Africa worst affected by shortage of health workers
Poor working conditions and inadequate pay have driven away health professionals from developing countries, thereby undermining medical services, a conference to address the global shortage has noted.
Community-based health workers in Burundi travel to villages to discuss health issues. Africa in particular has a dire shortage of doctors and nurses. (Image: IFRC)
"For too long we have watched this crisis unfold in front of our eyes - this is unacceptable," Francis Omaswa, head of the Global Health Workforce Alliance, told the first Global Forum on Human Resources for Health that opened in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on 3 March.
The deficit, the conference heard, had reached four million doctors, nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals. Of these, one million are needed in Africa alone.
