International Policies

On International policies, we flag a number of essential documents which set out the global health workforce policies at a glance. The first of these is Working Together for Health – The World Health Report 2006 published by the World Health Organisation. This book begins with a presentation of the number and distribution of health workers. It then covers shaping this workforce to address priority needs and then describes the strategies required for the management of the health workforce as well as global movements.

A more recent and updated statement on global health workforce policy is the Global Health and Care Worker Compact which was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2022. The policy actions in this book are categorised as those preventing harm; inclusivity; providing support and safeguarding rights.  Another landmark document is the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel adopted in 2010 and reviewed every 3 years. One should also refer to the Global Strategy of Human Resources for Health for 2022-2030 as adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2022. The People Health Movement’s comment on these 4 documents is linked here and is a useful critical discussion on the subject offering further references.