Healthcare in Africa
November 26, 2007 by francesca | permalink
Africa's health workforce is facing a crisis. Millions within the sub-Saharan region of Africa face suffering and preventable or treatable diseases, because they are unable to obtain proper medical care from trained workers. Africa bears 1/4 of the burden of disease around the world and barely has 3% of all health workers. According to McKinsey consulting the region would require an additional 820,000 doctors and nurses to provide the population with the most basic of health services. This means that the region's countries would have to increase the size of their health workforce by a staggering 140%
Unfortunately the resources to hire, train and sustain that level of increase is not expected in the foreseeable future, and much worse, even if the funding was to materialize, an additional 600 medical and nursing schools would be required to fill the current gap. McKinsey has estimated that it would take more than two decades to train the number of needed professionals. However McKinsey also takes a look at ways in which Africa could close its healthcare gap.
