The World Well being Group (WHO) launched at present an up to date WHO well being workforce assist and safeguards checklist 2023, figuring out 55 international locations as weak for availability of well being staff required to attain the UN Sustainable Growth Purpose goal for common well being protection (UHC) by 2030.
The influence of COVID-19 and widespread disruptions to well being providers has resulted in a speedy acceleration within the worldwide recruitment of well being staff. For international locations shedding well being personnel to worldwide migration, this might negatively influence on well being techniques and hinder their progress in direction of reaching UHC and well being safety.
Of the 55 international locations, 37 are within the WHO African area, eight within the Western Pacific area, six within the Japanese Mediterranean area, three within the South-East Asia area and one is within the Americas. Eight international locations have been newly added to the WHO well being workforce assist and safeguards checklist 2023 since its unique publication in 2020.
“Well being staff are the spine of each well being system, and but 55 international locations with a number of the world’s most fragile well being techniques shouldn’t have sufficient and lots of are shedding their well being staff to worldwide migration,” mentioned Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-Normal . “WHO is working with these international locations to assist them to strengthen their well being workforce, and we name on all international locations to respect the provisions within the WHO well being workforce assist and safeguards checklist.” The checklist must be used to tell advocacy, coverage dialogue in any respect ranges and financing efforts to assist well being workforce schooling and employment in these international locations.
The international locations included within the WHO well being workforce assist and safeguards checklist 2023 have a UHC service protection index under 55 and well being workforce density under the worldwide median: 49 medical docs, nursing and midwifery personnel per 10 000 folks. These international locations require precedence assist for well being workforce growth and well being system strengthening, together with extra safeguards that restrict energetic worldwide recruitment.
The WHO well being workforce assist and safeguard checklist 2023 doesn’t prohibit worldwide recruitment, however recommends that government-to-government well being employee migration agreements:
- be told by well being labor market evaluation and the adoption of measures to make sure ample provide of well being staff within the supply international locations;
- interact Ministries of Well being within the negotiation and implementation of agreements; and
- specify the well being system advantages of the association to each supply and vacation spot international locations.
WHO additionally recommends that these safeguards be prolonged to all low- and middle-income international locations.
Implementation of the WHO World code of follow on the worldwide recruitment of well being personnel (WHO World Code) can be certain that the worldwide motion of well being staff is ethically managed, helps the rights and welfare of migrant well being staff and maintains well being service supply aims.
The 2023 replace is knowledgeable by the report of the WHO Knowledgeable Advisory Group on the Relevance and Effectiveness of the WHO World Code. WHO will replace the checklist each three years, with the following replace scheduled for publication in 2026.
This problem will probably be mentioned on the upcoming Fifth World Discussion board on Human Assets for Well being, which is able to study the required coverage options, investments, and multi-sectoral partnerships to deal with well being and care workforce challenges to advance well being techniques in direction of the attainment of UHC and well being safety. The outcomes of the Discussion board will inform the United Nations Normal Meeting’s Excessive-Degree Assembly on UHC in September 2023.