Combating the Global Health Worker Shortage
The global shortage of health care workers is felt most acutely in the developing world. Sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of the AIDS crisis, faces a shortfall of approximately 1.5 million health workers. The burden of developing country debt, among other factors, has lowered the priority given to the health sector in many countries. As a result, many poor countries face weak health sector infrastructure and poor or absent training programs for health professionals. In addition to starting with a shortage of trained health care providers, poor, AIDS-burdened countries face the added challenge of losing doctors and nurses to wealthier nations.
The NPA has joined a diverse coalition of global health advocates to change this deadly situation and is playing an integral role in crafting and supporting legislation that will provide U.S. funds and technical assistance to work with poor countries to develop and implement comprehensive health workforce strategies. Currently, we are working with Senators Durbin (D-IL), Coleman (R-MN), and Feingold (D-WI) who are sponsoring the African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2007 (see Sen. Durbin's press release). We are also working with several offices of the House of Representatives to sponsor a companion bill. The legislation, if passed, will support nations of Sub-Saharan Africa to train and retain their health providers and help create a sustainable, healthy society.
Our Position
Consensus Statement on health workforce needs: http://healthgap.org/hcwcall.html
Related Organizational Links:
Global Health Workforce Alliance
Peer-reviewed articles:
From the New England Journal of Medicine:
Fatal Flows--Doctors on the Move
Aiding and Abetting -- Nursing Crises at Home and Abroad
Providing the Providers -- Remedying Africa's Shortage of Health Care Workers
From the British Medical Journal:
Lucas A (2005) Human resources for health in Africa. British Medical Journal 331: 1037-1038
From the Lancet:
Anand S and Barnighausen T (2004) Human resources and health outcomes: cross country econometric study. The Lancet 364(9445): 1603-1609
Chen L et al (2004) Human resources for health: overcoming the crisis. The Lancet 364(9449): 1984-1990
Hongoro C and McPake B. (2004) How to bridge the gap in human resources for health. The Lancet 364(9445): 1555-1556
Vasant N et al (2004) Responding to the global human resources crisis. The Lancet 363(9419): 1469-1472