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© WHO / Blink Media - Lisette Poole
Health workers are at the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic response in each and every measure of public health capacity. Health systems and essential services have been universally disrupted. In responding to COVID demands, countries with limited health workforce face are decapacitated with regards to delivery of essential health services. Responding to an unprecedented global emergency, health workers stand in shortage of adequate numbers and inequitably distributed within and between countries globally.
Regions facing the highest burden of disease have the lowest health workforce densities to deliver essential health services. Even when national densities seem adequate, disparities in densities persist between rural, remote and hard to reach areas compared to capital cities and urban centers. For instance, nurses constitute the biggest single occupation of health workers in all regions, sometimes more than twice the number of medical doctors, in some countries. The density of nursing and midwifery personnel in Americas and European regions are the highest , over 82 and 77 per 10,000 population respectively. The density of medical doctors is highest in European region around 43 per 10, 000 population. Conversely, the African region remains with the lowest density of medical doctors (around 2 per 10,000 population), and, nursing and midwifery personnel (around 10 per 10,000 population).
Honouring the dedication and sacrifice of the health and care workers, be it in a prime or emergency setting, as that entailed by a global pandemic such as COVID-19, the 73rd World Health Assembly declared 2021 as the International Year of Health and Care Workers (YHCW).
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Health systems can only function with health workers; improving health service coverage and realizing the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is dependent on their availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality.
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