Africa: Strengthening the Training of Health And Care Workers to Build Resilient Health Systems

We, the member countries of the Group of Friends of the WHO Academy, reaffirm our commitment to support the WHO Academy, an essential tool for strengthening the skills and competencies of human resources for health, in order to achieve universal health coverage and increase global access to quality health services.

We are committed to promoting the WHO Academy in relevant international fora and bodies, such as G20, OECD, and relevant UN agencies … notably through joint statements, thereby strengthening the global call for greater investment in the health and care workforce.

We expect the various partners and stakeholders to support the Academy, in close coordination with the WHO Secretariat and its regional and national offices, through various possible options that may include: funding, secondment of skilled staff, political support, cooperation, provision of strategic guidance etc. This support should enable the Academy to achieve its objectives and strengthen its integration into the global health architecture. We also encourage partners to support the Academy to play a role in strengthening WHO in the context of overall challenges to consolidate efforts and set priorities.

We encourage healthcare professionals worldwide to fully utilise this resource to acquire updated knowledge of emerging medical evidence, new guidelines, essential products, and tools to address both current and future health challenges efficiently.

Our commitment is based on a number of convictions:

We firmly believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has severely exposed the profound vulnerabilities of our health systems, underscoring the urgent need for robust health systems and resilient health workforces;

We affirm the importance of close, cross-sectoral collaboration and commitment to support initial and lifelong training of health workers and to promote the dissemination of reliable, scientific evidence-based public health knowledge globally.

We acknowledge the expected global shortage of health workers — which could exceed 10 million by 2030 — as well as the need to enhance the skills and competencies of the existing workforce to meet the requirements for universal health coverage, as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals.

We recall that the High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on universal health coverage in September 2023 highlighted the need to train and develop the skills of healthcare professionals worldwide.

With these convictions and this vision, we renew our unwavering support for the WHO Academy, which we consider to be an essential pillar for building a future where everyone can access quality healthcare.

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Members of the Group of Friends of the WHO Academy

Belgium, Benin, Canada, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Chile, Congo Brazzaville, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Haiti, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Luxemburg, Norway, Qatar, Rwanda, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom

Member International Organizations of the Group of Friends of the WHO Academy

Commonwealth, International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF)

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