1. Home
  2. Africa

Pay attention to health workers, experts say

Africa needs to focus on human resources if it hopes to improve its public health sector, experts said at a three-day conference in Benin. The conference, organised by the World Health Organization (WHO), culminated in the drafting of recommendations to strengthen the knowledge and skills of public health workers in treating patients. The six recommendations are: encourage countries to improve workers' skills; strengthen collaboration between national and regional health training institutions; appeal for more funds and technical assistance; review training programmes; strengthen African health institutions; and ensure that training programmes are in harmony with national health policies. The head of WHO-Africa, Ebrahim Malick Samba, told participants that his organisation stood ready to help their countries financially and technically sothat they are able to cope, WHO-Benin said in a news release. Participants in the meeting, held on 28-30 May in Ouidah, 30 km west of Cotonou, came from Algeria, Benin, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Nigeria, Senegal and Swaziland. They included WHO country representatives, partner agencies and health specialists.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join