Brazzaville -- What actions should countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other development partners take to accelerate the development of human resources for health in the African Region?

Answers to this question are contained in a document prepared by the WHO Regional Office for Africa for discussion at the 52nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa taking place from 8 to 12 October in Brazzaville, Congo.

The paper, titled Human Resources Development for Health : Accelerating implementation of the Regional Strategy, proposes six priority actions which countries should adapt to address country-specific realities.

These are : planning and formulation of human resources policy ; education, training and skills development ; human resources management ; managing the migration of skilled health personnel ; advocacy, and resource allocation.

The paper also outlines specific roles and responsibilities for countries, WHO and partners to facilitate the acceleration of the development of human resources for health in the Region.

Member States, it says, should undertake advocacy and translate political commitment into action in order to ensure adequate allocation of financial resources, and the inclusion of human resources issues as part of national health development plans from formulation to implementation. Member States should also take action to foster the return and retention of health professionals, and set up mechanisms for the continuous dissemination and orientation of the human resources for health strategy both within the health sector and among other relevant ministries, stakeholders and partners.

A body comprising senior officials from ministries of health, finance, education, planning and from the public service commission and other relevant ministries, should be established, or an existing committee should be given the mandate to oversee the effective implementation of the strategy. The overall day-to-day management of the implementation of these priority actions should be the responsibility of a national human resources development division.

The roles assigned to WHO are:

• providing technical support for planning and implementing the proposed actions and for advocating for support from other sectors and partners, both nationally and internationally ; 
• supporting the resource mobilization efforts of countries ; 
• advocating for countries to address issues that include the review of government policies impacting on human resources, the valuing of health workers and good stewardship, and 
• establishing a task force comprising representatives from countries, training institutions, professional associations, or councils, the World Bank and other relevant bilateral and multilateral agencies to give advice on issues concerning health worker mobility and brain drain.

Partners and multilateral agencies, on their part, should support countries in resource mobilization, capacity building, brokering and respecting international agreements such as the code of good practice in the recruitment of skilled health staff and investment in staff retention.

On monitoring and evaluation, the paper suggests that countries establish an institutional arrangement to assist government in monitoring implementation of proposed actions. At the regional level, WHO will coordinate the implementation of actions for accelerating the implementation of the regional strategy. The set indicators identified in the regional strategy will be updated and used to monitor the progress of implementation. 

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