Principal Secretary for Medical Services Dr Ouma Oluga, who is attending the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, held high-level talks with WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Klugeat.
The meeting focused on strengthening global health workforce collaboration, retention strategies, and ethical mobility frameworks for healthcare workers between Africa and Europe.
They also discussed advancing a Health Workforce Collaboration Framework aimed at addressing growing global workforce shortages, improving retention, promoting social inclusion, and strengthening protections for healthcare workers against violence and burnout.
Dr. Oluga highlighted Kenya’s longstanding leadership in health workforce advocacy, drawing from his experience as former IFMSA Vice President for External Affairs, Secretary General of Kenya’s largest doctors’ organisation, and Chair of the Health Workers for All Coalition.
He further outlined Kenya’s contributions to health workforce policy reforms, including internship policy development, collective bargaining agreements, and leadership of the WHO Wellbeing Index study conducted across Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana involving over 3,600 health worker interviews.
The meeting also explored the proposed Africa Center for Health Workforce Initiatives, an umbrella platform seeking endorsement from WHO and Africa CDC to strengthen health workforce systems across the continent through policy reforms, education and specialisation training, migration and mobility management, and healthcare worker wellbeing.
Key concerns discussed included ethical recruitment practices, implementation gaps in bilateral labour agreements, increasing migration of health professionals, curriculum harmonisation challenges in medical training institutions, and the need for stronger co-investment models to address workforce losses linked to brain drain.
Dr. Kluge shared emerging workforce challenges across the WHO European Region, noting ageing healthcare workforces, increasing violence against healthcare workers, and growing concerns around burnout and mental health.
The meeting further highlighted opportunities for shared learning, including formalisation of community health workers and adoption of Africa’s community health approaches within European health systems.
The two leaders also discussed ongoing WHO-led initiatives on healthcare worker mental health and wellbeing, including facility-level interventions aimed at improving workplace support systems, shift organisation, and staff welfare.
The engagement reaffirmed the importance of stronger Africa-Europe cooperation in building resilient, protected, motivated, and sustainable health workforces capable of supporting universal health coverage and future global health security priorities.
