Leadership (Abuja)
18 July 2008
Abuja — UNICEF says health workers' crisis in Africa poses a grave danger to governments' efforts at attaining the much needed success in the sector.
In its latest report on "The State of World's Children", UNICEF called for urgent efforts to address the crisis, to accelerate the achievement of set goals in the sector.
The report said the lack of adequate human resources represented a major barrier in integrating approaches to maternal, newborn and child survival at the community level.
It said: "The current experience suggests that limited effectiveness, high staff turnover and inadequate supervision characterise most programmes in developing countries.
"Within these context, community health workers have an important role in improving community health in general and child health in particular. They are to complement and not substitute".
The report further said that the number of health workers per 1,000 children, in particular nurses and doctors, was a significant determinant of variations in infant, under-five and maternal mortality across countries.
It quoted research results which said the prospects for achieving 80 per cent coverage of measles immunisation and skilled attendants at birth were greatly enhanced where the health worker density exceeded 2.5 per 1,000 inhabitants.
"Yet many developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, face overwhelming shortages of health personnel.
"Migration of skilled health professionals is a cause of grave concern in many developing countries.
"The issue is the massive migration of health professionals from poor to rich countries," it added.
The report said reasons for the migration include low remuneration, inflexible hours with many extra duties, difficult working conditions and shortage of equipment.
It noted that recent statistics indicated that "half of medical school graduates from Ghana emigrate within four and half years of graduation, while 75 per cent leave within a decade".
The report said in South Africa, "more than 300 specialist nurses leave every month, while many may never return," noting that the main destinations for migrant health workers were Europe and North America.
"In the United Kingdom, one third of health workers originate from other countries.
Research has it that the density of workers is more than 10 times higher in Europe and North America than in Sub-Saharan Africa.
"The negative impact on the delivery of health services in developing countries is often severe.
"This is because the movement of human capital affects the most highly trained professionals, in whom the governments have invested so much in training", it added.
To address the shortages of skilled health personnel, the report suggested that national health systems must build incentives for practicing health care at home.
It said: "While this remains an ongoing challenge, a number of countries have been successful in recruiting and retaining health workers, inclusive of the rural areas, where shortages are severe.
"Incentives to retain health workers or reverse migration are being devised to address the crisis". (NAN)
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