- Every year 48 million women give birth without someone with the proper medical skills present.
- New research highlights ‘healthcare deserts’ in 25 developing countries, where up to one-third of all children do not receive any of the six essential vaccinations for childhood killer diseases or basic treatment for diarrhoea, one of the main causes of child mortality.
Health workers count. The statement
“As the UN secretary general has noted, the world is suffering from a massive gap of more than 3.5 million health workers. This includes a pressing need for at least 1 million community health workers and 350,000 midwives. Millions more existing health workers lack the support, equipment and training they need.
Health workers are vital for progress on global health and development, and for ensuring the millennium development goals are met. Bold leadership is needed. World leaders each need to make new, substantial and specific commitments to expand the number of health workers and better support those workers who are already in place.
To motivate this kind of bold leadership will require a powerful coalition with strong public support. For this reason, a diverse range of organisations are issuing today this urgent call for more health workers, better supported. We share a vision where there is a health worker within reach of everyone, in every community. Together we are determined to help inspire action on health workers that will save millions of lives, with a breakthrough at the UN general assem
bly meetings in September.”
On 26 May 2011 fifty organisations issued this statement, published in British newspaper The Guardian, to initiate bringing together hundreds of organisations behind a call for more health workers, better supported.