Namibia April 2006 |
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| Namibia not immune to brain drai, (Namibian, 2006-04-13):-Although Namibia is not regarded as a country with a critical shortage of health service providers, the 2006 World Health report notes that the country is losing nurses to First World countries. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 61 45 nurses are working in Namibia, while a further 54 work in either Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Portugal, United Kingdom or the United States of America. The WHO report, titled 'Working Together for Health', calls on governments to develop and implement a health workforce policy that enhances equity in health and universal access to healthcare. Of the 250 respondents interviewed in Cameroon, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, more than 200 indicated that the major reason they were leaving for greener pastures was for better pay. More than 150 indicated that they wanted to work in a safer working environment and live in better conditions. The WHO says that in the daily struggle against a myriad of global health crises, less attention has been paid to the people who actually deliver healthcare. The report comes at a time when Namibia is awaiting the arrival of more than 100 Kenyan nurses to plug the gap in health service delivery. In March, Health Minister Richard Kamwi said Namibia had a shortage of 1 500 nurses. Government was forced to recruit foreigners, because locally trained nurses refused to serve in rural areas, particularly the Caprivi, Kavango and Kunene regions. WHO Regional director Luis Sambo has warned that the rate of progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) depends on health workers. "An unprecedented crisis in human resources for health plagues Africa, leading to a health crisis whereby the survival gains achieved after a century of the most spectacular health advances in human history are fast eroding," said Sambo. Fourteen per cent of the world population lives in Africa, yet it bears 25 per cent of the global disease burden and has only 1,3 per cent of the world's health workers. NEEDS The WHO calculates that 2,5 health workers per 10 000 inhabitants are needed to achieve the MDGs. According to the WHO's calculations (which may differ from countries' own calculations), in 2004 Namibia had 598 physicians, translating to 0,3 doctors per 1 000 Namibians. The country's 6145 nurses translates to a density ratio of 3,06 per 1 000 people. WHO statistics indicate no midwives for Namibia. The report indicates that in 2004, Namibia had 113 dentists and 288 pharmacists. The health workers-population ratio in Africa is currently 0,8 health workers per 10 000 inhabitants, According to the WHO, Africa immediately needs at least one million more health workers to enable noticeable improvement in managing the continent's health problems. As many as 12 136 South African-trained doctors are working abroad, while 32 973 serve the country at home. "The availability of effective vaccines and drugs to cope with these health threats impose huge practical and moral imperatives to respond effectively. The chasm is widening between what can be done and what is happening on the ground. Success in bridging this gap will be determined in large measure by how well the workforce is developed for effective health systems," says the latest world health report. SKILLS FACTOR According to the world health report, tackling the world's health problems depended on "getting the right workers with the right skills in the right place, doing the right things". The latest report proposes a strategy for governments to follow to train and hold on to its health workers. National leaders are urged to immediately jumpstart country-based actions and sustain them for at least a decade. "The magnitude of the health workforce crisis in the world's poorest countries cannot be overstated and requires an urgent, sustained and co-ordinated response from the international community," says the report. Donor countries are also being urged to facilitate the immediate and longer-term financing of human resources as a health systems investment, with a 50:50 guideline recommended - 50 per cent of all international assistance funds devoted to health systems and the other half of this funding devoted to strategies to strengthen the national health workforce. The Namibian Government's per capita expenditure on health has fluctuated slightly between 1999 and 2003, from the equivalent of US$93 in 2003 to US$87 in 2000, US$75 in 2001, US$65 in 2002 and up again to US$101 in 2003. These amounts are less than the total amounts spent per capita, which include donor support. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |