At Wemos, we wish to see that that everyone, everywhere, has access to skilled, motivated and properly supported health workers. However, the global health workforce is unevenly distributed, leading to critical staff shortages in many countries. It is expected that by 2030 there will be a shortage of more than 10 million health workers, particularly in low- and lower-middle income countries.
We therefore analyse health workforce policies and strategies and propose changes to national and EU policymakers to improve them. We also engage with other civil society allies to (jointly) call on national and European policy makers as well as global health donors to create fair and effective health workforce policy.
Due to insufficient investments in the health workforce, many countries in Europe see their health workers leave to other countries with the intention to seek better working conditions, better job opportunities or higher salaries. These so-called ‘pull factors’ in destination countries, as well as ‘push factors’ in sending countries – such as insufficient job opportunities or sub-optimal working conditions – are fuelling health worker migration and mobility in the EU single market which enables free movement of people. This leaves the sending countries with insufficient health workers and weak health systems, which hampers efforts to achieve resilient health systems and health worker availability for all, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalised populations.
We advocate that the European Commission should step up its efforts to improve public health and support its individual Member States with tackling the health workforce crisis in Europe, by approaching it as a shared concern that requires joint solutions. National governments cannot solve this crisis on their own. Countries with health workforce shortages relying on the ‘quick fix’ of recruitment from abroad (receiving countries), and countries that see their health workers migrate (sending countries), should all invest in better working and living conditions, and continuous professional development to retain and keep their health workers motivated. We therefore aim to raise awareness on the urgency of improving health worker availability in Europe, collecting and sharing evidence and proposing evidence-based policy solutions through our projects AHEAD and Pillars of Health. We also advocate strengthening human resources for health strategies to address areas that are at risk of becoming medical deserts, often due to outmigration of health workers, resulting in limited health services and unmet health needs in the population.
Most low- and middle-income countries face severe health workforce shortages. Health workers are trained, but often there are no steady jobs for them because there is no funding for their salaries. As a consequence, the health workers who are employed are overburdened and unable to give proper attention and care, including sexual and reproductive health services. While donors and governments agree that expanding the health workforce is urgent, there is a lack of donor commitment, because finance for health workers is considered a domestic responsibility.
We advocate continued long-term co-investment from global health actors in low-and middle-income countries’ health workforce to boost the quantity and quality of health workers and provide the best conditions for their retention. Within the European Union, we advocate that Member States invest in their health workforce too, by using existing EU funding instruments. Ultimately, all countries should raise their domestic resources in line with global targets, invest on a long-term basis in planning and forecasting, and in the recruitment, development, training, retention and management of their health workforce.
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