In a side event to the 71th World Health Assembly, on 20 May 2018, representatives from a diverse group of civil society organizations, academic institutions, and health workers’ professional associations and unions agreed to establish the civil society “Health Workers for All Coalition”.

The MMI Network, one of its initiators and founders, invites its members and other civil society actors to join the new civil society coalition initially hosted by MMI Network member Wemos.

“The Health Workers for All Coalition (HW4AllCoalition) advocates access to health workers for all in order to fulfil the right to health and to reach Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. We reignite advocacy on health workforce issues at the global, regional and local level.”

The Health Workers for All Coalition represents global, regional and local diverse groups of civil society organizations, academic institutions, and health workers’ professional associations and unions. The coalition advocates access to health workers for all in order to fulfil the right to health and to reach Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals.

…and the MMI working group on HRH

The MMI working group on Human Resources for Health (MMI HRH) was set up in 2006 and initially focused its work on the promotion of best practices among NGOs in the field of HRH (education, employment, retention), with a first task of “developing and  implementing strategies to keep competent and motivated staff available for non-governmental health care facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa” (MMI HRH work plan 2007).

In 2009 MMI HRH shifted its attention and work to influencing global policies and governance in the field of health workforce, with a particular focus on the promotion and implementation of the “WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel” adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2010. From 2013 to 2015, the MMI HRH working group was aligned with the MMI engagement in the European project “Health workers for all and all for health workers” HW4All.

In 2017-18, as a result of a civil society session on “How can civil society spur action on ensuring health workers for all?” convened by MMI HRH together with ACHEST, MSF and Wemos at the 4th Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, MMI HRH promoted and supported the plan to bring civil society advocacy on key health workforce issues to a next level by launching a broader civil society coalition on HRH beyond the MMI Network membership

After the successful launch of the “Health Workers for All Coalition”, MMI HRH will continue to exist in a more informal way, as a team of MMI Network members particularly engaged in health workforce issues convened by the Secretariat when required.

The MMI HRH team will coordinate the engagement of the MMI Network in the new Coalition and in global HRH policy fora, in particular at the World Health Organization and its governing body meetings, processes/consultations and hosted partnerships such as the Global Health Workforce Network and the International Platform on Health Worker Mobility.

The work of the MMI HRH team and the related initiatives and positions of the MMI Network are overseen by the Board.

 

HRH