Human Resources for Health
In developing countries, health workers receive low salaries, have no training opportunities, and are forced to work with outdated equipment. Many migrate to the rich Western world or opt for a career switch. Many people have no access to health care, migration being one of the causes.
Wemos lobbies for retention of health staff in developing countries.
In both poor and rich countries, too few health workers are trained, while the job vacancies in Western countries attract many health professionals, as rich countries offer higher salaries and better facilities. This is one of the reasons why developing countries are being affected disproportionately by the global personnel shortage.
A number of Western countries and health funds contribute to continuation of this situation. They do not want to invest in salaries of public health staff for an extended period of time, but at the same time they support programmes that provide medical staff with high salaries. These programmes, which usually focus on the eradication of one disease, pull many health workers from the public health sector towards them. This increases the existing personnel shortages.
In May 2010, the member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. Wemos was actively involved in the process of approval of the Code, which aims to minimize the damage of unethical recruitment practices for developing countries.
Activities
Wemos advocates for retention of health staff in the public health sector of developing countries by: - encouraging international donors and the Dutch Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation to increase investments in health staff in developing countries;
- convincing the Dutch Minister for Public Health of the necessity to train sufficient numbers of personnel, so that no gaps will develop which are filled by health staff from developing countries;
-
collaborating with organizations in Kenya and Zambia, with Southern networks as well as with Northern partners such as Medicus Mundi International (MMI) Network and the Dutch Human Resources for Health Alliance; and
-
facilitating the implementation of the WHO Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel in the Netherlands, in collaboration with health care institutions, labour unions, health professional organizations, non-gouvernmental organizations, health workers and ministries.
Lobbying results
- Dutch politicians publicly support Wemos’ points of view.
- The Dutch Minister for Public Health is a public supporter of the implementation of a code of conduct for ethical recruitment in the Netherlands.
-
The Dutch media pay attention to the global shortage of health personnel and Wemos’ points of view.
More information
Last update: October 13, 2011
