WHO/Europe has launched the first-ever WHO training course on health workforce leadership and management, designed to help government decision-makers build and maintain a thriving and resilient health workforce.
In the midst of an unprecedented health workforce crisis affecting countries across the WHO European Region, the new course supports the development of human resources for health (HRH) leadership skills so that managers can ensure good governance, mobilize multiple stakeholders, and establish the vision and strategies to steward the HRH agenda effectively.
This first edition welcomed senior government officials from 5 countries – Armenia, Georgia, North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova and Romania – who work in areas of health workforce development in their respective national bodies.
“There is no health without the workforce, and strengthening and supporting health workers is key to ensuring people’s access to high-quality health services and a top priority for us at WHO/Europe,” said WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge as he welcomed participants to the course.
“This is even more urgent given the crisis currently affecting health workers across our entire Region, on issues ranging from mental health support to pay gaps. We are extremely pleased and proud to welcome you all to this first cohort of the course, and hope you will take with you valuable lessons about the importance of leadership and investment in the health workforce.”
Health workforce in crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the crucial need to improve the availability, sustainability and well-being of the health workforce in the Region. Images from the early days of the pandemic showing health workers in distress, working long shifts without breaks and experiencing high rates of infection and death, were a stark reminder of the need to do more to support all health workers – the pillars of health systems.
The 2022 WHO/Europe report “Health and care workforce in Europe: time to act” highlighted several issues, many of which were exacerbated by the pandemic, including ageing of the medical workforce, uneven distribution of health workers, personnel shortages, inadequate mental health support, retention and recruitment challenges in rural areas, insufficient supply of new graduates, and lack of data to inform HRH planning.
“We are helping countries strengthen their ability to identify and address gaps in the health workforce, whether by increasing the number of professionals, improving working conditions, providing adequate mental health support, promoting a healthy work–life balance or making the profession more attractive to young people,” said Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of WHO/Europe's Division of Country Health Policies and Systems. “This course is one concrete way in which we are providing this support to countries in our Region.”
Supporting the health workforce
This new 5-day course will support countries in advancing their HRH policies. By the end, participants should be able to:
- understand what it takes to manage a health workforce;
- critically interpret evidence and apply it to policy;
- develop and implement good governance arrangements that support participatory leadership in a health workforce;
- mobilize and engage different stakeholders in policy dialogue and consensus-building; and
- set the vision and strategies to steward the HRH agenda effectively.
“Our curriculum addresses various critical aspects of the health workforce. These include the understanding of the health labour market, data and evidence for decision-making, health workforce planning and policies for attracting and retaining health professionals, and provision of education to equip them with the necessary skills to adapt to evolving health services and patient requirements,” explained Dr Tomas Zapata, WHO/Europe’s Regional Adviser for Health Workforce and Service Delivery.
The first cohort of participants will return to Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of April to deliver country presentations and receive official course certificates. The course will be offered yearly, with the next edition’s dates and participating countries to be decided soon.
Course material for this first edition was developed by WHO/Europe in partnership with the KIT Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands.