As World Health Worker Week 2019 begins today, IntraHealth International and the Frontline Health Workers Coalition are celebrating our progress in strengthening health workforces and systems worldwide, while also advocating for new coordinated investments to address the most acute gaps in access to trained, supported, and safe health workers worldwide. IntraHealth serves as the secretariat for the coalition, which is an alliance of 41 public and private organizations.

On the ground in 2018 alone, IntraHealth:

• Reached 341,445 health workers through its projects and initiatives, including providing training for 26,382 of them.
• Supported 32,554 health facilities to provide services that meet their national standards.
• Strengthened the health workforce management systems of 24,598 local partners.
• Helped 330 organizations redistribute their workforces to better align with populations’ needs.
• Expanded applications of our iHRIS software to 27 countries that are now using the technology to manage their health worker data.

And through IntraHealth’s longstanding partner-based approach, together with the Frontline Health Workers Coalition and other partners around the world, we’ve helped ignite concrete actions by global policy-makers to strengthen the global health workforce, including:

• The first-ever global strategy on the health workforce, Workforce 2030, which was adopted unanimously by member states at the World Health Assembly.
• A specific target on strengthening the health workforce (target 3.C) in the Sustainable Development Goals. 
• Several health workforce commitments across US and multilateral global health programs, such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Health Security Agenda, and new US legislative requirements that have been passed requiring greater reporting by government agencies on health workforce strengthening efforts.

IntraHealth and the coalition, along with other partners, founded World Health Worker Week in 2013 to elevate the voices of frontline health workers and advocate for changes like these. Since its inception, the week has grown every year into a global movement (keep reading to get involved).

Universal health coverage is crucial to IntraHealth’s vision and to the global Sustainable Development Goals. But our looming shortage of 18 million health workers globally by 2030—if urgent action is not taken—threatens to put that goal out of reach. That’s why, during World Health Worker Week 2019, we’re joining forces with our coalition partners to advocate for greater, more targeted investments in health workers around the world.

And you can help:

Join the conversation during World Health Worker Week 2019, April 1-5

• Stay tuned to IntraHealth’s blog VITAL and the Frontline Health Workers Coalition for stories about health workers on the front lines of care.
• Use #WHWWeek and #HealthWorkersCount on social media.
• Participate in a #WHWWeek Twitter chat on Tuesday, April 2, 10 am. We’ll talk about who’s on your health worker dream team.
• Follow us on Instragram this week to see health workers in 5 places you might not expect.
• Say thank you to a health hero you know through Instagram and Twitter.
• Make a video testimonial to tell policy-makers why health workers count.
• Come to our congressional reception on April 4, 5 – 7 pm.
• Urge UN Member States to take bold action to ensure the health workforce needed to achieve primary health care for all and universal health coverage.

Also read: Welcome to World Health Worker Week 2019