With data from 194 Member States as of 2020, the global health workforce is estimated to be 65 million, reflecting growth of 29% since the adoption in 2016 of the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: workforce 2030, as well as improved data availability and predicted employment trends in the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth. This data supported revisiting health workforce shortage projections of 18 million in 2016 to 15 million in 2022 and, potentially, 10 million in 2030. Reporting on nursing and midwifery has been strengthened, and for the first time, data is reported on community health worker stock, as requested in the Seventy-second World Health Assembly resolution on community health workers.
Despite the encouraging aggregate findings, there are caveats: the data and projections are based mainly on pre-COVID-19 trends, and the pandemic impact on our health and care workforce is grave and substantive. Similarly, the report warns that two regions – Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East – will shoulder an increasing burden of workforce shortages, amidst growing demand for services. Further, the impact of COVID-19 on these trends will need to be monitored.
The discussions at the Seventy-fifth World Health Assembly highlight how progress in realizing the ambitions of the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health is possible. The interconnected Global Strategy objectives – evidence-based policies to optimize the workforce, catalysing health labour market investments responsive to population needs, and building institutional capacity and partnerships, and data for monitoring and accountability – are valid across socioeconomic and regional contexts.