Abuja, May 17th 2018 – A four day training for staff of state Ministries of health of Bauchi, Cross Rivers, Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and the National Primary Health care Development Agency has ended in Abuja with calls on the federal government and states to forecast their health workforce requirements to enable governments make informed health plans and policies for the provision of efficient and effective quality health services.

The training which is part of  the “Enhancing the ability of frontline health workers to improve health in Nigeria” project, funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) will help to build the capacities of health managers to use the WHO Human Resources for Health (HRH) Planning and Projection Tool (HRHPPT) to forecast supply and requirements of targeted frontline health workers including doctors, community health workers, community health officers (CHOs), community health extension workers (CHEWs), junior community health extension worker (JCHEWs), nurses and midwives. 

The Country Representative of the World Health Organization (WR-WHO), Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu who was represented by Dr Moses Ongom stated that the essence of the training is to project the frontline health workforce needed for quality service delivery as HRH is very critical to achieving health outcomes. “In order to achieve universal healthcare and sustainable development goal targets, the HRH must be available. We urge all participants to be attentive to understand the tool and replicate same in the various States.”

The Regional Adviser of HRH, WHO Africa Regional Office, (AFRO), Dr Ahmat Adam opined that assessing health workforce requirements using the HRH planning and projection tool will show gaps between current supply and future requirements. It will also inform the development of appropriate solutions for addressing gaps and how best solutions can be achieved for the entire health sector.

In appreciation, the head of the HRH Division of the Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Shakuri Kadiri, commended the WHO for the noble initiative, expressed gratitude to Global Affairs Canada for their financial and technical support to the ministry throughout the years. 
“This is a welcome initiative and we believe this program will help to strengthen the health sector particularly at the state level.” He said. 

Some of the outputs and deliverables from applying the WHO tool includes: state-specific HRH projections; state-specific solutions for addressing supply and requirement gaps and state-specific reports. 

Technical Contact:

Dr. Sunny Okoroafor; Email: okoroafors [at] who.int; Tel: +234  813 173 6273