CSOs want funding for recruitment of additional health workers

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | 143 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are calling for funding to support the recruitment of health workers to enforce interventions of COVID-19.

In the letter to donors who include GAVI the vaccines alliance, Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Global Financing Facility, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation, the CSOs want the donors to commit and contribute adequate funding for long-term investments in the health workforce.

“This would address shortages for the short term COVID-19 response, but also build strong future health system resilience and health workforce preparedness and response capability.

And it will guarantee readiness for public health threats, Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and health for all as a human right”, the CSOs note in a statement released on Friday.

They add that although most donors have already released additional funds to governments in need, the support packages do not specifically prioritize the urgent need to recruit additional health personnel alongside priorities for research, vaccine development, protective personal equipment, test kits and programme management response support.

They fear that in countries where severe shortages of health personnel have been insufficiently addressed in normal circumstances, they will not be able to cope with the high pressure that comes with COVID-19.

“Africa has a share of 24% of the global burden of disease, yet only 3% of the global health workforce. For comparison, a high-income country like the Netherlands has approximately 8.6 health workers per 1,000 people whereas Uganda has only 0.74 and Malawi 0.35 staying far below the 4.45 threshold established by the WHO”, says Wemos’ Global Health Advocate Myria Koutsoumpa.

The organisations formulated specific requests for each institution ranging from the elimination of restrictions on the use of funds so they can be used for recruitment of health workers to the cancellation of debt payments.

For instance, to Global Fund, they ask that they continue allowing countries to use funding in the new grant cycle as well as in the COVID-19 response, reprogrammed resources and any additional COVID-19 resources to pay for the training, recruitment, support and remuneration of health care workers.

The CSOs also want IMF to put an end to policy conditionality and advice that leads to spending restrictions on health in particular to the health workforce including programmes approved before the pandemic.

“We call on the IMF to offer immediate cancellation of all debt payments for the remainder of 2020 and a possible extension of the cancellation to 2021 to free up resources towards strengthening the health workforce and health systems overall. Finally, we ask for the facilitation of debt restructuring and relief with widened eligibility criteria beyond IDA only countries”.

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