By Kalata News

Shortages of Health Workforce Grave

Lusaka, August – ZAMBIA is still a long way from reducing the deficit in the health sector caused by low recruitment of health workers.

This is because the recruitment of essential health workers has been slow compared to the recruitment of soldiers, teachers and the police.

According to the National Health Strategic Plan (2022-2026) of the Ministry of Health, the country’s health workforce situation remains a major concern in terms of numbers, quality and equity and was hampering the desire by the Zambian Government to have availability of adequate, competent and well distributed workforce in the country.

Currently Zambia is operating at one nurse looking after 15 thousand patients (1:15000) compared to the recommended world health organisation (WHO) one nurse to seven hundred (1:700) patient ratio.

 

Doctors on the other hand were at one doctor to 12 thousand patients (1:12000) against the ideal recommend patient ratio of one doctor to five thousand patients (1:5000).

Of concern to the Ministry of Health (MoH) was the rapid population growth, increase in poverty levels and increased burden of disease of both communicable diseases such as TB, HIV and AIDS, Malaria and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and non-communicable disease such as cancers, heart problems, diabetes and trauma.

The MoH says the implementation of activities contained in the 5-year national health strategic plan would be in the region of 158 billion Kwacha of which Zambia will be able to finance about 80 percent of this projected figure assuming the allocation to the health sector by both Zambia and donors into the health sector remains the same.

MoH says the plan recognises that all health care interventions are critical and that the main focus for the plan would be on strengthening prevention, primary health care, health promotion, public health security and nutrition. This would be done through infrastructure development, supply of medicines, increase in health financing and recruitment of adequate health workforce.