mail
Print view
 

Health Workforce Shortage: Are there Potential Ways Out of the Current Healthcare Crisis?

Medicusmundi

Medicus Mundi Switzerland Worldwide as well as in Switzerland we are facing a shortage of trained healthcare professionals. Low-income countries, where healthcare provision is already weak, are being particularly affected. However, the staff shortage threatens healthcare for all across the world.

According to estimates by the International Council of Nurses (ICN), there was a shortage of 30.9 million nurses worldwide in 2019. This is presenting one of the main obstacles to the provision of effective healthcare services – especially for those who need them the most. For a country’s population, it creates a lack of access to basic health services including: prevention, information, drug distribution, emergency treatment, clinical care and life-saving interventions such as immunisation for children, safe pregnancy and maternity services, and access to treatment for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. For health workers, the shortages mean an overwhelming workload and stress, which can lead to a lack of motivation, fatigue, absenteeism, illness, migration or the change to a career outside of the health sector.

The global shortage of healthcare staff means that countries are both actively and passively poaching doctors and nurses from each other. The losers in this situation are especially countries with weaker healthcare systems. Such countries are not only losing staff but also the investment made in training them. Until now, the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel has been applied on a voluntary basis. This Code urgently needs to be tightened up and binding regulations introduced at an international level.

Read the whole article here.

  Quelle: Medicusmundi (12.11.2024; GI-NH)
 
"Going International promotes access to education and training for all regardless of social, geographic and national borders."

European Public Health Association (EUPHA)Centro per la Formazione Permanente e l'Aggiornamento del Personale del Servizio SanitarioHelix - Forschung & Beratung WienAlumni Club Medizinische Universität WienOÖ Gebietskrankenkasse, Referat für Wissenschaftskooperation European Health Forum GasteinCenter of ExcellenceSwiss Tropical and Public Health Institute