An eventful May, capped by the World Health Assembly, has demonstrated global demand for strategic health and care workforce data, normative guidance and country support. Against health systems under intense pressure and financing tightened, including by ODA cuts (insights from our panel of economists), Member States reaffirmed their support for WHO and for multilateralism, adopted the historic pandemic agreement (Article 7: Health and care workforce), and passed the World Health Assembly Resolution WHA78.16 on Accelerating action on the global health and care workforce by 2030. Additionally, Member States

• decided to extend the Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery 2021-2025 by five years to 2030,
• noted the Interim report of the Expert Advisory Group on the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel and requested the Director-General to facilitate regional consultations with Member States in advance of its finalization and submission to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly through the Executive Board at its 158th session; and,
• within omnibus reporting, noted the Director General’s progress report on the Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030.

The Accelerating action resolution was led by the government of the Philippines, along with the governments of Germany, Morocco, Nigeria and Thailand.

Within the official consideration of WHA78.16, Member States expressed approval for the substantive increase in data available through the National Health Workforce Accounts, including within the State of the World’s Nursing Report 2025; concerns, evidence and policy prescriptions on the international migration of health personnel; appreciation for normative tools like the health labour market analysis and for the Working for Health Multi-partner Trust Fund; and support for increased uptake of the Global health and care worker compact to protect and safeguard the workforce.

The cross-cutting nature of health and care workforce strategic policy and investment was a thread running through official discussions including WHO global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health system within a national multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence, Global action plan on climate change and health, Antimicrobial resistance, Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant and young child nutrition.

Health Workforce was a predominant theme within side events, with at least 37 events delving into topics ranging from public health workforce coordination and investment, health financing, community health workers, migration, regulation, early career health professionals, addressing mental health, occupational health and safety, gender, digital pathways and nursing and midwifery. Overarching themes from these discussions reflected the need for collaboration and partnerships that recognize relative strengths; new approaches to financing, led by countries and supported by partners; and the need to protect and invest in the health and care workforce, including by addressing the projected 11 million health workforce shortage by 2030. Learn more on health workforce strategy & global governance

The 2025 decisions by members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee to freeze or cut official development assistance has created a significant disruption in the global aid ecosystem and national political agendas of low- and-middle income countries . This situation has had immediate consequences for the availability of critical health services, commodities and health and care workers across countries.

A March 2025 WHO rapid assessment found that over half (63%) of WHO country offices reported job-related effects on health and care workers in countries. Budget cuts are expected to reduce countries’ ability to absorb new health and care workers, worsening existing shortages. With reduced absorptive capacity, health systems in Africa are projected to see an increase in the health and care workforce shortage of 600,000 health and care workers by 2030, compared to earlier estimates. Learn more in this blog from our panel of economists.

Who are health and care workers? 

• Health worker - Health workers are all people primarily engaged in actions with the primary intent of enhancing health. For health workers, the relevant ISCO codes are generally found within the "Health Professionals" (Sub-Major Group 22) and "Health Associate Professionals" (Minor Group 325) categories, with more specific unit groups depending on the type of health work. 
• Heath care assistant (ISCO-08 code: 5321) - Institution-based personal care workers who provide direct personal care and assistance with activities of daily living to patients and residents in a variety of health care settings such as hospitals, clinics and residential nursing care facilities. They generally work in implementation of established care plans and practices, and under the direct supervision of medical, nursing or other health professionals or associate professionals.
• Home-based personal care workers (ISCO-08 code: 5322) who provide routine personal care and assistance with activities of daily living to persons who are in need of such care due to effects of ageing, illness, injury, or other physical or mental conditions, in private homes and other independent residential settings. 

Key figures

The estimated stock of health workers now exceeds 70 million. Shortage estimates decreased steadily since the Global Strategy adoption in 2026, trends that may be linked to investment decisions, the adoption of evidence-based policies and improved data availability.

The pace of progress has slowed, however, and masks diverging trends across and within regions, prompting an upward adjustment to the projected workforce shortage by 2030 to 11 million (compared to the 2022 estimate of a projected 10 million shortage by 2030).

Women comprise 67% of the global health workforce.