Around half of the world’s health workers experienced burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic, while 55 countries face serious shortages of health workers – exacerbated by the poaching of skilled staff by wealthier countries.

Many countries are struggling to retain health workers, ensure they are equitably distributed, there is an adequate skills mix, and battling to mitigate their health workers mobility and migration.

These were some of the issues that delegates grappled with at the Fifth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health held over the past three days in Geneva.

Since #COVID19, over 1 in 3 #healthworkers have suffered from anxiety and depression. ~1/2 have experienced burnout. Dissatisfaction with working conditions is reported in more than 160 countries.

We face major health workforce challenges that demand a major response. pic.twitter.com/jnhHXWEHuz

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 3, 2023

“If we’re going to make progress in the mid-to-long-term, there’s a more immediate challenge that we need to solve and that is the burnout.. how to support individual health workers to become as productive as they can and deal with the immediate challenges around post-traumatic stress disorder,” Professor James Buchan from the Health Foundation told the closing plenary.

“We’ve clearly identified the central role of government in taking forward the agenda in terms of protecting and investing [in health workers], which is primarily a government responsibility, but we also recognise there are many stakeholders which are part of the solution and we need to come at this together,” he added.

“Mobility and migration, have been with us as a core concern for many years now. But because of the pandemic, become even more pronounced. Demand for healthcare workers is up. Supply is constrained.” 

Africa is facing the most pressing challenges, with a projected shortage of 5.3 million health workers by 2030.

‘Walk the talk’

Ghana’s Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu appealed to global delegates to support the Africa Health Workforce Investment Charter, which his country spearheaded last year after COVID-19 exposed continental weaknesses. 

The charter aims to align and stimulate investments to halve the inequities in access to health workers, especially in countries with the greatest shortages.

“The 5.3 million shortage comes amid 30% unemployment or underemployment among graduates,” said Manu.

“We are also adversely impacted by unmanaged migration. This is not just an African problem for Africa. The world is interdependent, and we must act together.

“ It is time for governments to show leadership in health workforce investments. It is time for us to align and synergize efforts with all partners in prioritising health workforce investments. It is time to walk the talk,” Manu concluded, appealing for global support for the charter

Ghana itself has managed to increase its workforce by 90,000 despite financial constraints.

Global expert committee to be set up

In response to the challenges, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced at the closing plenary that he would establish “a multisectoral advisory group of experts that will provide me with the evidence for action in support of national health policy and workforce priorities”.

“This advisory group will comprise government and partners with expertise from education, finance, gender, economy, held and labour, and will report to a WHO global policy group, which will include me, and the six regional directors,” said Tedros.

WHO is recommending that all countries increase the graduation of health personnel to reach 8 to 12% of the active workforce per annum. This means that a country with a total of 5000 physicians would need to graduate between 400 and 600 physicians each year to maintain and improve capacity in relation to population needs and health system demand.

Some of the key outcomes of the forum will be taken forward to the United Nations General Assembly’s High-Level Meetings on Universal Health Coverage and Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in September 2023.