World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Steven Hoffman with WHO Director-General Margaret Chan |
What a summer this has been! Two months have passed since I first arrived in Geneva and time has flown by. My work for the World Health Organization has been rewarding, challenging and inspiring, and has proved to be one of the most valuable learning experiences of my life. The opportunity to engage in meaningful, hands-on work in an international context has brought new relevance to my academic studies. I will certainly have a unique global perspective on the law when I return to the Faculty of Law this September.
My department at WHO is dedicated to tackling the global health workforce challenge. It is well-recognized that the current bottleneck for the provision of health services in many places is the severe scarcity of health professionals who are trained to deliver this care. Maximizing the contributions of each health worker is no doubt one way to help mitigate this challenge.
My contribution to this global effort has been to manage WHO's Global Initiative in Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice, which aims to promote effective teamwork among health professionals. Working together, health professionals from different disciplines can build upon each others' strengths and enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of the care they provide. While WHO currently estimates a global shortage of 4.3 million health professionals, we hope that the hardships of this gap can be lessened by providing health professionals with the tools to collaborate more effectively with their peers.
Steven Hoffman giving a keynote address on behalf of WHO at the International Interprofessional Education Conference in Stockholm, Sweden |
Managing a global project in this area means that I have had to draw upon my knowledge of both international health and interprofessional collaboration issues to link experts and policymakers between these two distinct fields. While I have been working as a Project Manager for WHO since February 2007, the IHRP funding has allowed me to dedicate my whole summer to this project, which has allowed it to advance beyond all expectations. The specific work I do varies each day: I coordinate logistics for the project team, prepare communications tools, manage a global survey, liaise with international partners and serve as the project's primary contact person. I also write reports, draft guidelines, provide technical advice and articulate policy options for WHO's Member States. Integrating this project into the organization's core programming has become a top priority to ensure the sustainability of this effort and maximize its long-term impact. Strategic planning has also occupied a significant portion of my attention.
Finally, my role as Project Manager has taken me to Brussels (European Union), London (Department of Health, England) and Stockholm (International Interprofessional Education Conference) to both advocate for teamwork in health care and promote WHO's efforts in this area. The conference in Stockholm was particularly exciting for me as I gave part of a keynote address that was attended by hundreds of educators, researchers and policymakers from around the world (slides are available here (PDF)).
The ability to devote my full attention to this project has provided for several unique learning opportunities to further understand how international organizations operate and improve my communication, project management and advocacy skills. It has also become clear that this experience will enhance my future legal studies by giving me a greater understanding of how international law is actually carried out in practice.
I am grateful to the International Human Rights Program whose support has allowed me to contribute to this important project and has facilitated this incredible experiential learning opportunity. It really has been a terrific summer!
Meeting of the WHO Executive Board
