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The SHRC
was aware that keeping abreast of changes and developments happening in
public health and public policy would be a challenge, especially for an
institution devoted to change. It has, therefore, followed a policy of
actively networking with all major networks and resource groups in public
health and public policy – both in the government and in the non
governmental sector, national and international. This network support
helps it to access far more resources than what any agency working in a
center like Raipur would otherwise be able to access.
SHRC has initiated a Public Health Resource
Network (PHRN) in collaboration with the Population Foundation of India
and CINI and other
Regional
Resource Centers. The aim of this Network is to identify and network
potential resource persons, equip them with adequate understanding of
public health and the challenges of health sector reform and enable them
to provide support to the efforts of the National Rural Health Mission at
the State and District level. Such PHRN associates and members would have
the skills to contribute to the district, block and village level health
planning and can be utilized by district health societies for improving
the quality of ASHA programmes, the functioning of Hospital Development
Societies or other relevant programmes. The functioning of the network is
purely on a voluntary basis, so that the most interested and active
members of civil society and those working in government who have a
personal commitment to improving the health situation would be able to
access the technical resources they need for such work. Of these network
associates and members, those who want a higher level of skills, would be
encouraged to go through a distance education programme which the PHRN
proposes to organize shortly.
The new SHRCs and later the district health
resource centers would gain from the establishment of such networks and in
turn they would provide support to the functioning of such support
networks. Technical assistance is one of the key bottlenecks to realizing
the goals of the NRHM and we will need quick , reliable out of the box
solution is to be able to overcome this critical constraint. The PHRN
hopes to fill this critical gap. |
