ABSTRACT
This article is part of the Research Topic ‘Health Systems Recovery in the Context of COVID-19 and Protracted Conflict.' Problem Many countries lacked rapid and nimble data systems to track health service capacities to respond to COVID-19. They struggled to assess and monitor rapidly evolving service disruptions, health workforce capacities, health products availability, community needs and perspectives, and mitigation responses to maintain essential health services. Method Building on established methodologies, the World Health Organization developed a suite of methods and tools to support countries to rapidly fill data gaps and guide decision-making during COVID-19. The tools included: (1) a national "pulse” survey on service disruptions and bottlenecks;(2) a phone-based facility survey on frontline service capacities;and (3) a phone-based community survey on demand-side challenges and health needs. Use Three national pulse surveys revealed persisting service disruptions throughout 2020–2021 (97 countries responded to all three rounds). Results guided mitigation strategies and operational plans at country level, and informed investments and delivery of essential supplies at global level. Facility and community surveys in 22 countries found similar disruptions and limited frontline service capacities at a more granular level. Findings informed key actions to improve service delivery and responsiveness from local to national levels. Lessons learned The rapid key informant surveys provided a low-resource way to collect action-oriented health services data to inform response and recovery from local to global levels. The approach fostered country ownership, stronger data capacities, and integration into operational planning. The surveys are being evaluated to inform integration into country data systems to bolster routine health services monitoring and serve as health services alert functions for the future.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has reinforced the importance of having a sufficient, well-distributed and competent health workforce. In addition to improving health outcomes, increased investment in health has the potential to generate employment, increase labour productivity and foster economic growth. We estimate the required investment for increasing the production of the health workforce in India for achieving the UHC/SDGs. METHODS: We used data from National Health Workforce Account 2018, Periodic Labour Force Survey 2018-19, population projection of Census of India, and government documents and reports. We distinguish between total stock of health professionals and active health workforce. We estimated current shortages in the health workforce using WHO and ILO recommended health worker:population ratio thresholds and extrapolated the supply of health workforce till 2030, using a range of scenarios of production of doctors and nurses/midwives. Using unit costs of opening a new medical college/nursing institute, we estimated the required levels of investment to bridge the potential gap in the health workforce. RESULTS: To meet the threshold of 34.5 skilled health workers per 10 000 population, there will be a shortfall of 0.16 million doctors and 0.65 million nurses/midwives in the total stock and 0.57 million doctors and 1.98 million nurses/midwives in active health workforce by the year 2030. The shortages are higher when compared with a higher threshold of 44.5 health workers per 10 000 population. The estimated investment for the required increase in the production of health workforce ranges from INR 523 billion to 2 580 billion for doctors and INR 1 096 billion for nurses/midwives. Such investment during 2021-2025 has the potential of an additional employment generation within the health sector to the tune of 5.4 million and to contribute to national income to the extent of INR 3 429 billion annually. CONCLUSION: India needs to significantly increase the production of doctors and nurses/midwives through investing in opening up new medical colleges. Nursing sector should be prioritized to encourage talents to join nursing profession and provide quality education. India needs to set up a benchmark for skill-mix ratio and provide attractive employment opportunities in the health sector to increase the demand and absorb the new graduates.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Sustainable Development , Humans , Universal Health Insurance , COVID-19/epidemiology , Health Personnel , IndiaABSTRACT
This article is part of the Research Topic: 'Health Systems Recovery in the Context of COVID-19 and Protracted Conflict.' Problem: Many countries lacked rapid and nimble data systems to track health service capacities to respond to COVID-19. They struggled to assess and monitor rapidly evolving service disruptions, health workforce capacities, health products availability, community needs and perspectives, and mitigation responses to maintain essential health services. Method: Building on established methodologies, the World Health Organization developed a suite of methods and tools to support countries to rapidly fill data gaps and guide decision-making during COVID-19. The tools included: (1) a national "pulse" survey on service disruptions and bottlenecks; (2) a phone-based facility survey on frontline service capacities; and (3) a phone-based community survey on demand-side challenges and health needs. Use: Three national pulse surveys revealed persisting service disruptions throughout 2020-2021 (97 countries responded to all three rounds). Results guided mitigation strategies and operational plans at country level, and informed investments and delivery of essential supplies at global level. Facility and community surveys in 22 countries found similar disruptions and limited frontline service capacities at a more granular level. Findings informed key actions to improve service delivery and responsiveness from local to national levels. Lessons learned: The rapid key informant surveys provided a low-resource way to collect action-oriented health services data to inform response and recovery from local to global levels. The approach fostered country ownership, stronger data capacities, and integration into operational planning. The surveys are being evaluated to inform integration into country data systems to bolster routine health services monitoring and serve as health services alert functions for the future.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , Pandemics , Health Services , Heart Rate , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
In order to restore services to pre-pandemic levels and catch up on care, we need to understand and act on what we have learned from the pandemic, including investing in the health workforce, increasing funding for the health infrastructure of the future, and maintaining the innovative forms of service delivery that proved useful in reaching out to key groups affected by the pandemic. This brief is a valuable resource for policy-makers seeking to understand the extent of disruption to health services caused by COVID-19, the reasons behind this, and what different countries are doing in response. Its aim is to provide options to reduce service backlogs for those who are addressing this challenge in their national contexts.
ABSTRACT
In order to restore services to pre-pandemic levels and catch up on care, we need to understand and act on what we have learned from the pandemic, including investing in the health workforce, increasing funding for the health infrastructure of the future, and maintaining the innovative forms of service delivery that proved useful in reaching out to key groups affected by the pandemic. This brief is a valuable resource for policy-makers seeking to understand the extent of disruption to health services caused by COVID-19, the reasons behind this, and what different countries are doing in response. Its aim is to provide options to reduce service backlogs for those who are addressing this challenge in their national contexts.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Health Policy , Waiting ListsABSTRACT
Countries in Europe have rapidly scaled-up, redeployed,repurposed, retrained and retained their workforce during COVID-19 to create surge capacity, protect the health and well-being of the workforce, and ensure effective implementation of vaccination programmes. Doing so has had enormous governance implications, including the need for intra-governmental and cross-organisational governance actions, increased transparency for planning, and delegated leadership to health employers and health workers. It is important that stakeholders continue to learn and share their experiences on the effectiveness of different workforce governance responses to allow the health workforce to recover, rebuild and repurpose.
ABSTRACT
Countries in Europe have rapidly scaled-up, redeployed,repurposed, retrained and retained their workforce during COVID-19 to create surge capacity, protect the health and well-being of the workforce, and ensure effective implementation of vaccination programmes. Doing so has had enormous governance implications, including the need for intra-governmental and cross-organisational governance actions, increased transparency for planning, and delegated leadership to health employers and health workers. It is important that stakeholders continue to learn and share their experiences on the effectiveness of different workforce governance responses to allow the health workforce to recover, rebuild and repurpose.