PHA-Exchange> WHO alliance aims to tackl e the world’s lack of health workers

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WHO alliance aims to tackle the world’s lack of health workers
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BMJ  2006;332:1294 (3 June)
Christiane Rehwagen 

Copied as fair use
 
A new global partnership that aims to improve the world’s shortage of doctors, 
nurses, midwives, and other health workers was launched at last week’s World 
Health Assembly in Geneva. The announcement came six weeks after the World 
Health Organization made the issue a priority in its annual report, in which 
it called for a global action plan to tackle the shortage of an estimated 4.2 
million health workers. 
 
The Global Health Workforce Alliance will start a special fast track training 
initiative to rapidly increase the number of qualified health workers in all 
countries ­ poor and rich ­ that have shortages. 
 
“Africa has known the problem for decades,” said Francis Omaswa, executive 
director of the alliance. However, recently the situation has worsened because 
of deaths from AIDS of a large percentage of health workers­36 of 57 countries 
with severe staff shortages are in sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
Meanwhile, developed countries can afford to import health workers­exacerbating 
the global problem. Lincoln Chen, WHO’s special envoy for human resources for 
health and chairman of the alliance’s board, pointed out that countries such 
as the United States and Norway, many of whose health workers have trained 
abroad, must improve the way they plan for, educate, and employ health 
workers. 
 
Norway, one of the alliance’s donor countries, wants to reconsider its 
domestic situation, said Bjoern-Inge Larsen of the Norwegian Directorate of 
Health and Social Welfare. 

Tim Evans, a WHO assistant director general, said: “It is important for 
developed countries to think globally, but developed countries also have to 
work at their own workforce, otherwise their global efforts could appear 
contradictory.” 
 
The fast track initiative aims to create planning teams in all countries, both 
developed and developing. The teams’ task will be to develop a strategic 
national workforce plan. The initiative will mobilise financial support for 
training institutions from various donors and will create training 
partnerships between schools in developed and developing countries. 

The Global Health Workforce Alliance includes the Bill & Melinda Gates 
Foundation, the European Commission, the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard 
University, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization. 


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