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Health worker shortages could be contributing to excess deaths across the globe, particularly in certain diseases such as malaria, gut infections diabetes, kidney diseases, and pregnancy and birth complications.
The risk of death due to these diseases was more pronounced in countries (between 2 and 5.5 times higher) with low or the lowest health worker density than in those with the highest density, highlighting the importance of targeting action to boost health workforces in priority areas.
The researchers say targeted action is now needed globally, as the healthcare workforce is key to achieving the goal of universal health coverage by 2030.
Richer countries tended to have more healthcare workers per 10,000 population
The study, which is based on an analysis of 172 countries and territories and published in The BMJ, is one of the first to look at inequalities and specific human resources for health (HRH) types and relations with specific causes of death from a global perspective.
The term human resources for health (HRH) refers to a range of occupations, including doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists and other allied professions and support functions designed to promote or improve health.
The researchers used data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, United Nations Statistics, and Our World in Data and found that while the total health workforce per 10,000 population has markedly increased from 56 in 1990 to 142.5 in 2019, the distribution of healthcare workers is unevenly spread.
For example, Sweden had the highest access to HRH per capita (696.1 per 10,000 population), whereas Ethiopia and Guinea had less than one ninth of the global HRH level, with 13.9 and 15.1 workers per 10,000 population, respectively.
Findings highlight the importance of avoiding a depleted NHS workforce
Mostly, the number of deaths per 100,000 population declined between 1990 and 2019. For the 21 specific causes of death analysed, deaths only rose in neurological and mental disorders, skin diseases, and muscle and bone disorders.
The death rate for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections increased from 2 per 100,000 population in 1990 to 3.6 per 100,000 in 2000, but then decreased steadily to 3.4 per 100,000 population in 2019.
While the study is observational and cannot establish a cause, the researchers say the findings highlight the importance of “expanding the financing of health” and “developing equity-oriented policies for the health workforce” to reduce deaths related to inadequate human resources for health.
With more than 130,000 vacancies currently facing the NHS, the findings also highlight the importance of addressing the staffing crisis to improve patient safety and outcomes.