HEALTH SYSTEMS STRENGTHENING

THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

WEEK 3
ASSESSING DECISION SPACE
The scenarios of Ruritania and Elbonia provided two different ways that public health
systems can be allocated. With these scenarios in mind, make a decision in the table
below by clicking [Select] in each cell and providing your estimate of the extent of
decision space at district level for each country across three functions (finance, service
provision and human resources).

Is the decision space narrow (limited), moderate, or wide (extensive)?

Function Issues for decision making Range of choice: Range of choice:

Ruritania Elbonia
Finance • Use of local income
• Allocation of expenditure [Select] [Select]
• Private investment funds
Service • Programs / standards
provision • Pharmaceutical procurement [Select] [Select]
• Modifying services / programs
Human • Appointment / recruitment
resources • Termination of employment [Select] [Select]
• Contract staff

You won't be able to share this document in the discussion step, but after completing the
selections in the table above, please go back to the step and tell your peers of the decisions
you made and the reasoning behind those decisions.

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