Person of the Month in April 2004:
		“It’s a big challenge for me to set my disciplinary work in the transdisciplinary setting of the NCCR N-S” Kaspar Wyss (IP4), Senior Researcher of the Swiss Tropical Institute, Basle.

Kaspar, the last few days you’ve been travelling around Switzerland, and next Sunday you’re leaving for China. It’s been hard to catch you for an interview –we are now trying to make up for that on the phone. Tell me, is it a trademark of a senior researcher to be pressed for time?
When I look around among my colleagues, I am not the only one with this problem…it’s a general problem: the higher you get, the more involved you are, you have to make more commitments, and with it you have less time. Within the NCCR N-S this is particularly true for me as 30% of my working time is covered through the NCCR N-S . The other 70% of my time is used for short- and long-term projects, as, for example, for World Bank, SDC or SECO– funded projects, as my upcoming mission to China.

The Partnership Region (JACS) of IP4 is in West Africa. Why? - Are you often travelling there?
There is a need to concentrate our activities on selected places. We focus on Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, and the Chad, as the research team of IP4 has long-standing and well established collaborations in these countries. I myself know best Chad, as I did my PhD there and since then regularly return. -Currently I visit this country at least once a year.

Can you tell us something about your research?
My research interest is focusing on human resource for health related aspects for strengthening health systems in low- and middle income countries. Indeed, in many countries, the performance and motivation of health workers is low and the health workforce in many countries is further undermined by migration and the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
My research within the NCCR N-S focuses on potential performance improvements as well as improved planning mechanisms for human resources in the health sector as they potentially can increase the number of services provided and service coverage thereby contributing to equity and efficiency gains.

How was your work on human resources initiated? And how did you get to work within the NCCR N-S?
I started my work in the NCCR as a project leader of the NCCR N-S processor programmes. But the invitation to focus on human resources was originally given by the inquiry of the commission for Macro-economics and Health, chaired by Jeffrey Sachs (currently Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and formerly professor of the Harvard Institute of International Development).
Within the activities of working group 5, I was asked to conduct a country case study on relevant constraints to scaling-up health-related priority interventions. The conclusions of this study indicated that human resources for health are and will be a determining factor for future efforts to increase health service coverage of the population.
This, in turn, was the starting point to initiate - jointly with colleagues at the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine - research activities into the current and future availability and requirements of human resources.
And today, it is increasingly acknowledged by national and international organizations that human resources are a crucial input into equitable, efficient and sustainable health service delivery to the population.

The main goal of the NCCR N-S is the mitigation of syndromes of global change. What are the impacts of your work for mitigation?
The results of our activities have underlined the crucial importance to consider human resources as a determining element for strengthening health services. There is today increased awareness that there is an urgent need to address issues such a migration and retention of health workers, including attrition due to HIV/AIDS, staff performance, working conditions, etc. – thus, mitigation is first taking place on a psychological level, and, of course, it will take years before the goal, i.e. increased human resources, will be reached. It’s also a matter of political commitment of policy makers to allocate sufficient priority to human resource related problems.

Where do you see the particular potentials of the NCCR N-S programme?
Research results of all levels can be shared within the whole NCCR N-S, thereby offering the opportunity to disseminate research findings to a broad public of both researcher and policy makers. By doing so, a determining factor for a genuine sharing of knowledge is to learn how to interact and communicate with persons and institutions beyond the own sector, or in other words, to learn how to act in a transdisciplinary setting.

Do you yourself work in a transdiscipinary way, or is it more your results that are set in a transdisciplinary setting - given by the NCCR N-S programme set-up as a whole?
Yes, I guess you can say so. It’s probably true for many of us researchers in the NCCR N-S. But through the NCCR N-S I have the chance to set my more disciplinary work in a transdisciplinary setting. And doing so is a big challenge for me..…to work in a transdisciplinary setting IS a big challenge - for all of us!

What would you improve in the NCCR N-S? Where do you see difficulties?
Communication and sharing of knowledge as well as acting in a transdiciplary setting often reveal to be a difficult and conflicting endeavour. We all have to learn how best to do so. Working or context groups, for example, offer us a possibility for making experiences in this area.
Another difficulty for me is the NCCR N-S terminology. It uses its own, in geography rooted, often quite complex terminology relating to syndrome contexts, mitigation strategies, etc…. The appropriate use of this terminology is not always obvious, especially for persons rooted in other sectors than geography.

Smita Premchander, PhD student from India, was the NCCR N-S Person of the Month in March. Have you read the interview about her? Did you like it?
Yes, I did! I especially liked to read about the more personal issues, e.g. Smita’s experiences in Switzerland. I think it’s important that we know also about these more social aspects of our colleagues. The more scientific issues are things we usually talk about in conferences and workshops.

Thanks, Kaspar, for the time you spared for this interview. - Have a successful trip to China!

Interview by Barbara Schichler, Management Centre, NCCR N-S, 26.3.2004.