As we reach the Millennium Development Goals deadline in 2015, the global health community faces the exciting, though difficult challenge, of developing a new strategy to improve global health.
As we move into 2015, Health Volunteers Overseas will continue its work empowering and strengthening the global health workforce as a means of improving global health.
A recent article published on DEVEX, highlighted top global health stories of 2014 – and what they have to do with health workers. Throughout the article, the author points to a number of stories – the rise in population less than 25 years of age, the large number of conflicts and war around the world and the Ebola crisis – and discusses the essential role that health workers have had or could have in these global trends and issues. The article emphasizes the pivotal role of health workers in addressing global health challenges.
HVO maintains programs in a number of global health topics –child and maternal health, trauma care, rehabilitation, cancer care, oral health, and more. HVO projects are located at health care sites in resource-scarce countries like Uganda, Nicaragua, Bhutan and Vietnam. Working with local partners to meet the specific needs of the health care workers and/or students of health care, HVO volunteers travel to the site to provide their overseas colleagues and students with lectures, hands-on training, mentoring and professional collaboration.
HVO projects and volunteers provide health workers overseas with skills and knowledge to serve their patients, improving the quality of health care. They also offer professional support and the opportunity for building their global health network, improving the availability of health care. With more trained health workers and better fulfillment for health workers operating in the challenging environment of resource-scarce countries, HVO is building and supporting an essential component of health systems.
As we have see through nearly three decades of interactions with health systems in resource-scarce countries, health workers are crucial to improving quality and access to health care. They are the key to sustainable change and stronger health systems.
HVO will continue to provide teaching and training opportunities to health workers overseas; we will work with local health systems to build and strengthen this essential component; and we will call on others to support health workers through education, training and professional collaboration. Health workers are the key to strong health systems. Health workers are the key to improved global health.