Tag: health worker retention
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Jul 21, 2010
World Health Organization Releases New Policy on Retaining Health Workers
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization released its new policy recommendations on how to better retain health workers: “ Increasing access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention .” These guidelines offer ways to mitigate the continued high rates of migration of rural health workers, which leaves as many as a billion people in the developing world without access to essential health services. The new policy document is designed to help policy-makers create regulations, invest in infrastructure, and offer benefits that make working in the rural health sector more attractive. The report finds that health workers are migrating at an increasing rate—both in developed and developing countries. The report documents the common migration pattern of health workers in the developing world from poor communities in rural areas to nearby cities within the country and then later to larger cities in the same region before finally seeking work abroad in a wealthier country. The report suggests that better pay isn't the only lure: political instability, the quality of governance, career prospects, and the threat of violence in the... Read More »
