Urgent Action Needed For Health Care Delivery

Commonwealth Health Ministers have expressed concern over the severe shortage of doctors, nurses and other health workers -- a figure put at more than four million -- especially in developing countries. This has badly affected the delivery of health care. For many countries, it is proving very difficult to attain higher health standards.

The Commonwealth Health Ministers made these points in a Concluding Statement following their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on 21 May 2006. The meeting, whose theme was 'Human Resources for Health', was held on the eve of the World Health Assembly. The ministers noted that numbers of health professionals also affected the incidence of otherwise preventable diseases and the wider social issues linked with poverty, environment, lifestyle and conflict. They endorsed health workforce policy development, integrating a gender perspective and acknowledging the roles of all health staff, including doctors, nurses, care-givers, researchers and support staff.

The ministers underlined the need to build regional capacities for the training of health workers; they noted that the 2006 World Health Report has recommended that half of international assistance funds be dedicated to health systems, with the other half allocated to strengthening the national health workforce, including training capacity. They also said that international assistance programmes should not impose constraints on health workforce expansion. They recommended the promotion of best practice to ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to health, and that innovative ways should be explored to access financing for health care workforce development.

The ministers emphasised the importance of managing health worker migration issues to protect the human resources of the most vulnerable countries. They said this should include implementing best practice strategies in retaining such workers, attaining self-sufficiency, facilitating the reintegration of returning migrants into the health workforce, and encouraging bilateral agreements between countries as well as partnerships with civil society organisations.

They agreed to strengthen the implementation of the Commonwealth Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health Workers, and to further assess the issue of compensation for the benefit of the poorest and most vulnerable citizens. The ministers urged the Commonwealth Secretariat to develop an Action Plan to facilitate this.

In an opening speech, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox said that in many cases, poverty and conflict are among the 'push factors' encouraging the highly skilled to seek better opportunities and more secure futures for their children elsewhere.

He said that it "will take long-term attention to ensure that domestic and international resources are used effectively to strengthen health systems in low-income countries and target the professional development and retention of health workers."
 
A speech by the late Dr Lee Jong-wook, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), was delivered on his behalf by Joy Phumaphi, WHO Assistant Director-General, Family and Community Health Cluster. The keynote address by Dr Timothy Evans, WHO Assistant Director-General, Evidence and Information for Policy, focused on the challenges to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals posed by shortages in human resources for health.

The meeting was chaired by Rosie Winterton, Minister of State for Health of the United Kingdom, and attended by Ministers and representatives of 45 Commonwealth countries and territories. Representatives of UN agencies, regional and civil society organisations working in health also participated in the meeting.

The full text of the Concluding Statement is available to download here

CNIS - Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 286, 24 May 2006