Africa Shifts Focus from Training to Retention as Health Workforce Crisis Deepens

Edited by : Solomon Kwabena Nana-Ansah – Paaps – 

African leaders and health policymakers have renewed calls for urgent action to retain skilled health professionals across the continent, as concerns over the growing migration of healthcare workers continue to intensify.

The issue took centre stage at the Second Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum held in Accra, Ghana, where stakeholders emphasized the need to move beyond training more professionals to creating conditions that encourage them to remain and work within Africa.

Opening the forum, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, highlighted the widening gap between the training of health workers and their long-term retention. She urged governments, development partners and health institutions to address the structural challenges pushing professionals to seek opportunities abroad.

According to the Vice President, resilient health systems are critical to economic growth, social stability and national development. She pointed to Ghana’s ongoing implementation of Free Primary Healthcare and the MahamaCares initiative as part of broader efforts to strengthen healthcare delivery nationwide.

She further disclosed that government plans are underway to recruit approximately 16,000 health workers this year to boost service delivery across the country.

Ghana’s Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, described the forum as a crucial opportunity to transform policy discussions into measurable outcomes. He stressed that investments in the health workforce must translate into sustainable employment, equitable distribution of personnel and improved working conditions.

The Health Minister revealed that Ghana is developing a National Health Workforce Investment Plan aimed at guiding the country’s long-term staffing strategy. He noted that reforms are also being introduced to improve deployment to underserved communities and align medical training with the evolving healthcare needs of the population.

On the continental front, Mohamed Yakub Janabi warned that Africa continues to lose a substantial number of trained health professionals to other regions despite significant investments in education and training.

He called for fair and balanced international partnerships, arguing that countries benefiting from African-trained health workers should contribute toward the continent’s training, retention and workforce development efforts.

The Accra forum is expected to produce practical strategies aimed at reducing health worker migration, strengthening healthcare systems and ensuring that Africa fully benefits from its investment in human resources for health.