Vern Weitzel, vern.weitzel@undp.org
The inadequacy of the health workforce in many developing countries is a
major obstacle to providing essential life-saving health services to millions of
people who lack access now,UN World Health Organization Assistant
Director-General Timothy Evans said of the Global Health Workforce Alliance.
"Coordinated action to address this crisis at the global level, in regions
and within countries must begin now."
Fifty-seven countries, 36 of them in sub-Saharan Africa, have severe
shortages and more than 4 million additional doctors, nurses, midwives, managers
and public health workers are urgently needed to fill this gap.
Responding to calls by African Heads of State, the G8 industrialized
countries and the World Health Assembly for urgent solutions to the health
workforce crisis, the Alliance, whose secretariat will be hosted by WHO, will
seek practical approaches such as improving working conditions and reaching more
effective agreements to manage the migration of health workers.
The initial partners include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the
Canadian International Development Agency, the European Commission, the Global
Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard
University, the International Council of Nurses, the New Partnership for
Africa's Development, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Thai
Ministry of Public Health, Physicians for Human Rights, the World Bank and WHO.
Its executive director, Francis Omaswa, is the former Director General of
Health Services of Uganda. The Government of Norway has donated 3.5 million
towards the Alliance's operations during its first year. Seed money for its
start-up was donated by the governments of Canada, Ireland and Sweden.
Press release: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/pr26/en/index.html
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