The UN has established a Commission of high level representatives from several countries and from the International Labor Organization and the World Health Organization.
According to UN estimates, global economy will need 40 million new jobs in the health sector by 2030; especially in middle- and high-income countries. While in low- and lower-middle income countries, a predicted shortage of 18 million health workers will need to be addressed to achieve goals of sustainable development.
Increasing global demand and the need for health workers in the next fifteen years, present significant challenges, but also offer the opportunity to create jobs in areas where more decent jobs are needed.
This is why the UN has decided to create a High Level Commission on Health Workers and Economic Growth, chaired by the top leaders of France, Holland, and South Africa. Its main mission is to search for solutions that will alleviate the shortage of employees in the health sector.
The newly created Commission also includes Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) together with Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Guy Ryder, Director- General of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The new Commission has been entrusted with the task of proposing actions to redirect the creation of new jobs in the health and social sector as a means to promote inclusive economic growth, with a particular attention to the needs of low- and middle-income countries.
One of its main objectives will be to recommend multi-sectoral responses and institutional reforms in order to develop over the next 15 years an adequate human resources solution to achieve the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals and progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
It has also been decided that there is a need to determine innovative financial sources and necessary requirements to maximize socioeconomic returns of employment investments in the health and social sector.
Moreover, the risks of global and regional disequilibrium and of the uneven distribution of health workers will be analyzed and the potential beneficial and adverse effects of international mobility will be assessed.
