[holding answer 22 January 2008]: The UK has been actively engaged with the US Government to address health worker shortages in Africa. Through the International Health Partnership, DFID recently held a joint meeting in Ethiopia with the US Presidents Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and four PEPFAR and IMP African countries to agree priority actions to increase and improve resources for health workers, including those needed to deliver HIV and AIDS services.
DFID has committed £1 million to the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) to take forward global advocacy and lesson learning, including on issues such as supply, retention and migration of health workers. We are working with GHWA as it develops its plan to support the scale-up of health workers, including health education and training.
The UK will continue to push for action to address health worker shortages in developing countries at the forthcoming meeting of the G8 health experts group. We will work with G8 partners, and especially closely with Japan during its 2008 G8 presidency, to maintain the profile and momentum to help solve the health worker crisis facing the poorest countries. We hope the GHWA will be a useful contribution to this.