How do we collaborate with other sectors and ministries to improve health and care workers' education, employment and retention?
The number of health and care workers concluding their training and the skills they have acquired do not match the current health system demands. Furthermore, working conditions are detrimental to effective recruitment and retention policies and securing adequate funding is a constant struggle.
The COVID-19 pandemic showed that senior (and serious) government commitments are key to building trust between sectors and ministries. As such, intersectoral government mechanisms need to be strengthened, and serious health workforce forecasting and planning is a pre-condition for success. In addition, governments also need to strengthen the narrative for investing in the health and care workforce.
A lot was possible during the pandemic, with heads of states taking on responsibility and working across government departments and society. But how can this momentum for intersectoral collaboration be retained? How can we build on the positive experiences? What are the next steps?
Keynote speakers: Margaret Caffrey and Joanna Raven, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK
Discussant: Jim Campbell, World Health Organization, Geneva
Moderators: Matthias Wismar & Erica Richardson, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
Health workforce shortages are a key challenge for health systems across the globe. How can we change things for the better?
This spotlight series consists of three webinars covering different health workforce challenges:
- What are the learnings from COVID-19 for improving working conditions?
- How do we improve the intersectoral link between education, training and health system demands?
- Where do we find the money for smart health and care workforce investments?
We investigate key policy questions associated with protecting and investing in the health and care workforce, bringing together evidence from research and country experiences. We review the potential challenges and opportunities of health workforce strategies and consider how their unique settings influence them. We also explore the potential policy solutions and multi-sectoral partnerships required to meet ever increasing demand for health and care workers.