Universal Health Care

New ILO Report: The World Needs More Rural Health Workers, A Lot More

Sarah Dwyer — Mon, 04 May 2015 18:29:49 +0000

On April 27, a new report released by the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) made a distressing finding: without adequate numbers of health workers, especially in rural areas, more than half of the world’s rural population—and more than three-quarters of the rural population in Africa—will go without access to effective health care in 2015.

The report, entitled Global Evidence on Inequities in Rural Health Protection, was the ILO’s response to observable trends in economic disinvestment and neglect in rural health systems around the world. Now, with this report indicating that nearly 56% of the world’s rural population—and 83% of Africa’s rural population—live without critical health care access, the ILO has provided powerful evidence to demonstrate why strengthening the rural health workforce is imperative to filling this gap.

Author's name:

Aanjalie Collure

Publication Date:

May 2015

What’s Ahead? Making Commitments to Strengthening the Health Workforce

Carol Bales — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:09:38 +0000

This week we’ve celebrated the amazing lifesaving work of health workers around the world, as part of the first-ever World Health Worker Week. We’ve also raised awareness of some of their challenges. Of course, one week is not enough, and health workers deserve our support and appreciation everyday—especially those on the frontlines.

Now it’s time to look ahead.

CapacityPlus and our lead partner, IntraHealth International, are deeply engaged in the planning process for the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, which will take place November 10–13 in Recife, Brazil. We want this to be far more than a regular conference or a celebration of health workers—this event will serve as a target date to mobilize action on health workforce strengthening to achieve the health MDGs.

Author's name:

Sarah Dwyer and Carol Bales

Publication Date:

April 2013

Health Is Wealth

Carol Bales — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:14:43 +0000

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

Meet three men in Africa who share two key beliefs: access to health care for all people is vital, and healthy people build strong economies.

Samuel Nugblega of the Christian Health Association of Ghana believes in helping his country develop economically by improving the health of Ghanaians. “Health is fundamental to everything,” he says. “And from Ghana, we say health creates wealth.” To bring this about, Samuel works to support the health workers who deliver vital services.

Author's name:

Carol Bales and Sarah Dwyer

Publication Date:

April 2013