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HIV programmes in poor countries lack health workers

BMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.333.7565.412-d (Published 24 August 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:412
  1. Jocalyn Clark
  1. Toronto

    The shortage of health workers is at crisis point and is the key obstacle to expanding AIDS prevention and treatment programmes in most low and middle income countries, a new report from the World Health Organization says.

    The report, released at the 16th international conference on AIDS in Toronto on 13-18 August, is based upon consultations with AIDS experts and government officials from around the world. It calls for a coordinated global approach.

    In a closing address to the conference, Anders Nordström, the acting director general of WHO, told delegates, “No improvement in financing or medical products can make a lasting difference in people's lives until the crisis in the health workforce is solved.”

    More than four million health workers are needed to fill gaps in 57 countries, mostly in Africa, says the report, entitled Treat, Train, Retain. Sub-Saharan Africa has 11% of the world's population and 64% of all people living with HIV but …

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