Creative Approaches to the Global Health Workforce Crisis

Five years ago the World Health Organization told us that 57 countries had a critical shortage of health workers—fewer than 2.3 service providers for every thousand people. Today, all 57 countries are still below this threshold. What’s holding us back from faster progress?

Global Health and American Moral Power

My parents survived the Holocaust; they were Jewish children who spent the war in hiding in France. After the war, they received CARE packages from America. The Marshall Plan helped rebuild France. I once asked my mother what this meant to her. She said, “After all we had been through, it reminded me that there were still good people in the world.”

A Shout Out to 29 Amazing Zambian Women and 1 Man Caring for Their Community

I met an amazing group of people in Zambia: the Chishilano Home-Based Care Group at the Shelazi Centre. They are a group of about 30 volunteers, who care for people in their community living with HIV/AIDS.

The Possibilities of Video Games and Digital Living for Future Health Workers' Lives

What if video games could be used to help solve the health care worker shortage in Africa? Playing games can help people learn knowledge and skills.

An Imperative to Act: Family Planning in West Africa

Earlier this month, I was in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso with delegates from eight French-speaking West African countries* for the conference, “Family Planning in the context of Population and Development: the Urgency to Act.”

Where is the Evidence on Building Sustainable Health Systems in a World of Unrest?

Civil unrest is spreading quicker than a pandemic across the Middle East and North Africa. How will these events affect people’s health and the health systems in these countries?

How Health Workers Influence Attitudes and Decisions about Family Planning

Last month, a new World Health Organization publication compared current data to data from the early 1990s on the readiness, willingness, and ability of women to use modern contraceptives in sub-Saharan Africa.

Local Solutions, Global Solidarity, and Accountability

While the Second Global Forum on Human Resources for Health was full of opportunities, it was also quite deficient in addressing the one global issue that continues to hinder progress.

What Brought Us Here Won’t Get Us There: Implementing Country-level Health Workforce Development Plans

Three years ago, we met in Kampala, Uganda, to discuss the critical needs of the global health workforce. Last week in Bangkok, we gathered to take stock of what we’ve accomplished since. Today, 86%...

Actual Needs and Donor Priorities in HIV/AIDS—The Frustrating Gap

Reading Samuel Loewenberg’s article, “Ethiopia Struggles to Make Its Voice Heard,” I thought, finally, someone is speaking out about something too many of us remain silent on—the vast gap in some countries between actual needs and donors’ perceived priorities, particularly when it comes to HIV/AIDS funding.