The Director of the London School
of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine today welcomed the launch of the 2006
World Health Report, but called on the world community to devote more
resources to research about the health workforce.
Referring to the report, 'Working Together for Health' which addresses
the issue of human resources in the health sector, Professor Sir Andrew
Haines comments:
'There is no question that the availability of sufficient numbers of
appropriately skilled health workers is one critical constraint to improvements
in health in many countries. The decision of the World Health Organisation
to devote this year's report to this issue will draw attention to the
nature and complexity of the problem. I hope the report and the activities
planned by WHO will bring renewed efforts around the world to finding
solutions to this crisis.'
Sir Andrew expressed concern that the research and evidence base for
many health workforce-related policy initiatives was underdeveloped and
called for increased research funding in this area. He said:
" This is
a strong advocacy document, one that rightly emphasises most the problems
faced by the poorest countries."
Sir Andrew was speaking at a briefing on 6 April 2006, the day before
the launch of the report on World Health Day, which has been held on
7 April every year since 1948. The objective of World Health Day is to
raise global awareness of a specific health theme to highlight a priority
area of concern for the World Health Organisation.
" As the World Health Report notes, the health challenges we
face - such as achieving the Millennium Development Goals, reducing
the burden
of
chronic diseases and responding effectively to disasters and emergencies
- will not be surmounted without health workers. I fully support WHO
's call for national and global action to address the human resources
crisis", he said.
Sir Andrew concluded:
" However there is a danger that, since our knowledge
of how to scale up human resources rapidly is so limited, without rigorous
evaluation of HRH policies the global health community may not learn
from successes and failures. Investment in human resources for health
must be accompanied by appropriate research to evaluate impact and
sustainability."
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