IntraHealth International

Because Health Workers Save Lives

Championing the Health Worker

Health workers save lives.

As a global champion for health workers, IntraHealth International advocates for the role of the health worker as critical in saving lives and helping the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We partner with governments, NGOs, the private sector, and other organizations to foster policies that empower health workers to better serve communities in need.

Key issues

Increasing the number of health workers. The global health workforce shortage means that a billion people lack access to essential care. To ensure that enough health workers are present, and to plan for future needs, countries need evidence-based, budgeted health workforce strategic plans. Plans that sit on a shelf don’t help; they must be anchored by a policy framework that includes the necessary legislation, regulation, and funding.

Deploying health workers where they’re most needed. It’s more than a matter of mere numbers. It’s also a question of where health workers are located. Skilled health workers are disproportionately located in urban areas, sometimes serving those who are relatively well-off. We support the WHO’s global policy recommendations for increasing access to health workers, and we work with countries to help them better distribute their health workers.

Increasing education and training capacity. Health schools frequently lack the resources, faculty, and facilities to provide a state-of-the-art education adapted to local needs. Countries need well-designed plans to train the right numbers and kinds of health workers, and to upgrade the skills of current health workers to meet national norms and standards.

Strengthening health workforce management. Many health workers do not receive the support they need, and do not have fair compensation or the right supervision, equipment, and supplies to do their jobs. Countries need properly staffed human resources offices with the authority and means to implement effective management systems that ensure well-supported health workers.

Protecting the rights of health workers. Health workers are entitled to safe workplaces where they are treated with dignity. Unfortunately, the basic human rights of health workers are often not respected. We champion health workers’ right to be protected from infection and other occupational hazards, to work in environments free from gender bias and other forms of discrimination, and to be shielded from armed conflict under the principle of medical neutrality.

IntraHealth’s policy goals

IntraHealth works with an array of partners to ensure that health workers are:

Present, by helping secure donor support for addressing the health workforce crisis and encouraging developing country governments to implement evidence-based strategies that will expand access to qualified, supported health workers, especially for rural, remote, and marginalized populations

Ready, by supporting developing country governments to ensure that health workers have the necessary motivation, competencies and support to meet the needs of their clients and communities

Connected, by advocating for the design and use of health worker-centered information technologies, harnessing the power of open source solutions, and supporting developing country governments to take the lead in building integrated information systems.