Global: World Health Organization
Taskforce to tackle shortfall of health workers, report
The global shortage of health workers is to be tackled by a new global taskforce. With a shortfall of 4.3 million health professionals worldwide, including one million in Africa alone, there is an urgent need to increase the number of doctors, nurses and other health care workers to deal with the immediate health crises at grassroots level, according to the World Health Organization [WHO].
The task force will champion the need for greater international investment in the education and training of health workers in developing countries, and will build an international commitment to practical action. Chaired by Lord Nigel Crisp, former chief executive of England’s National Health Service, the taskforce brings together politicians and health care experts from the public and private sectors, and both developing and developed countries.
The need and scope for financial and technical support internationally, as well as links between training institutions and universities in the developing and developed world, will be examined, as will the innovative use of technology for distance learning. The taskforce will also work closely with other programmes that deal with health worker migration, health financing, and access to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention.
Some countries have already begun to address the problem, the WHO says. Ethiopia, India and Malawi are rapidly increasing the amount of health workers through education and training. And the Ethiopian Government has plans to train 30,000 community health workers by 2009, so that people in villages have basic health care.
The task force will examine the impact of such programmes and assess whether they can be replicated elsewhere, and the resources needed to do so.
For further information visit the World Health Organization website at: www.who.int
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