Sodiq Ojuroungbe
The World Health Organisation has urged countries to create a better working environment for health workers, noting that many of them experienced burnout while helping to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The WHO stated that the COVID-19 pandemic created many challenges, misinformation, and disruptions to essential health services and made life more difficult for people as well as health workers around the world.
The Director-General, WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated this in a video posted on his Twitter page.
He lamented that life expectancy and population health outcomes have declined globally, bemoaning that health and care workers across the world are exhausted.
Ghebreyesus said there is a need to invest in multidisciplinary teams of health workers, adding that nations around the world also need to establish health services close to communities to promote health, prevent illness and protect populations.
While stressing that community health workers are undervalued and underpaid, the WHO DG stressed that health workers need decent pay and decent working conditions.
He said, “We are rapidly approaching the halfway point of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. It’s a moment to reflect on our work, acknowledge success, consider gaps, and recommit to action.
“Three years of the COVID-19 pandemic have created many challenges, misinformation, and mistrust in equities, access to COVID-19 tools, and disruptions to essential health services.
“As a result, population health outcomes and life expectancy globally have reversed. The world’s health and care workers, ordinary people doing extraordinary work are exhausted.
“Roughly one in every three has experienced burnout. We must act now, we must invest in multidisciplinary teams of health workers and establish services close to communities to promote health, prevent illness and protect populations”.
The WHO helmsman also stressed the need to improve the working conditions of health workers globally.
He said, “Health workers need decent pay and decent working conditions, with education linked to jobs, especially for women and youth. This includes community health workers who far too often are undervalued and underpaid.
“A strong health workforce is essential for strong primary health care as the foundation of both universal health coverage and global health security.
“On behalf of the millions of community health workers in the world, let’s commit to protecting and investing in them, their education, their jobs, and their decent work conditions together.”
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