2015 and beyond: invest in a strong health workforce! Guest editorial
Dear reader,
The current Ebola virus outbreak in western Africa has exposed vulnerable health systems, dire shortages of health workers and a deep mistrust between authorities, health workers and the communities at risk. Policy-makers responsible for health systems need to investigate what is not working and what can be done to make systems resilient, sustainable and, ultimately, ready to meet the challenges of the next global pandemic.
Shortcomings in the health workforce stretch well beyond Africa and current disease outbreaks. The Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals proposed a broad health agenda – the ambitions of which are yet to be matched by investment in the health workforce. We simply need more health workers. In 2013, to reach a threshold of just 34.5 skilled health professionals per 10 000 population, approximately 7.2 million more midwives, nurses and physicians were needed – and this shortfall is predicted to rise to at least 12.9 million in the coming decades.
The post-2015 development agenda needs to address many major issues, but few are more pressing than the global health workforce crisis. Many global leaders will have an opportunity to inform the post-2015 agenda when they next meet as the Executive Board of the World Health Organization in the end of January. Shared investment in a strong health workforce is needed now, so that we can face the next pandemic with resilience rather than fragility, with coordinated action rather than fragmentation and with confidence instead of fear.
The UN Secretary-General has stated that ‘inaction and business-as-usual must be dismissed…the year 2015 is the time for global action’. Civil Society has a critical role to play in ensuring this is the case; especially on the targets and accountability mechanisms that will ensure governments and partners deliver the necessary investment in the health workforce.
James Campbell, Executive Director
Global Health Workforce Alliance
www.who.int/workforcealliance
Based on: Reversing a global health workforce crisis.
Editorial (with Michel Sidibé) in: WHO Bulletin, January 2015
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/93/1/14-151209/en/
MMI Network: News, events and resources
Network members and partners
A peaceful, just and healthy New Year!
The MMI Secretariat wishes all Network members and partners a healthy new year and renewed energy in our efforts to advance Health for All!
Network paper: Wemos/MMI
Overcoming the health workforce gap
“Access to a skilled health worker should be considered an essential part of the right to health as well as required to guarantee basic health protection. However, countries have not agreed upon an international framework that regulates a minimum level of available health workers for the population.” Linda Mans, Wemos, and Remco van de Pas, ITM Antwerp, MMI Board member, introduce the health workforce chapter of Global Health Watch 4.
> www.medicusmundi.org/en/contributions/reports/2015/overcoming-the-health-workforce-gap
Network conference documentation: MM Switzerland
Personalized Medicine – The Public Health Perspective
Basel, 11-12 December 2014. “For most health applications the clinical utility and cost- effectiveness of personalized medicine approaches remain to be assessed. In fact, the evaluation of systems medicine approaches for their sensitive application towards improving public health is a priority for biomedical and epidemiological research over the next decade, both in high and low income countries.” Documentation of the autumn symposium of the Swiss TPH.
> www.swisstph.ch/news-events/symposia/autumn-2014/programme-and-presentations.html
Network news: Health Poverty Action
UK commits to review its recruitment of health workers from low income countries
Health Poverty Action has been campaigning for the UK and other wealthy countries to compensate low income countries that are providing a subsidy to the NHS through their health workers. Health Poverty Action’s call for health worker compensation was picked up during a parliamentary debate last week, with the Minister, Desmond Swayne, committing to commission a review of the NHS use of foreign workers.
> www.healthpovertyaction.org/news/uk-review-health-workers/
Network reporting: Health Poverty Action
Annual Review 2013-14
“Thanks to the advance of technology and communication we now hear more quickly than ever about the latest natural disaster or advent of war. In many cases we hear directly from those suffering the effects of these events and we’re able to see, first-hand, the inequality they live with. But many millions more, who endure similar or worse levels of injustice, are invisible to us – and receive little or no external support. These are the world’s poorest and most marginalised people. They might be living in hard to reach places, or discriminated against because of their culture and ethnicity. It is among these communities that some of the world’s greatest tragedies are to be found. But it’s also where we find some of the world’s most inspiring stories: people working together, overcoming all odds, and achieving incredible things in their struggle for life, health and social justice.”