The World Health Organization (WHO) is organizing the Fifth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, which will take place from 3 to 5 April 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland. As the largest gathering of health‑workforce professionals, policymakers and multisectoral partners, the Forum will focus on “Protecting, safeguarding, and investing in the health and care workforce.” With the Sustainable Development Goals now at their midpoint and three years since the COVID‑19 pandemic began, population health outcomes and life expectancy are declining. Health systems rely on the availability, accessibility and quality of health workers, yet chronic shortages, underinvestment in education and training, low salaries and a mismatch between education and employment strategies are creating major challenges.
The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on health workers. Recent figures show that an estimated 50 % of health and care workers—already feeling overworked and undervalued before COVID‑19—experienced burnout from the additional burdens placed on them. “The world must take urgent action to protect and invest in health workers in all countries. Health workers need decent pay and working conditions,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director‑General. “WHO calls for all countries to increase investment in health‑workforce education and jobs to meet their population needs and health‑system demands. This requires political leadership across all sectors, not just health.”
Marking more than five years since the adoption of the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030, the Forum will share evidence and experiences on workforce development and explore opportunities for the post‑COVID‑19 era. It will examine the policy solutions, investments and multi‑sectoral partnerships needed to address health‑ and care‑workforce challenges and to advance the implementation of the Working for Health 2022‑2030 Action Plan. WHO recommends that all countries increase the graduation of health personnel to reach 8‑12 % of the active workforce each year. For example, a country with 5,000 physicians would need to graduate 400‑600 physicians annually to maintain and improve capacity relative to population needs and health‑system demand.
“National responses to COVID‑19 showed that the health and care workforce is capable of hugely positive change,” said Jim Campbell, Director of the Health Workforce Department. “If we want equity and universal health coverage, if we want global health security, we must protect health workers. We must invest in them, and we must take action together.” The Forum will give particular attention to health‑workforce investment and financing in all countries, aiming to secure resources for scaling up education and jobs. It will feature work led by the WHO African Regional Office, Member States and regional partners on the African Health Workforce Investment Charter, which seeks to align and stimulate investments to halve inequities in access to health workers—especially in African countries with the greatest shortages.
Over 2,000 delegates will attend the Forum, most joining online and close to 200 participating in person. Held during World Health Worker Week and just before World Health Day—marking WHO’s 75th birthday on 7 April 2023—the event provides a pivotal moment to focus on a topic at the heart of the global health agenda. The Forum’s outcomes will inform the United Nations General Assembly’s High‑Level Meetings on Universal Health Coverage and Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response scheduled for September 2023.
At the 75th World Health Assembly in May 2022, Member States encouraged the use of the Global Health and Care Worker Compact, which consolidates relevant international legal instruments to guide the protection of health and care workers, safeguard their rights and promote decent work free from discrimination. The WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2010, is a key instrument in this area. It promotes voluntary, ethical recruitment practices and requires countries to implement effective health‑workforce planning, education, training and retention strategies tailored to their specific conditions. In March 2023, WHO released the WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List (2023).
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