Addressing the Global Health Workforce Crisis

The Health Workforce Advocacy Initiative (HWAI) held our second strategy meeting during the opening two days of the Forum. PHR chairs and helped to found this international advocacy coalition affiliated with the Global Health Workforce Alliance. We’re a coalition of 14 institutions from Africa, the United States, Europe and Asia, with a loosely affiliated network. Building on plans from our first strategy discussion, we have decided to launch a Campaign on Sustained Health Workforce Financing.

The choice seemed fairly self-evident. So many of the things we’re talking about in the health workforce arena—retaining health workers, training new ones, improving their working conditions, ensuring that they receive health care, providing health workers to serve in rural areas—cost money. That money simply hasn’t been forthcoming. Since health workforce came onto the international agenda three, four years ago, we have all had one example of significant donor investments in health workforce—the United Kingdom (along with the Global Fund) in Malawi. The attention is now there, but not the money. Moreover, if there was one area where civil society had to be speaking out, it would be evident that governments—even those genuinely interested in strengthening the health workforce—and I think many are—weren’t going to be doing it on their own.

Well, this isn’t exactly our first launch. We decided upon this campaign back in July. But our work quickly moved elsewhere—rights-based national guidelines on developing health workforce plans, an advocacy toolkit for health workers, preparing for this Forum and more.

But that’s going to change. Over the past days, we strategized on how to re-energize the campaign, and I think we’re off to a good start. We still have to finalize our plans, but the opportunities are there, including bringing more international voices to PEPFAR reauthorization and doing what we can to encourage countries to apply for funds for health system strengthening from the Global Fund. And we will push on the International Health Partnership—a new effort by most donors other than the United States to focus their aid on national health strategies. This effort misses the important element of new money to fund these strategies. We’ve developed a platform, and are holding a press conference tomorrow about the launch of the campaign.

So be on the lookout for this exciting effort to start to turn the tide of funding! I hope through our growing coalition, and by taking advantage of our potential for reaching deep into the health workforce in Africa—our coalition members includes the International Council of Nurses, which has member organizations in 130 countries—we can make a difference, can help governments respond to the fact that there simply is no excuse for not making life-saving investments in the health workforce.

ShareThis