One billion people are affected by global shortage of healthcare workers

The critical shortage of skilled health personnel, especially in remote areas of the world, is a major obstacle to meeting the United Nations’ millennium development goals by 2015, say the organisers of the second Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, held last week in Bangkok. The Global Health Workforce Alliance, a partnership of national governments, civil society groups, international agencies, finance institutions, researchers, educators, and professional associations that aims to bridge the gap in the supply of healthcare personnel, says that a billion people in 57 countries “face …