The Health Workforce in Times of Crisis – podcast
‘Stories of Resilience – Local Lives and Health Systems’ is a podcast series from ReBUILD for Resilience. Each episode examines a different resilience-related topic, with a particular focus on fragile and shock-prone settings.
In this third episode – ‘The Health Workforce in Times of Crisis’ – we discuss the challenges faced by the health workforce in fragile and shock-prone settings such as conflict zones and areas hit by political and economic crises. Our guests share their first-hand experiences and insights on how health systems and workers strive to provide care under extreme conditions.
The transcript of this podcast can be read here.
The speakers
The series is produced by The SCL Agency [opens new tab] with Dr Kim Ozano hosting each instalment. In this episode Kim chatted with:
Dr Wesam Mansour – Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Wesam is a physician, a paediatric and neonatology specialist and a Fellow of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua), with a Ph.D. in Health Policy and Management. At Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Wesam is a research associate at the Department of International Public Health. For the ReBUILD programme, she coordinates the work with ReBUILD’s country partners, particularly those in Lebanon.
Dr Nasher Al-Aghbari – Al-Thawra General Modern Teaching Hospital, Sana’a, Yemen
Nasher is a paediatric consultant in the Paediatric Department at Al-Thawra General Teaching Modern Hospital and Head of the Paediatric Emergency Department. He is also a member of the Teaching Panel in the Arab Board Membership. He has undertaken research for the past 15 years. As part of his Master’s degree and PhD at LSTM, Nasher worked on blood diseases in children in Africa and Yemen and pulmonary childhood tuberculosis in Yemen. He is part of a ReBUILD study in Yemen, Mapping the resilience capacities and coping mechanisms of health workers and other cadres in hospital emergency departments in Sana’a during protracted conflict and crisis in Yemen.
Dr Jim Campbell – Health Workforce Department, World Health Organization, Geneva
Jim is Director of the Health Workforce Department at WHO. There he oversees the development and implementation of global public goods, evidence and tools to inform investments in the education, employment and retention of the health and care workforce in pursuit of global health security, universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Stories of Resilience podcast series
- Episode 1: Revisiting resilience in health systems research
- Episode 2: Gender, health systems resilience and equity
- Episode 3: The Health Workforce in Times of Crisis
- Episode 4: Non-State and Informal Actors in Fragile Settings
- Episode 5: Migration, displacement and health systems
- Episode 6: Health systems financing in fragile settings
Further information
The following are papers and studies mentioned in this podcast and other resources that may be of interest [all open in new tabs]:
- Working for health 2022-2030 action plan
- The WHO strategic directions for nursing and midwifery (2021 – 2025)
- Bilateral agreements on health worker migration and mobility: Maximizing health system benefits and safeguarding health workforce rights and welfare through fair and ethical international recruitment
- WHO health workforce support and safeguards list (2023)
- Fair Share for Health and Care: Making the case for gender-equitable investment in health and care work
- National workforce capacity to implement the essential public health functions including a focus on emergency preparedness and response: Roadmap for aligning WHO and partner contributions
- National workforce capacity for essential public health functions: operational handbook for country-led contextualization and implementation
- Defining essential public health functions and services to strengthen national workforce capacity
- Global competency and outcomes framework for the essential public health functions
- Essential public health functions: a guide to map and measure national workforce capacity