Health Workforce Development
 
Health systems in sub-Saharan Africa face enormous challenges that include extraordinarily high rates of infant and maternal deaths, pervasive poverty and high HIV/AIDS infection rates. Average life expectancies in many African countries are among the lowest in the world.

A relatively small number of diseases and conditions account for a large share of Africa’s immense health burden, and most of them can be prevented and treated with low-cost interventions. However, many countries have a shortage of physicians, nurses and allied health workers, and much of the population lives a significant distance from a health facility, so access to medical care is an ongoing challenge for a substantial portion of the population.

GHETS is working with partners in East and Southern Africa in order to bridge the gap between the vast need and the capacity of an overburdened healthcare workforce. With GHETS'' support and assistance, several prominent universities and organizations in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa are leading the way in training current and future doctors, nurses and allied health workers to meet local health challenges. These health workers are prepared to provide comprehensive, high quality healthcare in underserved communities and are essential to effective primary healthcare systems that respond to the specific needs of the populations served. Health leaders are joining forces to advocate for changes in workforce incentives, compensation and hiring systems to encourage the growth of the health workforce serving rural and underserved communities.

Women''s Health
Poverty, inequality and limited decision making power have an enormous impact on the health of women and their children.

Women account for as much as 70 percent of the world’s poor. 1
A woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth - compared with 1 in 3,700 in North America. 2
Violence against women is as serious a cause of death among women of reproductive age as cancer. 3
In the developing world as a whole, one third of all pregnant women receive no health care during pregnancy. 4
Every year, an estimated 4 million women and girls are bought and sold worldwide, through forced prostitution, slavery or forced marriage.  These women are particularly at risk for unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion, and sexually-transmitted infections, including HIV. 5
 
Recognizing the many links between social and economic inequalities and women’s health challenges, GHETS works with an international network of universities, policy makers and community leaders in developing countries to improve the health of women and their families. Together with our partners, we are working to improve women’s health by reducing barriers to healthcare for women in underserved communities and equipping healthcare providers with the knowledge and skills to respond to the needs of women in their communities.

With support from GHETS, The Network: TUFH Women and Health Taskforce, a group of women’s health advocates from communities in nearly 20 low-income countries, has developed educational materials for use in medical and nursing schools. These training modules cover topics that include violence against women, gender and health, and adolescent health and are designed by local health advocates to improve healthcare workers’ ability to understand and address difficult issues affecting women and girls. These learning materials are currently in use in Egypt, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sudan and Uganda, and are being distributed free of charge to other universities in developing countries both online and on CD-ROM.

For more information on the work of the Network: TUFH Women and Health Taskforce, click here and download a copy of the Women and Health Learning Package here.

1. United Nations Population Fund, Poverty [fact sheet], August 2002.
2. United Nations Millennium Project, Fast Facts: The Faces of Poverty, 17 January 2005.
3. World Bank, World Development Report 1993.
4. United Nations Population Fund, State of world population 2004, 15 September 2004.
5. International Sexual and Reproductive Rights Coalition, Trafficking and Girls Fact Sheet, September 2001.