Grace Natabaalo
3 March 2008
Munyonyo — THE first ever global meeting to discuss challenges facing health workers around the world is starting today at Speke Resort in Munyonyo.
The five-day meeting known as the Global Forum on Human Resources for Health comes after a realisation that the critical shortage of health workers across the world is a constraint to improving health systems.
The meeting will also address migration of healthcare professionals, unfavorable and challenging working conditions, among other issues.
The forum organised by the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) has attracted over 1000 government leaders, eminent health workers, academicians, civil society and health professionals from around the world. GHWA is a partnership dedicated to identifying and implementing solutions to the health workforce crisis.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that there is an acute shortage of at least 4million health workers in 57 countries, Uganda inclusive. Sub-Saharan Africa has only three per cent of the world's health workforce yet it has the biggest disease burden of 25 per cent. Uganda has one doctor for every 15,000 people according to WHO.
"People are suffering and dying needlessly due to the serious shortage of health workers," reads a statement from WHO.
It added that: "the results (of the shortage) are disastrous with life expectancies collapsing in some of the poorest countries,"
One of the issues that is set to dominate discussions is the problem of migration of health workers from low developed countries to developed countries in pursuit of better conditions leaving their countries where they are needed more.
At least 316 Ugandan trained doctors are working in the developed countries according to WHO statistics.
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