African health ministers have approved a 10-year programme to train, employ and retain three million additional health workers by 2035, as the continent confronts a projected shortage of more than six million health professionals.
The Health Workforce Management Programme in Africa (2026–2035) was adopted during the 76th session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for Africa. The programme aims to move beyond simply increasing the number of health graduates and instead build sustainable, properly financed and equitably distributed health systems.
The initiative comes as Africa’s health workforce has grown to nearly 5.72 million professionals in 2024. However, the continent currently has only around 46 percent of the health workers required to meet its population’s needs, leaving millions without adequate access to essential health services. Without decisive action, the shortfall could exceed six million workers by 2035.
“Our Member States have recognised that training health professionals is only the beginning,” said Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “This programme turns evidence into concrete action and political commitment into sustainable investments for Africa’s health workforce and, ultimately, for the health and well-being of our populations.”
The plan seeks to improve workforce planning, expand the quality of professional training, create more employment opportunities and retain skilled staff in areas where they are most needed, particularly rural and underserved communities.
African countries face a major contradiction in the health sector. While hospitals and clinics report chronic staff shortages, nearly one million trained health professionals across the continent are unemployed, with recent graduates among the most affected.
In several countries, more than half of newly trained nurses, doctors and midwives are unable to find employment soon after completing their studies. WHO said the situation shows a clear disconnect between health education, labour-market demand, public-sector recruitment systems and long-term financing.
The regional programme calls on governments to align training institutions with national staffing needs and to ensure that health budgets include sustainable provisions for employing newly trained professionals. It also stresses the need to improve working conditions, career development, fair deployment and retention incentives.
WHO estimates that closing Africa’s health-workforce gap would require an additional investment of between USD 4 and USD 6 per person annually. However, the agency argues that the investment would deliver returns far beyond the health sector.
Every dollar invested in health workers could produce up to USD 10 in economic benefits and around 30 times that amount in broader social returns, according to WHO. These gains would arise from improved health outcomes, higher labour productivity, reduced household medical costs and stronger long-term economic development.
The health-workforce programme is intended to support countries facing rising pressure from population growth, urbanisation, disease outbreaks, climate-related health risks and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases.
During the Addis Ababa meeting, ministers also endorsed a new regional strategy aimed at giving every child the best possible start in life.
The strategy calls for coordinated investments across health, nutrition, social protection, water and sanitation, education, finance and other sectors. It recognises that child survival, growth and learning depend on a combination of services and cannot be addressed by health systems alone.
At the centre of the strategy is greater support for parents, caregivers and communities, who WHO says play the most important role in helping children survive, grow, learn and thrive.
The decisions taken at the WHO Regional Committee meeting are expected to influence Africa’s health agenda over the coming year and beyond. For governments, the central challenge will be turning the commitments into funded jobs, stronger public-health institutions and accessible health services for the communities that need them most.
