Global Strategy On Human Resources For Health: Workforce 2030
Introduction
In May 2014, the Sixty-seventh World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA67.24 on Follow-up of the Recife Political Declaration on Human Resources for Health: renewed commitments towards universal health coverage. In paragraph 4(2) of that resolution, Member States requested the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop and submit a new global strategy for human resources for health (HRH) for consideration by the Sixty-ninth World Health Assembly.
Development of the Global Strategy was informed by a process launched in late 2013 by Member States and constituencies represented on the Board of the Global Health Workforce Alliance, a hosted partnership within WHO. Over 200 experts from all WHO regions contributed to consolidating the evidence around a comprehensive health labour market framework for universal health coverage (UHC). A synthesis paper was published in February 2015 (1) and informed the initial version of the Global Strategy.
An extensive consultation process on the draft version was launched in March 2015. This resulted in inputs from Member States and relevant constituencies such as civil society and health-care professional associations. The process also benefited from discussions in the WHO regional committees, technical Consultations, online forums, a briefing session to Member States’ permanent missions to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, exchanges during the 138th Executive Board and a final round of written comments in March 2016. Feedback and guidance from the consultation process were reflected in the current version of the Global Strategy, which was also aligned with, and informed by the WHO Framework on integrated people-centred health services. (2)
The Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 is primarily aimed at planners and policy-makers of Member States, but its contents are of value to all relevant stakeholders in the health workforce area, including public and private sector employers, professional associations, education and training institutions, labour unions, bilateral and multilateral development partners, international organizations, and civil society.
Throughout this document, it is recognized that the concept of universal health coverage may have different connotations in countries and regions of the world. In particular, in the WHO Regional Office for the Americas, universal health coverage is part of the broader concept of universal access to health care.
