Health services and employment

Health workforce shortages

At present, there is a recognized critical health workforce shortage worldwide. WHO has estimated that 2,4 million more doctors, nurses and midwives alone will be needed to address health needs. In total, health care systems globally are missing more than 4 million health workers to meet demands. This shortage is aggravated by significant imbalances and mismatches of demand and supply, compromising access to health services for those who are most in need. The World Health Report 2006 highlights that Africa carries more than 24 per cent of the global burden of disease, including an exploding HIV epidemic, but has only 3 per cent of the world’s health workforce and less than 1 per cent of the global financial resources for health. 36 out of 57 countries with severe health workforce shortages are in Sub-Saharan Africa. The ongoing imbalances in the health sector labour force are reflected in terms of quantity and distribution and quality of jobs, including growth in migrant flows of health sector workers and, in many cases, a rising share of inadequately trained and certified personnel, including growth of informal economy workers.

Useful links and resources:

• World Health Report 2006, Working together for health