UNGA 2024: Making Health Workers a Priority
“Our health care workers are the blood line, the lifeline of our healthcare system,” said Minister Yolanda Deng, Minister for Health, South Sudan, at a side event on the occasion of the 79th UN General Assembly. “But they cannot succeed without the support of the global community,” she continued.
Minister Deng was one of several notable speakers who delivered remarks at Building Health Workforce Resilience: Preparing for Tomorrow’s Climate and Health Crises, a high-level dialogue co-hosted by the Frontline Health Workers Coalition, CARE USA, Chemonics, IntraHealth International, Johnson & Johnson, Pathfinder International, Project HOPE, Living Goods, Smile Train and Seed Global Health. Held at the Cornell Club in New York City, on September 24, 2024, the event gathered 300 leaders, policy-makers, advocates and health workers from 70 countries, online and in person, to examine how to build a resilient, multidisciplinary health workforce that is better prepared and more able to respond to multiple stressors to the health systems.
The message was clear – health workers across all cadres are overworked, undervalued and are needed more than ever to meet the needs of communities around the world. Speakers further emphasized the necessity of ensuring that health workers are supported and protected – both physically and mentally. In her remarks, Assistant Secretary of Affairs, United States, Loyce Pace, stated the urgent need to, “Protect the workforce, and not demand more and more from them.”
Government and multilateral leaders highlighted the need to adequately compensate health workers, as well as the social and economic benefits of investing in the health workforce. Dr. Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, noted that an estimated 6 to 7 million health workers – most of whom are women – remain unpaid or underpaid “By giving money to female healthcare workers,” said Dr. Nishtar, “you are contributing to global public good and empowering women.” Echoing this sentiment, Dr. Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire, Undersecretary of Health, Philippines, declared, “By putting cash and salary in the hands of these poor healthcare worker women, not only will you create a better health impact.”
Minister Robert Lucien Jean-Claude Kargougou, Minister of Health, Burkina Faso, provided key insights on Burkina Faso’s approach to accounting for the health workforce in the State budget. He explained that the country was investing 12% of the total budget on health care, “In order to professionalize community-based health care workers, so they can be really effective in the work they are doing.”
While every country has its unique set of challenges, speakers agreed that the critical importance of building a robust health workforce that can provide essential health services as well as pivot to respond to crises is a crosscutting issue not just in health but also development.
In a conversation with Crystal Lander, Executive Vice President, Pathfinder International and Chair, Frontline Health Workers Coalition, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, Co-Founder and CEO, Seed Global Health and WHO Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health, explained the health workforce challenge within the context of crises like climate. She said, “Climate change and health is not a new idea – it is accelerating existing problems we’ve failed to solve. And one of those is that we have undervalued, underinvested in, and under supported health workers.”
Alice Lin Fabiano, Global Head, Social Impact & Partnerships, Global Health Equity, Johnson & Johnson, addressed the necessity of not only training and supporting new community health workers, but also the need to “equip, diversify and connect health care workers” by providing new professional development training and adequate support for the existing workforce.
The event also featured Tina Flores, Director, Frontline Health Workers Coalition, IntraHealth International; Patricia Odero, Deputy Director, Family Planning, Gates Foundation; Rachel Deussom, Health Practice Senior Director, Chemonics; Thomas Opiyo Onyango, Country Director, Living Goods Kenya; Dr. Mariia, Kholostenko, Medical Coordinator, Project HOPE Ukraine; Erin Stieber, Chief Programs Officer, Smile Train Erin Stieber, Chief Programs Officer, Smile Train, Ritu Sharma, Vice President, U.S. Programs, CARE USA; Dr. Bassim Birkland, Seed Global Health Country Director, Zambia; and Ramatu Jalloh, Community Health Worker, Sierra Leone.
During his remarks, Thomas Onyango poignantly captured the sentiment of the event, reflecting that, “Health workers are not only first responders, but they are the heroes of the frontline.”