Addressing the Global Health Workforce Crisis

After an inspiring week spent talking about and drawing attention to the dire human resources for health crisis in Africa, I traveled to Mozambique to see how these formidable challenges are being faced on the ground.

The Kampala conference was historic, with Africans and especially high-ranking representatives from Ministries of Health and Finance taking center stage and focusing unprecedented world attention for the first time on the crisis. The results were impressive, with coverage from CNN on the brain drain in Malawi, the BBC and even my hometown paper, the Seattle PI.

The fact that the conference was dominated by African governments and civil society signals a new level of political engagement and commitment to creative, indigenous solutions. The final declaration will hopefully be only the start to an ongoing dialogue between donors, international institutions, governments of developed and developing countries, NGOS, and health workers themselves to implement these ideas. PHR’s workshops on advocacy and human rights will provide stakeholders with important tools to ensure that community voices are heard.

In Mozambique, I was able to see first hand how funds for vertical, disease-specific programs like PEPFAR can be used for health system strengthening. Sophia, a woman I met three years ago when working on a film for Health Alliance International, has gone from being desperately ill and hopeless, to accessing life-saving treatment, to working as an peer-counselor and now recently to serving as a treatment counselor in one of the HIV clinics in the city of Beira. With over 35% of adults living with HIV, Beira has one of the highest infection rates in the world. The huge disease burden threatens to overwhelm the already debilitated health care system. Sophia has gone from patient to provider, helping others with HIV overcome their fears of stigma and understand the importance of treatment adherence by drawing on her own experience. She helps take some of the burden off the nurses and doctors as they attend to an ever-growing patient population. As treatment has become more and more accessible, Sophia says she sees more hope and less fears about stigma in recent months. Even though she’s come very far, Sophia has still further ambitions. After working a full day in the clinic, she attends night school every evening and hopes to complete her high school degree in the next few years and eventually study to become a nurse.

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