The World Health Organisation (WHO) has sounded the alarm over Africa’s worsening healthcare workforce crisis, warning that the continent remains dangerously understaffed despite recording a sharp increase in the number of trained health professionals over the past decade.
Speaking at the opening of the 2nd Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum in Accra, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Mohamed Yakub Janabi, disclosed that Africa’s health workforce expanded from 1.6 million in 2015 to 5.7 million in 2024.
However, he stressed that the numbers still fall far below what the continent requires to provide adequate healthcare for its growing population.
According to Professor Janabi, Africa currently has only 46 percent of the health workers it needs, warning that the situation could deteriorate further if governments fail to take urgent action.
He projected that the continent may face a deficit of nearly six million health professionals by 2030 unless investments are made in recruitment, retention and improvement of working conditions.
Describing the situation as a “dangerous paradox,” the WHO official lamented that while African countries continue to train thousands of nurses, doctors and other professionals, many remain jobless as healthcare systems struggle to meet the needs of millions.
“In some countries, as many as 27 percent of trained health workers are unemployed, while nearly half are actively considering leaving their countries for greener pastures abroad,” he revealed.
Professor Janabi argued that Africa’s challenge is no longer only about training personnel but about creating jobs, improving welfare conditions and preventing the growing brain drain crippling healthcare delivery across the continent.
Opening the forum on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama, Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang admitted that African governments must move beyond speeches and policy discussions to concrete implementation.
She said the continent’s healthcare future depends on deliberate planning, sustainable employment and dignified retention of health professionals.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang noted that although Africa has made progress in immunisation, disease control and maternal healthcare, universal health coverage still remains a distant dream for many citizens.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, disclosed that Ghana alone currently has more than 100,000 trained but unemployed health workers.
He announced that government has secured financial clearance to recruit 8,000 health professionals this year, with plans to employ at least 16,000 more in 2026.
The minister also revealed that several health training institutions are being upgraded from diploma-awarding to degree-awarding status in a bid to strengthen specialist healthcare delivery in critical areas including oncology, nephrology and intensive care nursing.
The three-day forum has brought together policymakers, development partners and healthcare experts to deliberate on practical strategies for addressing Africa’s deepening healthcare workforce crisis.
