Medical workers less in developing nations: WHO
Singapore, Apr 4: Developing countries are suffering from an acute shortage of doctors and nurses, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said, appealing for more health services for the poor. WHO's Margaret Chan said the shortage of health workers has jeopardized essential services such as immunization for children, care during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as treatments for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. ''Globalization of the labour market has contributed to an acute shortage of health workers,'' said Chan, who was speaking in Singapore ahead of World Health Day on April 7. ''The crisis is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa.'' Thousands of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists from developing countries have emigrated to wealthier western nations with ageing populations in search of better-paid jobs -- a trend that many health experts consider a crippling brain drain for their home countries.
Warning about a growing rich-poor gap in terms of health services, Chan said that the health-care needs of poorer nations are also being overlooked by medical research and development (R& amp;D), which is geared towards the rich.
''Huge
gaps
in
health
outcomes
are
growing
wider,
and
these
gaps
divide
rather
precisely
along
the
lines
of
poverty
and
wealth,''
she
said.
''Health
needs
in
populations
left
behind
by
socio-economic
progress
are
also
left
behind
by
the
R&
amp;D
agenda.''
For
instance,
only
a
single
class
of
broadly
effective
drugs
is
available
for
malaria
even
though
developing
countries
report
between
300-500
million
cases
each
year,
with
an
annual
death
toll
of
more
than
1
million,
Chan
said.
Work
In
Villages:
More than 4 million more health professionals are urgently needed in 57 countries -- mostly in Africa and rural areas of Asia -- the United Nations said in its annual World Health Report 2006.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about a quarter of the global disease burden, but has only 3 per cent of the health workforce, according to WHO.
Ethiopia, for instance, has 21 nurses per 100,000 people, while the United States has 900 nurses per 100,000 people.
Chan said the medical sector needs to re-think its training of ealth-care workers so that more of them are willing to work in villages in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
''Fully-qualified doctors, nurses and pharmacists, we should not criticise them for looking for better opportunities in different places. It's their freedom,'' she said.
Currently, doctors in villages in Liberia in West Africa earn as little as a month. Many end up working for non-government organizations or try to get out of the country, according to an aid worker familiar with the situation there.
Reuters