Working Together for Health : The World Health Report 2006
Contents: Message from the director-general. Overview: i. Why the workforce is important. ii. Strategies: working lifespan of entry-workforce-exit. iii. Moving forward together. 1. Health workers: a global profile: i. Who are the health workers?. ii. How many health workers are there?. iii. How much is spent on the health workforce?. iv. Where are the health workers?. v. Are there enough health workers?. vi. Addressing the shortage--how much will it cost? vii. Conclusion. 2. Responding to urgent health needs: i. High priority services: human resources for health and the MDGs. ii. Preparing the workforce for the growing burden of chronic diseases and injuries. iii. Mobilizing for emergency needs: natural disasters and outbreaks. iv. Working in conflict and post-conflict environments. Conclusion. 3. Preparing the health workforce: i. Workforce entry: the right mix. ii. Training: the right institutions to produce the right workers. iii. Rethinking recruitment: gateway to the workforce. Conclusion. 4. Making the most of existing health workers: i. What is a well-performing health workforce?. ii. What determines how health workers perform?. iii. What influences health workers\' performance?. iv. How are levers linked to the four dimensions of health workforce performance?. Conclusion. 5. Managing exits from the workforce: i. Ebbs and flows of migration. ii. Occupational risks to health workers. iii. Change of occupation or work status. iv. Retirement. Conclusion. 6. Formulating national health workforce strategies: i. Building trust and managing expectations. ii. Fair and cooperative governing. iii. Strong leadership. iv. Strengthening strategic intelligence. v. Investing in workforce institutions. Conclusion. 7. Working together, within and across countries: i. Catalysing knowledge and learning. ii. Striking cooperative agreements. iii. Responding to the health workforce crisis. iv. Moving forward together. v. Joint steps to the future. Statistical Annex. Index.
"The World Health Report 2006 - Working Together for Health contains both an expert assessment of the current crisis in the global health workforce and an ambitious set of proposals to tackle it over the next ten years, starting immediately.
Today\'s crisis is a binding constraint to health improvement in almost 60 countries globally. A shortage estimated at almost 4.3 million doctors, midwives, nurses and support workers worldwide is most severe in the poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where they are most needed. Poor working conditions, high rates of attrition due to illness and migration, and education systems that are unable to pick up the slack reflect the depth of the challenges in these crisis countries.
About 59 million people make up the global health workforce. One in every three of these is employed in the Americas - mostly in the USA and Canada - where more than half the world\'s financial resources for health are to be found. However, only four in every hundred health workers are in sub-Saharan Africa, which has a quarter of the global burden of disease, and less than one per cent of the world\'s financial resources.
This report shows how a better balance can be found. By actively planning around the working lifespan of a worker from entry to health training, to job recruitment through to retirement, a broad set of policies options emerge that can all make a discrete contribution to improving the performance of the health workforce. All countries can enhance workforce productivity immediately but they must also begin to anticipate what lies ahead and acquire the necessary institutional capacity to lead, manage and regulate the health workforce.
National leadership can be supported by global solidarity that facilitate public goods such as common technical frameworks and priority research, as well as cooperative agreements on migration and the mobilization of the international workforce in response to health emergencies. Support to countries in profound crisis requires urgent coordination and commitment from international partners to invest directly in the health workforce now and into the longer term. This report lays out a ten-year action plan in which countries can build their health workforces and strengthen their health system with the support of global partners- working together for health.
A strong and vital health workforce is an investment in health for today and the future. The ultimate goal is a workforce that can guarantee universal access to health care to all citizens in every country. This report for everyone who shares that ambition."
