October 21, 2010, Washington, DC—According to a new policy paper published this week, health NGO IntraHealth International is calling on the United States Government to devise and adopt a measurable human resources for health (HRH) strategy to support the Obama Administration’s six-year, $63-billion Global Health Initiative (GHI). The worldwide shortage of health workers—intensified by maldistribution and migration—remains a critical obstacle to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, as well as the global health goals of the US Government. Although the GHI includes expansion and appropriate deployment of the health workforce among its goals, it has yet to define a clear approach or metrics, including cost or timeframe, necessary to ensure sustainable impact. 

Authored by Maurice Middleberg, IntraHealth’s vice president for global policy, Saving Lives, Ensuring a Legacy: A Health Workforce Strategy for the Global Health Initiative outlines a strategic approach to the health workforce challenge that would support implementation of the GHI. With a particular focus on women and children, the GHI is designed to expand on existing collaborations with partner countries that strengthen health systems, provide high-quality health services and prevent and treat infectious diseases.

“The HRH component, like other health systems elements of the GHI, stands in marked contrast to the more vertical programs, such as family planning, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and maternal and child health, which do have well-developed strategies, as well as goals that are numeric, ambitious, and quite specific—e.g., prevent 12 million HIV infections; provide AIDS treatment to four million people; treat 2.6 million tuberculosis cases, reduce maternal mortality by 30%, and so forth,” writes Middleberg. “Health systems goals, including HRH, may be perceived as more difficult to state in measurable terms than disease-specific goals for which there are clear biomedical markers.”

The IntraHealth policy paper recommends that the US set a goal of increasing the global health workforce by 232,000 by 2014 and 580,000 by 2020. Additionally, the paper outlines well-documented strategic investments the GHI should make to mitigate health workforce attrition, improve productivity, and strengthen supportive systems to help countries better recruit and retain health workers where their services are needed most. Key elements of the strategy include: a five-part technical approach, a focus on 25 priority countries, and an organizational structure to provide necessary leadership, expertise, and coordination among governments, donors and other partners.

“It’s impressive that President Obama announced the GHI in May 2009, fewer than five months after entering office, proposing a new initiative that would bring additional resources to, and also truly build on, the US government’s investments in health system strengthening, including HRH,” says Middleberg.

“I hope this paper will encourage and help US government policy-makers translate the noble aspirations of the Global Health Initiative into concrete action,” he concludes. “The GHI can be achieved only if health workers are present.”

Saving Lives, Ensuring a Legacy: A Health Workforce Strategy for the Global Health Initiative builds on the research literature and IntraHealth’s experience in leading multiple USAID-funded projects in human resources for health, as well as from lessons learned from many other organizations’ work. It also marks the launch of IntraHealth’s Global Health Workforce Policy Papers series.

IntraHealth leads the US Government’s flagship global project in human resources for health—CapacityPlus, a five-year, $300 million USAID cooperative agreement to strengthen the health workforce needed to help reach the Millennium Development Goals. Maurice Middleberg serves as director of the project, in addition to leading IntraHealth’s policy division in Washington, DC.

IntraHealth International is a global health nonprofit that champions the critical role of health workers in health and development. For over 30 years, IntraHealth has empowered health workers to better serve communities in need, fostering local solutions to health care challenges by improving health worker performance, strengthening health systems, harnessing technology, and leveraging partnerships. The nonprofit’s work is supported and funded by the US Agency for International Development, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, private foundations, corporations and individuals.

Contact: Laura Hoemeke
IntraHealth International
+1 919-360-7799