Health workforce governance: Key to the delivery of people-centred care

Health workforce is an integral part of the health system. Adopting a people-centred approach to health system reforms will depend on the ability to mobilize competent health workers. Governance of the health workforce will be an important consideration. The paper reviews the existing literature to identify current challenges in health workforce governance and provides suggestions on building a people-centred health workforce. Given the intersectoral and interdisciplinary context of the health workforce, governance processes have to challenge the traditional ‘silo’ approach. Efforts have to be directed towards strengthening and forging new partnerships, aligning priorities and galvanizing intersectoral commitment to advance the health workforce agenda. These actions have to be supported by an enabling regulatory environment that breaks down the healthcare silos and augments professional accountability to provide people-centred care.