The human resource crisis in health services in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Addressing the current state of human resources in health, the paper highlights the critical situation of the health workforce in sub-Saharan Africa. It examines the most recent workforce statistics and trends, including geographical distribution. The factors that have and are influencing the availability of human resources are briefly reviewed, focusing on the workforce motivation, the serious brain drain of health professionals, and the increasing impact of HIV/AIDS. The paper concludes that several issues to be focused on are: aligning the health sector, civil service and macroeconomic policies and their objectives; offering internally competitive wages and benefit packages to retain highly trained staff; investing into training capacities, improving training and knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS; HIV/AIDS prevention and care; exploiting alternative service delivery mechanisms; and improving the non- monetary incentive frameworks faced by health personnel. The paper suggests that without renewed emphasis on the health workforce crisis, it will be hard for African countries to attain the health-related Millennium Development Goals.