PHA-Exchange> Re: Health-care workers must be given a fairer deal--WHO

[Antoinette Ntuli]

Hi,
.....but this call says nothing about compensation - I wonder how Southern
countries whose resources (human and financial) have been depleted by the
North are going to fund and sustain these interventions? And I wonder if and
when we make these interventions, especially through strengthened training
and education, whose needs we will be meeting - how many of these workers
will be recruited to rich countries with already relatively high densities
of HRH and how we will replace them without compensation for the
investements we made?
Antoinette
 

  _____  

From: pha-exchange-bounces at lists.kabissa.org
[mailto:pha-exchange-bounces at lists.kabissa.org] On Behalf Of Claudio
Sent: 06 April 2006 12:00 PM
To: pha-exchange
Subject: PHA-Exchange> Health-care workers must be given a fairer deal--WHO


 

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned today that failure to address
problems confronting health workers may push some health systems to the
brink of collapse.

 

Decades of cost-cutting and under-investment in health have resulted in poor
working conditions for many health workers. This has led to an exodus of
health workers overseas for higher pay, the deterioration of some health
services and erosion of public trust in health systems.

 

It is high time health workers were paid decent salaries, and provided with
the right working conditions and the right equipment to do the work they are
trained to do.  Governments must act now and implement a better deal for
health workers.

 

In recognition of the vital contribution of health workers to society and to
raise awareness about their plight, WHO has devoted this year's observance
of World Health Day, on 7 April, to the world's health workforce.

 

WHO has also published the World Health Report 2006, which seeks the
alliance of stakeholders-policy-makers, international donors, politicians,
health professionals, civil society, faith-based organizations and the
media-to properly address the technical and political challenges of health
workforce development.

 

Health workers are among the unsung heroes of our time.They work long hours
in difficult conditions, often with little reward and sometimes at risk to
their own health.

 

Traditional diseases, combined with modern-day lifestyle illnesses and the
additional burden of emerging diseases and a growing ageing population,
already are causing unprecedented strain on health-care systems.

 

While efforts are being made to deal with these health concerns, failure to
act on long-standing issues affecting health workers will affect not only
health systems, but the well-being of people and of future generations.
Without the devotion of health workers, public health services will be in
crisis and will not be able to cope with the ever-growing burden of disease.

 

In a move to strengthen health workforces, WHO has called on Member States
to set up specific targets:

*         All countries and areas should have a strategic national workforce
plan-several countries and areas in the next year and all within five years.

*         Investments in preparing the workforce through strengthened
education and training should be dramatically increased.

*         Local and national innovations should be scaled up such as health
insurance, remote area allowances and subsidized mortgages.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20060406/1effc928/attachment-0003.html>