Assembly/AU/ 6 (X)I Page 10 Improving Human Resources for Health for Effective Health Care Services; Increasing access to medicines and medical supplies; Maternal and Child Health/Reproductive Health/Family Planning; HIV/AIDS; Injury Prevention and Control; Prevention and Management of Non-Communicable Diseases; Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation Systems in ECSA; Strengthening Use of Information Technologies for Health Care; Nutrition Interventions for Promoting Health and Survival; Coordination and harmonisation of Regional and International Partnerships; and o Expression of gratitude to the Government and People of Seychelles. o o o o o o o o o o The Representative of the Commission not only took active part in the deliberations and contributed to the shaping up of the recommendations, but also shared ideas on the background to and the reason for the Decision of the AU Heads of State and Government on the promotion of maternal, infant and child health in Africa. 4. Global Forum on Human Resources for Health and Taskforce on Training and Education on the Health Workforce, 2-7 March 2008, Kampala, Uganda As a Co-Chair of the Global Health Workforce Alliance, the AU Commission has been actively involved in both co-organizing and hosting some of the Meetings of the Alliance over the past two years. The above Forum was used as a platform for the streamlining the issue of health workforce in Africa for the promotion of sustainable health development in general and ensuring maternal, newborn and child health in particular. The Forum had three main objectives: o To build consensus on accelerating human resources for health action; o To build implementation capacity on human resources for health action at a global and country level; and o To build networks and alliances as a global movement on human resources for health moving from recognition to concrete action. The Meeting came up with the following outcomes: o o o o Commitment to a Global Action Plan for the coming decade; Better knowledge on what works, what has not, and why; Enhanced and strengthened implementation capacity; and A consolidated and revitalized global movement. It is believed that implementing the recommendations of the Report for scaling up education and training of health workers in Africa would make a substantial difference in strengthening health systems. This would, in turn, contribute to the promotion of maternal, newborn and child health thereby accelerating the implementation of MDGs 4 and 5. The Forum underscored the importance of a multi-sectoral approach in meeting the challenges in ensuring that people have access to skilled health workers. Member States are expected to consider the recommendations of the Report of the Forum, which are based on best practices from around the world, when looking at

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