Mission/Mandate:
The Health Resource Centre (HRC) is an “international consortium” established to provide “support to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and its partners on public health, communicable and non-communicable diseases, health systems and financing in low and middle income countries” (HRC Website, http://www.dfidhealthrc.org/about_hrc/index.html, accessed on 7 May 2008).
“The HRC is managed by a core team of health and health systems specialists and administrative staff based at HLSP Ltd [Health and Life Sciences Partnership] in London. The information services team is based at the Institute of Development Studies in Brighton, and at HLSP.” (ibid) HLSP is part of the consultancy firm Mott MacDonald Group and “an international consultancy working to improve world health” (HLSP Website, http://www.hlsp.org/aboutus, accessed on 7 May 2008).
HRC consortium partners are HLSP, ICDDR,B (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), IHRDC (Ifakara Health Research And Development Centre; Tanzania) and SHARAN (India) (HRC Website, http://www.dfidhealthrc.org/about_hrc/index.html, accessed on 7 May 2008).
Target group:
DFID staff and partners, as well as external audiences and the development community; governments, policymakers, and international and national advisers.
Objective:
HRC’s objectives are:
- “advising on policy and technical issues to DFID, governments and other stakeholders”;
- “increasing and sharing the knowledge based on key health interventions through commissioned research, case studies and best practice synthesis reports, providing access to the latest information on health issues”;
- “supporting the professional development of international and national advisers and policy makers”;
- “collaborating with local partners in capacity building in the field of public health” (DFID-HRC brochure, available at http://www.sharan.net/secreport.zhtml, accessed on 8 May 2008).
Funding:
Scope of reporting:
Geographic focus: Country Health Briefing Papers on Albania, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Georgia, India, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Peru, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, South Africa, Tajikistan, Uganda and Zambia.
Thematic focus: Country Health Briefing Papers contain a profile of the general situation, poverty, key health indicators (child health, tobacco, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS), health service/system structure, key health policies, health service financing and UK aid in the respective country.
Reporting methodology:
“The HRC draws on the expertise and resources of its consortium partners, and works with a worldwide network of national and international collaborating agencies and individuals.” (HRC Website, http://www.dfidhealthrc.org/about_hrc/index.html, accessed on 7 May 2008)
The publication of country health profiles is part of the projects undertaken by DFID in cooperation with other organisations, such as UNICEF, the Open Society Institute, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (HRC Health Profiles, available at http://www.dfidhealthrc.org/publications/country_info.html, accessed on 7 May 2008).
Publication cycle:
Country Health Profiles/Health Briefing Papers are produced or up-dated irregularly.
Language:
English.
Navigation of website:
Home: HRC news and latest reports. Country Health Profiles can be accessed via the link Publications – sub-category Country Information – on the menu bar on the left-hand side.
Additional references:
