Presentation to the European Union of the campaign: “Health agents in the South: a deadly shortage”
Print the pagePresentation to the European Union of the campaign: “Health agents in the South: a deadly shortage”
On the occasion of the World Health Day (April 7, 2006), devoted by the WHO to health workforce crisis, Médecins du Monde, Agir Ici, Aide Médicale Internationale and Secours Catholique have launched the campaign : “Health agents in the South: a deadly shortage”
- Dr Chantal Aubert-Fourmy, AMI’s president, representing the French campaign
- Dr Denis Mukwegue, Congolese surgeon (DRC)
- Marco Borsboom, trade union Abvakabo FNV, affiliated to Public Services International (PSI) in Netherlands, representing the PSI’s campaign on ethical recruitment of health agents.
The representatives above have presented the campaign to the European Union, Wednesday May 31 in Brussels. This presentation obtained a great success.
Today, hundreds of million people still have no access to most essential cares. Thus nearly 200 000 children in the world die every week from diseases which could have been treated or avoided. This extremely urgent situation results from the deep deliquescence of many public health systems.
The shortage of health agents is one of the main causes of health systems’ inefficiency and States’ incapacity to guarantee the right of health for all. In Africa, 63% of women are not assisted by qualified agents during their delivery. More than four million additional doctors, nurses, midwives, managers and public health workers are urgently needed to ensure an access to basic cares. 1 million of health agents are needed for only sub-Saharan countries.
How to mobilize oneself?
You can send a postcard, available in Agir Ici website, to the French Foreign Minister.
Citizens are also invited to relay the campaign’s objectives:
- To triple, from next year, the public development aids devoted to the health sector
- To increase the aid intended to support national policies of human resources reinforcement (a support to increase workforce productivity, better working conditions for health workers, improved safety…).
- To be opposed, within the international financial institutions, with any measurement leading to the freezing of recruitment and/or wages of health agents in the countries confronted with a shortage of human resources.
A booklet about health agents’ shortage in developing countries is available in this website.
For more information on campaign: http://www.agirici.org