Encouraging medical education to bolster the global health care workforce

Millions of people worldwide lack access to quality medical care due to shortages and unequal distribution of trained medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, midwives and other providers. WHO estimates that over 4 million health workers are needed to meet this shortfall. However, not enough people are currently in the training process and that gap is at risk of growing wider.

WHO works with Member States and partners to expand the health workforce and help align the training of health professionals with the needs of national and local populations. The Organization provides leadership in the growing movement to remove the gap between the health care needs of the population and the availability of health care professionals and bring about a new era in health education.

This work is guided by several World Health Assembly resolutions and policy directives concerning the areas of nursing and midwifery, the migration of health personnel, the role of education in achieving universal health coverage and more. The Organization’s goals are further articulated in the Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030, which outlines both the anticipated problems in the years to come and strategies for meeting them.