The Human Resources for Health Program in Rwanda — A New Partnership

A global shortage of 4.3 million health professionals poses a major bottleneck to poor people worldwide with regard to benefiting from the fruits of modern medicine. 1Among existing health professionals, there are also staggering inequities in skill levels and geographic distribution. 2-4Unsurprisingly, the deepest national gaps in human resources for health run parallel to poor population-level health outcomes. 1ub-Saharan Africa bears 24% of the global burden of disease 5 but is served by only 4% of the global health workforce. 1The health graduate schools in the region face overwhelming financial, infrastructural, and personnel constraints, limiting their ability to address the shortage. 2,5,