International Forum Tackles Global Public Health Work Force Shortages

By Currie, Donya

THE FIRST Global Forum on Human Resources for Health ended with calls for immediate and sustained action to resolve critical health work force shortages and outlined steps that need to be taken over the next decade. Held in Kampala, Uganda, in early March, the meeting brought together more than 1,000 participants from 57 countries who adopted a declaration calling for increased funding to mitigate health worker shortages.

The World Health Organization estimates that at least 2.36 million health service providers and 1.89 million management and support workers are needed to fill gaps in the 57 countries with the most severe work force shortages, most of them in Africa and Asia.

Amy Hagopian, PhD, a faculty member at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health, was one of several APHA members to attend the forum and said she was encouraged at the progress on such an important topic.

“I think the most remarkable thing about this is it was the first annual meeting on a topic so critical to global health,” Hagopian told The Nation’s Health.

While global health issues have gained prominence in recent years, most funding has gone toward fighting single diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. While that work is important, Hagopian said “it’s time to start looking at the fundamental infrastructures in these countries we’re worried about.”

Migration of qualified health workers from developing countries to other areas continues to be a problem, with more than 13,000 health workers trained in sub-Saharan African countries now practicing in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States, according to a study in the Feb. 23 issue of the Lancet. The forum’s declaration pressed countries to “put appropriate mechanisms in place to shape the health work force market in favor of retention.” WHO also will accelerate negotiations for a code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel.

“Health workers save lives,” said Sigrun M0gedal, MD, board member of the Global Health Workforce Alliance, which organized the forum. “Preparedness to deal with health risks depends on health workers on the ground. We owe it to them and to all people that are deprived of access to take immediate action.”

That action, according to the declaration adopted in Kampala, includes work on the part of government leaders to give political momentum to resolving the shortage, the development of comprehensive country health work force strategies, and the creation of health work force information systems designed to improve research and develop capacity to drive evidence-based decision making and enhance shared learning.

For more on the “Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action,” visit www.ghwa.org.

– Donya Currie

An information desk attracts attendees at WHO’s recent Global Forum on Human Resources for Health.

Copyright American Public Health Association May 2008

(c) 2008 Nation’s Health, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.