Transforming Health Professions Education in Africa for a competent Health Workforce to Accelerate Universal Health Coverage in Africa: WHO Regional Dialogue in Lusaka

Lusaka, Zambia – The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Place of business for Africa is convening a landmark Knowledgeable Dialogue on Competency-Based Health Professions Education from 12–14 November 2024 in Lusaka, Zambia. This dialogue aims to address critical gaps in the training and education of Africa’s health workforce, with the goal of transforming health professions education leading to improved provider beginning, accelerating development toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and ultimately reducing the status’s preventable deaths.

Despite ongoing political commitment to UHC and the adoption of a total roadmap for the WHO African Situation, significant challenges remain in addressing health security and ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare. While the want of health staff in the status has tripled since 2013, reaching 5.1 million by 2022, this expansion has no longer been with out its limitations. A substantial shortfall of qualified health staff, projected to reach 6.1 million by 2030, coupled with high rates of unemployment among trained professionals of nearly 27%, additional exacerbates the challenges facing African healthcare systems.

A critical area is the quality of education in the health profession. Many countries in the status face outdated curricula, inadequate training infrastructure, and mismatched competencies in relation to the evolving healthcare desires of their populations. Unhappy quality of care is responsible for nearly Forty eight% of the two.5 million avoidable deaths in Africa annually, with a large share linked to gaps in health staff’ training.

Considering these pressing considerations, the WHO dialogue will bring together senior health professionals, health professions education specialists, policymakers, health professions regulators, representatives of member states, and key partners from across the African Situation to accomplish consensus on the competencies required for efficient healthcare beginning, especially in the context of competency-based education (CBE).

“This dialogue is anticipated to catalyze a shift towards more efficient, competency-based health education systems that align with Africa’s health priorities and meet the status’s growing demand for quality healthcare professionals,” said Dr Kasonde Mwinga, Director for UHC Existence Path at the WHO Regional Place of business.

Why This Dialogue Matters:

The WHO’s approach to Competency-Based Education emphasizes outcomes-based learning that aligns education programmes with population health desires. Competency-based education makes a speciality of mastering competencies required for efficient healthcare beginning, including data, abilities, and attitudes. This approach ensures that healthcare professionals are theoretically knowledgeable and practically geared up to meet the various and evolving desires of African populations.

“The lengthy-time frame sustainable resolution to the global health workforce disaster, which is characterized by widespread shortages, maldistribution, and uncomfortable working conditions, is dependent on ensuring that in the primary place, adequate numbers of competent health staff are educated and trained. This dialogue is timely because the African status has the potential to contribute to solving this disaster no longer only at national nonetheless also regional and global phases where properly-trained African health staff are in tall demand.” Said Professor Francis Omaswa, former Executive Director of the Global Health Workforce Alliance at WHO, Geneva.