title: Responding to the global human resources crisis.
abstract: The global community is in the midst of a growing response to health crises in developing countries, which is focused on mobilising financial resources and increasing access to essential medicines. However, the response has yet to tackle the most important aspect of health-care systems--the people that make them work. Human resources for health--the personnel that deliver public-health, clinical, and environmental services--are in disarray and decline in much of the developing world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The reasons behind this disorder are complex. For decades, efforts have focused on building training institutions. What is becoming increasingly clear, however, is that issues of supply, demand, and mobility (transnational, regional, and local) are central to the human-resource problem. Without substantial improvements in workforces, newly mobilised funds and commodities will not deliver on their promise. The global community needs to engage in four core strategies: raise the profile of the issue of human resources; improve the conceptual base and statistical evidence available to decision makers; collect, share, and learn from country experiences; and begin to formulate and enact policies at the country level that affect all aspects of the crisis.
authors.affiliation: John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. vasant_narasimhan@ksg03.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Vasant
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Narasimhan
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pablos-Mendez
authors.forename: Orvill
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dussault
authors.forename: Gijs
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Elzinga
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nordstrom
authors.forename: Demissie
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Habte
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Solimano
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sewankambo
authors.forename: Suwit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wibulpolprasert
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Lincoln
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D003906:Developing Countries; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D006280:Health Workforce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D013192:Staff Development