The Aspen Institute, USAID, the MDG Health Alliance, GSK, and Partners In Health Announce Partnership to Strengthen Health Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

NEW YORK, Sept. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Aspen Management Partnership for Health (AMP Health) is the first multi-sectoral partnership of its kind focused on strengthening community health systems through building leadership and management capacity in the Ministries of Health of low-and-middle income countries. The partnership is comprised of a diverse set of stakeholders, including private sector companies, nonprofits, donors, on-the-ground-implementers, and Ministries of Health.

Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton announced this CGI Commitment to Action during the 2015 Annual Meeting. "The Aspen Institute, in partnership with Partners In Health, GlaxoSmithKline, MDG Health Alliance and USAID will provide management, financial, and strategic expertise to Ministries of Health," said Chelsea Clinton. "In addition to establishing mentor networks and cross-country convenings, the partners will recruit, train, and deploy in-country management professionals to work side-by-side with Ministries of Health on high-priority community health projects, ultimately strengthening health systems."

"The Aspen Institute's mission is to develop values-based leadership, which is critical to community health systems facing grave challenges like Ebola and other diseases" said Institute President and CEO, Walter Isaacson. "AMP Health's innovative partnership will improve the health and well-being of many living in the hardest to reach parts of the world."

AMP Health was developed by the U.S. Agency for International Development's Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact and the MDG Health Alliance. Initial partners will include GSK, Harvard School of Public Health, McCann Health, and Partners In Health.

Following the devastating human and financial costs of the West African Ebola crisis, global leaders have emphasized that stronger health delivery systems are needed to recover from Ebola, to continue the fight against the top killers of children and mothers, to prepare for future epidemics, and to build capacity to handle the growing burden of non-communicable diseases.

As part of the program, embedded "Management Partners" with significant business and management experience will work closely with select ministry staff on catalytic community health initiatives. These ministry teams will be supported by an engaged global and local mentor network and have access to needs-based training. This training will include best-in-class curriculum from various partners, including through Partners In Health's new University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda. Said Dr. Paul Farmer, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of Partners In Health, "You can't have public health without working with the public sector. Working in close partnership with Ministries of Health is essential to strengthening health systems—as is building local capacity, as we're doing with the UGHE."

The post-Ebola recovery in Sierra Leone, for example, includes a two-year recovery plan to rebuild the country's health system and restore health services. Samuel Kargbo, Director of Health Systems, Policy, Planning, and Information in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation said, "Partnering with AMP Health would allow us to strengthen and accelerate these efforts by bringing much needed management and leadership capacity to our team."

"Key interventions in community health systems could prevent up to 3 million deaths per year in sub-Saharan Africa" said Jeff Walker, Vice-Chair of the MDG Health Alliance, a special initiative of the United Nations that brings philanthropists and private sector leaders together to achieve the health Millennium Development Goals. "We are privileged to be part of this collaboration - both in business and philanthropy, it is evident that strong collaborations can create systemic change."

AMP Health will also leverage expertise from a growing set of private sector partners. "Resilient health systems are the backbone of thriving societies," said Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK.  "Through this partnership, GSK can bring its experiences and expertise to bear in helping strengthen health systems so they are equipped to manage everyday challenges as well as pre-empt and manage crises. We are delighted to be involved with this partnership from the outset and look forward to working with other organizations as the collaboration grows."

"This unique multi-sector approach is an example of USAID's emphasis on bringing collaborative approaches to our global health work around the world" said Dr. Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Assistant Administrator for Global Health and Child and Maternal Survival Coordinator at USAID. "It's the collective action of programs like AMP Health that are needed to strengthen health systems and accelerate achievement of our goal to end preventable child and maternal deaths."

About Aspen Management Partnership for Health
As a collaboration among multi-sector partners, including the private sector, NGOs, donors, and Ministries of Health (MoHs), Aspen Management Partnership for Health provides in-country managerial and strategic support and expertise to MoHs in an effort to strengthen community health systems and develop the next generation of health leaders in low-and-middle income countries. Aspen Management Partnership for Health provides a menu of support opportunities to MoHs, leveraging private sector expertise in management and leadership to respond to MoH needs. Partners will actively problem-solve a range of real-time community health systems challenges and meet and collaborate with local/global players, bringing together cross-sectoral perspectives and solutions. To learn more or to join our growing partnership, visit http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ampforhealth.

About The Aspen Institute 
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, CO; and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

About the U.S. Agency for International Development
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the lead U.S. Government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential.

About the MDG Health Alliance
The MDG Health Alliance is an initiative of the UN Special Envoy for Financing the Health Millennium Development Goals and for Malaria. The Alliance operates in support of Every Woman Every Child, an unprecedented global movement spearheaded by the Secretary-General to mobilize and intensify global action to improve the health of women and children. The MDG Health Alliance develops innovative and accelerative efforts to drive global progress towards achieving the health MDGs, typically working in partnership with governments, non-government organizations, academic institutions or corporations. The Alliance is led by a group of accomplished private sector leaders — referred to as Vice Chairs of the Special Envoy's Office – who have committed their time, energy and resources to projects that can make a difference in global health. Each of the Vice-Chairs brings a career's-worth of solid accomplishment, inspired leadership and proven results, and it is this private sector expertise that provides the energy and momentum of the Alliance.

About GSK
GSK – one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.  For further information please visit www.gsk.com.

About Partners In Health
Partners In Health is a global health organization relentlessly committed to improving the health of the poor and marginalized. PIH builds local capacity and works closely with impoverished communities to deliver high-quality health care, address the root causes of illness, train providers, advance research, and advocate for global policy change. For more information, visit www.pih.org.

About the Clinton Global Initiative
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together 190 sitting and former heads of state, more than 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 3,200 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries.

In addition to the Annual Meeting, CGI convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States; and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. This year, CGI also convened CGI Middle East & Africa, which brought together leaders across sectors to take action on pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.

For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.

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SOURCE The Aspen Institute

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