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Health systems can only function with health workers; improving health service coverage and realizing the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is dependent on their availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality.
WHO estimates a projected shortfall of 11.1 million health workers by 2030 (1), mostly in low- and lower-middle income countries. However, countries at all levels of socioeconomic development face, to varying degrees, difficulties in the education, employment, deployment, retention, and performance of their workforce.
The chronic under-investment in education and training of health workers in some countries and the mismatch between education and employment strategies in relation to health systems and population needs are contributing to continuous shortages. These are compounded by difficulties in deploying health workers to rural, remote and under-served areas. Moreover, the increasing international migration of health workers may exacerbate health workforce shortfalls, particularly in low- and lower-middle income countries.
In some countries, challenges in universal access to health workers may also result from the lack of fiscal space to absorb the supply of health workers. As a result, some countries face the paradox of health worker unemployment co-existing with major unmet health workforce needs.
The High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth found that investments in the health and social workforce can spur inclusive economic growth. The health workforce has also a vital role in building the resilience of communities and health systems and in emergency preparedness and response. Approximately 67% of the health workforce are women: investing in the health workforce is an opportunity to create decent employment opportunities, in particular for women and youth.
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External publications
Why do health labour market forces matter?
This paper describes how labour market analysis can contribute to a better understanding of the factors behind human resource constraints in the health...
Human resources for health and universal health coverage: fostering equity and effective coverage
This paper explores the policy lessons on HRH from four countries that have achieved sustained improvements in UHC: Brazil, Ghana, Mexico and Thailand....
Realizing universal health coverage for maternal health services in the Republic of Guinea: the use of...
Universal health coverage requires a health workforce that is available, accessible, and well-performing. This article presents a critical analysis of...
Improving the resilience and workforce of health systems for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health
This analysis is informed by lessons from countries that have made the most rapid progress on millennium development goals 4 (to reduce child mortality...
Cost–effectiveness of community-based practitioner programmes in Ethiopia, Indonesia and Kenya
Community-based practitioners have been found to be effective in delivering health services in low- and middle-income countries. A common premise is that...
Follow-up on commitments at the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health: Indonesia, Sudan, Tanzania
This study sought to assess actions which Indonesia, Sudan, and Tanzania took to implement the health workforce commitments they made at the Third Global...
Health workforce metrics pre- and post-2015: a stimulus to public policy and planning
Evidence-based health workforce policies are essential to ensure the provision of high-quality health services and to support the attainment of universal...
Tracing the policy implementation of commitments made by national governments and other entities at the...
The baseline data for this policy tracing study consist of the categorisation and analysis of the human resources for health commitments conducted in 2014....
Assessing the health workforce implications of health policy and programming: how a review of grey literature...
This paper presents the findings of an exploratory analysis of impact assessment tools and guidance developed by the health and other sectors. The aim...
Analysing public sector institutional capacity for health workforce governance in the South-East Asia...
In order to analyse the institutional capacity and potential for strengthening of HRH units in the WHO Member States of the South East Asia Region, WHO...
Forecasting imbalances in the global health labor market and devising policy responses
This paper summarizes the needs based and labour market approaches to assessing health workforce shortages and the results these approaches produce. To...
What do we know about community-based health worker programs? A systematic review of existing reviews...
This systematic review synthesizes existing reviews on CHWs in order to map what is known about these programs. We present evidence on the roles and capacities...
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Normative publications
Human Resources for Health leadership and management: Overview
The Human Resources for Health (HRH) curricula package structures three curricula to recognize, formalize and build a critical mass of leaders and managers...
Human Resources for Health leadership and management: Case studies
The Human Resources for Health (HRH) curricula package structures three curricula to recognize, formalize and build a critical mass of leaders and managers...
Human Resources for Health leadership and management: Prototype curriculum for a master’s course
The prototype curriculum for a master’s course is part of a Human Resources for Health (HRH) curricula package intended to recognize,...
Additional publications
WHO Progress Report on Health Workforce Education
GDG: WHO guideline on health policy and system support to optimize community health worker programmes
Global Health Workforce Network terms of reference and two-year workplan
Commission on health employment and economic growth - Terms of reference
Global Health Workforce Alliance: Report of the 20th Board Meeting
High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth - Expert group
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