By Cecilia Ologunagba
Nigeria and other members of the World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to protect and invest in the global health and care workforce,
They also pledged to identify specific actions to address national shortages of health and care workforce conditions of work, and the increasing rates of health worker migration.
The 78th WHA, WHO’s highest decision-making body, which opened on May 19 and runs through May 27, brings together delegations from 194 member states, including Nigeria under the theme “One World for Health.”
The Assembly reviewed the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030, which highlights a slowdown in progress and an increase in the projected global shortfall in health workers to 11.1 million by 2030 – up from the 2022 estimate of 10.2 million.
Countries adopted a resolution – sponsored by Nigeria, Germany, Morocco, the Philippines, and Thailand – calling for accelerated investment in health professionals’ education, job creation, and retention; improved working conditions; and a harnessing of the potential of digital technologies and AI in support of health workers.
The Assembly also considered new data and recommendations on the international migration of health workers and how to strengthen ethical recruitment in alignment with the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel.
A record 105 countries reported on international migration.
The Assembly noted the findings of the Code’s third review and endorsed a decision to hold regional consultations on the draft findings of the Expert Advisory Group in 2025, including on its emphasis on mutual benefits, co-investment and sustainable solutions, alongside better regulation of private recruitment and inclusion of care workers.
Also, countries approved a decision to provide additional time to finalize the report of the fourteenth meeting of the Member State mechanism (MsM) regarding global health threats posed by substandard and falsified (SF) medical products.
The final report will now be submitted to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in 2026, via the 158th session of the Executive Board.
This decision follows a request by the Steering Committee of the MsM for more time to consider specific recommendations from the 2023 independent evaluation, particularly those concerning potential revisions to the mechanism’s format.
WHO is actively supporting this process by providing both legal and operational guidance.
With an estimated 1 in 10 medicines in low- and middle-income countries being substandard or falsified, and economic losses ranging from 75 to 200 billion dollars annually, the stakes are high. SF incidents nearly tripled between 2019 and 2023, exacerbated by online distribution, weak regulatory oversight and surveillance, and humanitarian crises.
Established through the Resolution WHA65.19 in 2012, the MsM has served as a cornerstone of WHO’s global strategy, enabling countries to collaborate in preventing, detecting, and responding to SF medical products.
The 2023 evaluation reaffirmed the mechanism’s relevance and underscored its unique role in global coordination. However, it also called for improvements, including regional engagement, broader stakeholder collaboration, and enhanced operational agility.
WHO reiterated its full commitment to reinforcing the mechanism as a cornerstone of global health security, calling on continued engagement from governments, pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, donors and civil society.
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