State of the Evidence of Health Workforce in Africa
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About the Webinar
Africa is projected to face a shortage of nearly 6 million health workers by 2030, even as almost 30% of trained health professionals are unemployed or underemployed. This talk will provide an overview of the current state of Africa’s health workforce, highlighting recent progress as well as persistent challenges in workforce availability, distribution, education, employment, and retention. It will consider emerging priorities for strengthening health workforce planning and investment and ensuring that the workforce is aligned with population health needs and resilient health systems.
Speaker:
Dr James Avoka AsamaniÂ
Dr James Avoka Asamani is a senior health economist, health systems researcher and international public health leader serving as Health Workforce Team Leader at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa. Across 47 Member States, he applies health economics, health labour-market analysis and systems thinking to inform policies and investments that strengthen health workforce for service delivery, improve equity and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage and health security.
With 20 years of experience spanning clinical practice, national health service administration, and regional leadership, Dr Asamani brings an uncommon understanding of health systems, from frontline service delivery to national financing, institutional reform and continental policies. His work examines how population health needs, labour market dynamics, fiscal constraints, institutional incentives and resource allocation decisions shape health system performance. He has led the development, political negotiation and implementation of major continental health system policies, strategies and investment initiatives, mobilising governments and partners around evidence-informed reforms, sustainable financing and expanded health sector employments. These initiatives have supported country processes associated with more than 200,000 health sector jobs and approximately US$500 million in reported government and partner commitments.
Dr Asamani has advised governments and led policy and investment dialogues involving ministries of health, finance, public service, education, labour and planning, regional institutions, development banks, UN agencies and other development partners. His research and policy interests include health policy modelling, health economics, financing and investment, health labour markets, fiscal space, needs-based resource allocation and the political economy of health system reform. Previously, he served as a WHO Technical Advisor supporting 20 countries in East and Southern Africa, Health Economics Advisor in the WHO Ghana Country Office, and Head of Health Workforce Planning, Budgeting and Policy at the Ghana Health Service.
A Commonwealth Scholar, Dr Asamani holds a PhD in Health Sciences, an MSc with Distinction in Health Economics and Health Policy, and an MPhil in Nursing with Healthcare Management and Human Resources for Health. He is an Extraordinary Associate Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences, North-West University, South Africa, and serves as an editor of several leading academic journals. He has authored more than 60 publications and received international and alumni awards for his contributions to health economics, health policy, equity and public health leadership.