanks to the 240 individuals from more than 50 countries who have signed on to participate in the LeaderNet Ebola seminar [26] so far. I am very impressed with your interest and enthusiasm in discussing, and ultimately controlling, this massive Ebola outbreak.

Are you interested in preparedness and response to an Ebola outbreak? Join us for a three-day interactive, web-based seminar on the West African Ebola outbreak [26] from October 28-30, 2014. 

Hosted by Management Sciences for Health, the LeaderNet seminar on Ebola [26] will provide a broad overview of the current West African Ebola outbreak, identify trends and specific interventions that are needed, and show specific MSH technical approaches that can help countries prepare for and respond to any Ebola outbreak.

The seminar is free of charge and available in English and French. The discussion will be moderated and facilitated by:

This post originally appeared on LeaderNet.org [34].

Have you ever wondered what happens after a project activity ends? We are always deeply committed to local ownership and sustainability, yet, we rarely have the opportunity to do long term follow up or reflection. I recently had the extraordinary opportunity to discover for myself the long term impact of the Leadership Development Program (LDP) in Nepal [35].

To sum it up in one word: Wow!

Cross-posted from LMGforHealth.org [38], this blog post post is part of a series leading up to the 67th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland from May 19–24, 2014. In conjunction with WHA, the Leadership, Management & Governance (LMG) Project [39] will host a side session with global health leaders titled, “Governance for Health: Priorities for Post-2015 and Beyond.” [40] This series will offer insight on how good governance in the health system can result in stronger health impact as we move beyond the Millennium Development Goals.

Governing bodies of health systems and health institutions around the world are dominated by men. The lack of female leaders within these governance structures creates an unbalanced approach to how best to create meaningful health outcomes and why institutions are not being gender-responsive. Gender-responsive governance in practice, means ensuring that governance decision-makers respond to the different needs of their internal and external clients, based on gender.

April 2014 is an important month for malaria control. On April 25, the global community commemorates World Malaria Day 2014 [43], with a theme of: "Invest in the Future: Defeat Malaria". Earlier this month, April 7, the theme of World Health Day highlighted the "small bite, big threat [44]" of vector-borne diseases.

To commemorate these days and advance effective malaria programming worldwide, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) will host a 3-day virtual seminar, April 22-24 [45] focusing on State of the Art Malaria Programming that leads to malaria elimination in this generation. The sub-themes of the seminar are:

• April 22: State of Art for Malaria Elimination
• April 23: Malaria Pharmaceutical Management
• April 24: Vector Control, Prevention, and Parasitology

Participants must register on LeaderNet [46] to participate.