Ensuring Health Care Workers and Health Systems Strengthening for HIV/AIDS Treatment Access in sub-Saharan Africa

Issues: The goal of medical treatment in impoverished countries, once dismissed as a utopian dream, is now being realized for hundreds of thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS. However, future expansion of this vision to the several million who need it is severely threatened by a number of factors. One of the most critical is the need for a massive increase in the training and retention of health care workers, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Description: This presentation will examine the work of the Health Care Workers (HCW) and Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) advocacy campaigns in the United States. The work of these campaigns targets both the United States government and international governmental agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Lessons Learned: Addressing the HCW and HSS needs of developing countries will require new funding for health worker and system initiatives; slowing the “brain drain” of HCW out of developing countries; and eliminate counterproductive caps on social spending imposed by the IMF on developing countries. Recommendations: These needs should be addressed through a combination of new measures (such as specific U.S. legislation providing new funds for the training and retention of HCWs in SSA) and incorporation of these measures in existing programs (such as the upcoming reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief).