Accra, Ghana 08 July 2015 - A two-day Regional African Consultation (8-9 July 2015) on the Global Strategy on Human  Resources For Health: Workforce 2030 is underway in Accra, Ghana.

The purpose of the consultation is to support WHO, Member States and partners - at global, regional and country levels- to address health workforce challenges to progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The strategy brings together state of the art knowledge and evidence while building on a decade of experiences and lessons learned in implementing health workforce policies at country level.  It also reflects on emerging evidence that investments in the health workforce can trigger broader socio-economic development with positive spill-over effects on education, gender equality and on the creation of decent employment opportunities and sustainable economic growth.

In a welcoming address, Mr Stanley Diamenu, World Health Organisation (WHO) Ghana, on behalf of Dr Magda Robalo, WHO Country Representative, Ghana, reiterated that the health sector cannot function effectively and efficiently without the right number and mix of the required human capital.  “The call for UHC would be a mirage without appropriate policies and strategies as well as clear financing mechanisms to get the required human resources in place” she said.

Dr Robalo also emphasized that most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets remain unmet, by majority of countries in the African Region and the need for countries to continue working to address the issues identified in the MDGs through the adoption of Post 2015 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. 

The Honourable Minister for Health, Mr Alex Segbefia,  opened the consultation, describing it as timely and important.  He expressed that Ghana is privileged to be hosting such a conference whose purpose is to provide an African perspective on global initiatives on the improvement of human resources for health development.

Mr Alex Segbefia indicated that there are limitations in other critical areas of healthcare delivery such as well distributed and accessible health infrastructure, good policies, medicines and so on.  However, he was of the opinion that without a well –motivated and qualified workforce, even well -resourced health systems cannot deliver the needed services.

“To emphasize this point there is now a painful realization globally following the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak, that it is crucial to invest in resilient health systems in order to avoid such shocks; shocks that have severely affected not only the health sector but social and economic growth of the whole sub-region” he said. There are negative consequences and sometimes catastrophic ones if we do not invest in health systems and have a workforce that meets the needs of communities and populations wherever they may be” he added.

In conclusion, Honourable Alex Segbefia, mentioned that he was happy to note that the overall goal of the draft Global Strategy of Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 is to ensure availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of the health workforce through adequate investments and the implementation of effective policies at every level for our people.

“I am hopeful that the Global Strategy will take Africa’s peculiar human resource needs and challenges into consideration because unless there is a global undertaking that ensures equity in access to skilled health workers, our efforts at country and regional level on their own will not accomplish much” he concluded.

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For additional information, please contact:

Technical Contact:

Dr Magda Robalo: WHO Country Office Representative, Ghana Tel +233 302-763918 Email: robalom [at] who.int (robalom[at]who[dot]int)

Dr Delanyo Dovlo: Director, Health Systems and Services, WHO Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Congo 

Mr James Campbell:  Director, Health Workforce Department, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland

Media Contact:

Ms Joana Ansong: Tel: +233 544316017 Email: ansongj [at] who.int (ansongj[at]who[dot]int)