PHA-Exch> HEALTH-CARE WORKERS, THE 'TRUE LIFESAVERS, ' MUST BE SUPPORTED - BAN KI-MOON

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Vern Weitzel <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au>
crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn at cairo.anu.edu.au


HEALTH-CARE WORKERS, THE 'TRUE LIFESAVERS,' MUST BE SUPPORTED – BAN KI-MOON
New York, Mar  4 2008 10:02AM
The time has come to focus on supporting and retaining health workers – "the
true lifesavers in the society of every nation"– Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon
told the first-ever world forum on the topic, which convened in Kampala,
Uganda,
today.

"Almost 60 countries – most of them in Africa – face such critical shortages
of
health workers that they cannot provide basic health care to all their
people,"
Mr. Ban said at the Global Forum for Human Resources in Health, which
expects
over 1,000 government leaders and experts to meet under the auspices of the
World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/mediacentre/en/">WHO).

In his statement to the gathering, Mr. Ban emphasized the crucial part that
health care plays in economic development and in reaching the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), which aim to reduce extreme poverty and other
global
ills by 2015.

"I appreciate that the issues are complex," he said, maintaining that the
crisis
in the world's health workforce requires different stakeholders to take
action
in a range of areas – migration, development, education, finance and more.

However, he pointed to renewed momentum throughout the international
community
to tackle large challenges in health care, as well as advances in knowledge.

"We have the resources and the know-how," he concluded: "Let us work
together,
with coherent and coordinated action, to translate commitments into
protected
livelihoods and saved lives."

The first Global Forum for Human Resources in Health will run through 7
March.
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