Workforce Development for Health EDRM
As highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, all phases of emergencies and disasters require a ready, willing and able workforce that can save lives, reduce diseases and suffering, and minimise socio-economic loss to affected communities and countries.
Workforce for health emergency and disaster risk reduction (Health EDRM) include many actors across and beyond health systems with a wide range of roles and responsibilities. WHO defined the health workforce as "all people engaged in actions whose primary intent is to enhance health" [1]. Healthcare workers are critical in health emergencies, however there are more than health workforce who help affected populations, make effort in reducing hazards, exposures and vulnerabilities in communities, and work to build capacity for emergencies preparedness, response and recovery.
Defining roles and responsibilities of workforce groups for Health EDRM is challenging [2].
The pandemic also exacerbated health /non-health workforce challenges through significant shortages and highlighted a need for intensified workforce development to prepare for health emergencies and to build stronger health systems and communities [ref]. The importance of workforce development for Health EDRM was also recognised in the 2018 WHO Health EDRM expert meeting which put the agenda as a priority area for research [3]. Since then, WHO Kobe Centre (WKC) has actively supported research projects for creating more evidence and knowldge in workforce development for Health EDRM. This section shares knowledge and resources based on WKC funded research projects (2021-22 project, 2020-21 project) and the related chapters of WHO Guidance on Research Methods for Health EDRM.
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References:
[1] World Health Organization (2018). Building the primary health care workforce of the 21st century. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/primary-health-care-conference/…
[2] Hung KKC, Mashino S, Chan EYY, MacDermot MK, Balsari S, Ciottone GR, Della Corte F, Dell'Aringa MF, Egawa S, Evio BD, Hart A, Hu H, Ishii T, Ragazzoni L, Sasaki H, Walline JH, Wong CS, Bhattarai HK, Dalal S, Kayano R, Abrahams J, Graham CA. Health Workforce Development in Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management: The Need for Evidence-Based Recommendations. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Mar 24;18(7):3382. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18073382. PMID: 33805225; PMCID: PMC8037083.
[3] 2019 Meeting Report: WHO Thematic Platform for Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management Research Network First Core Group Meeting - Building a WHO Health EDRM Research Agenda
