The e-learning course in health financing was conceptualised by Dr. N. Devadasan. He has a rich experience in the field and has been teaching this subject in many universities. Keeping in mind the current public health scenario, where the competency in health financing is an important asset for the professionals and policy makers, the course was designed to bridge the knowledge gap in the field and strengthen the capacity of professionals in health financing.
The first batch of e-learning course in health financing was launched in April this year. From hundreds of applications, we shortlisted 28 applicants for enrollment in the course. We have a mix of academicians, researchers, government and non-government professionals in our current batch. The batch has representation from National Health Mission (NHM), ESI,etc. There are participants from UNICEF and NGOs like ACCESS Health International, HSRII,SAMA, MYRADA, PHFI and other organisations like International union against tuberculosis and lung diseases. We also have participants from academic institutions like Puducherry Institute of Medical Sciences and IIHMR. Through our e-learning course we have reached participants across the country from Rajasthan in west to Odisha in east, Delhi in north to Kerala to south.
The course consists of four modules, each module has three units and each unit has three to four classrooms that are powerpoint presentations with audio and video recordings. Classrooms also have corresponding exercises to test the knowledge of participants. We have some interesting learning activities in the course for making the learning more practical and keeping the participants motivated. Each module has an activity called ‘From the field’. In this section, we interview the key people from the field and bring their stories to participants. Another engaging feature is ‘Crossword Puzzle’, where after each module participants can unlock a level and get clues to solve the puzzle. Another interactive feature is ‘FAQs’, where in the Subject Matter Expert (SME) answers the queries of participants in the form of video than just typing on the discussion forum.
We are systematically tracking the progress of our participants and give feedback whenever needed. We hope that the course will be a success and we will be running several batches of the course in the near future.
