- £15 million from government’s Official Development Assistance
(ODA) budget allocated to support healthcare workforces in Kenya,
Nigeria and Ghana
- Funding will help upskill staff and improve health outcomes
through improved administration, data collection and training and
retention opportunities
- Supporting strong international health workforce better
equips UK to tackle global health challenges
The UK will provide a multi-million pound boost to support
healthcare staff recruitment and retention in three African
countries – Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana – supporting resilience
against global health challenges.
Fifteen million pounds from the ring-fenced Official Development
Assistance (ODA) budget for 2022-2025 will be committed to
optimise, build and strengthen the health workforce in the three
African countries. Recognising the importance of the health
workforce in lower and middle- income countries in improving
health outcomes and achieving universal health coverage, the
funding will enable people in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana to access
to the full range of health services they need, when they need
it.
The Covid pandemic demonstrated the need for the UK to cooperate
closely with international partners to tackle global health
threats, which put considerable pressure on the NHS. The pandemic
also resulted in workforce retention pressures around the world,
whilst the demand for healthcare staff has increased. The World
Health Organisation (WHO) estimates a shortage of 10 million
health workers globally by 2030, which threatens achieving global
universal health coverage and could worsen worldwide health
inequalities.
Addressing critical workforce challenges is key to strengthening
health systems and building global resilience against future
pandemics so people across the world – including in the UK – can
be protected.
Health Minister said:
“Highly skilled, resilient staff are the backbone of a strong
health service, so I’m delighted we can support the training,
recruitment and retention of skilled health workforces in Kenya,
Nigeria and Ghana.
“This funding aims to make a real difference in strengthening the
performance of health systems in each of the participating
countries, which will have a knock-on effect on boosting global
pandemic preparedness and reducing health inequalities.
“The pandemic showed us that patients in the UK are not safe
unless the world as a whole is resilient against health threats,
and this will help us in delivering on that ambition.”
Six million pounds from the ODA funding pledge will support the
WHO to deliver health workforce planning and capacity-building
work – such as improved administration systems and training and
retention opportunities – in collaboration with local governments
and health system stakeholders.
As part of this package, the Department of Health and Social Care
will also run a £9 million two-year competitive grant scheme for
a not-for-profit organisation to coordinate delivery of
partnership work in participating countries.
The partnership programmes for the health workforce include
linking UK institutions with local health systems, promoting
skills exchanges and improving the curriculum, regulation and
guidance in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana.
The delivery coordinator will be responsible for setting up,
funding and overseeing this work to drive improvement in quality
and retention of healthcare staff in the three countries and
ultimately help to ensure better outcomes for patients.
The funding builds on £5 million previously committed as part of
the Building the Future International Workforce ODA programme in
Ghana, Uganda and Somaliland which aims to improve health
workforce planning and management, provide training opportunities
for refugees and displaced people and link NHS institutions with
country health institutions.
Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana were chosen for the ODA award as they
showed a clear need for workforce support, evidenced by high
population mortality rates and low staff numbers, as well as
unemployment amongst their trained health workers.
