Achieving universal health coverage and sustainable development goals by 2030: investment estimates to increase production of health professionals in India (original) (raw)
Related papers
2021
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has reinforced the importance of having sufficient, well-distributed and competent health workforce. In addition to improving health outcomes, increased investment has the potential to generate employment, increase labour productivity along with fostering economic growth. With COVID-19 highlighting the gaps in human resources for health in India, there is a need to better and empirically understand the level of required investment for increasing the production of health workforce in India for achieving the UHC/SDGs.METHODS: The study used data from a range of sources including National Health Workforce Account 2018, Periodic Labour Force Survey 2018-19, population projection of Census of India, and review of government documents and reports. The study estimated shortages in the health workforce and required investments to achieve recommended health worker: population ratio thresholds by the terminal year of the SDGs 2030.RESULTS: Our results suggest that to meet...
Size, composition and distribution of health workforce in India: why, and where to invest?
Human Resources for Health, 2021
Background Investment in human resources for health not only strengthens the health system, but also generates employment and contributes to economic growth. India can gain from enhanced investment in health workforce in multiple ways. This study in addition to presenting updated estimates on size and composition of health workforce, identifies areas of investment in health workforce in India. Methods We analyzed two sources of data: (i) National Health Workforce Account (NHWA) 2018 and (ii) Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017–2018 of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). Using the two sources, we collated comparable estimates of different categories of health workers in India, density of health workforce and skill-mix at the all India and state levels. Results The study estimated (from NHWA 2018) a total stock of 5.76 million health workers which included allopathic doctors (1.16 million), nurses/midwives (2.34 million), pharmacist (1.20 million), dentists (0.27 million), and tra...
Aggregate Availability of Doctors in India: 2014-2030
The achievements of India on basic health indicators such as life expectancy at birth (66 years in 2013), infant mortality rate (41.4 per 1000 live births in 2013), maternal mortality (190 per 100,000 live births in 2013), and births attended by skilled health personnel (67% in 2007-2014) are less and disappointing compared to those in the similarly advanced Southeast Asian nations such as Indonesia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka, and even more disappointing compared to the other emerging group of BRICS nations, such as Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa [Table 1]. The relative inaccessibility of primary healthcare and undernourishment among children in India is among the most important causes of backwardness of Indian health status. It is clear from the fact that the percentage of childbirths attended by the skilled health personnel in
SDG targets on maternal and child health and access of doctors in India
International Journal of Healthcare Management, 2020
There is an acute shortage of doctors in India, especially in rural areas. It does not even meet WHO's 2008 benchmark of a minimum requirement of 25 healthcare professionals per 10,000 population. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set ambitious targets on maternal and child health and 'health for all' by 2030. The paper aims to critically examine the current and required capacities of training and distribution of doctors in the country to ensure meeting SDGs on maternal and child health and 'health for all' objective by 2030. The study used a simple regression model using the WHO data on 161 countries to estimate the coefficients of the density of physicians, nurses and midwives , pharmacists and the percent of child-births attended by skilled health personnel impacting maternal mortality, infant mortality and under-five mortality respectively. The estimated coefficients are used to conjecture the required densities of the above health workers for meeting the SDGs on maternal and child health in India. It is found that to achieve the desired SDG targets, India needs to double its densities of physicians and pharmacists and enhance the childbirths attended by skilled health workers to 100 percent from the current levels by 2030. It also suggests that India needs alternative allopathic practitioners, apart from doctors, mainly for rural areas to ensure 'health for all'.
Assessment of Future Manpower Requirements in Public Healthcare of India and its Northeastern Region
Asian Pacific Journal of Health Sciences
Health-care workforce planning is crucial for active healthcare provision and to achieve an improvement in population health. One of the major challenges in the quest for achieving the goals of the Universal Health Coverage is the shortage of skilled health workers which is a matter of concern for health planners. The paper attempts to project the future requirement of allopathic physician practicing in public sector for India and Northeast India using the health information data from the Datanet India (Indiastat). The projection of physician was done using the average doctor to physician ratio for the year 2004–2017 and population projection was derived using the average exponential growth rate. Study found that with the current trend, India and Northeast are still far from meeting the healthcare needs of the population and the shortage of allopathic physician in public sectors will continue to persist in future. Under the current scenario, India will have require close to 1.6 mill...
Journal of Health Management, 2013
The Indian health care sector will double its size to US$ 100 billion by 2015 from the present US$ 50 billion. However, the government's contribution on health care is minimal whereas Indian households spend a disproportionate share of their consumption expenditure on health care. The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) intends to increase the public expenditure on health from 1.1 per cent of GDP to 2-3 per cent of GDP by 2011. This increased funding through the NRHM should be supplemented by efforts to improve efficiency in resource utilization. Health economics is increasingly recognized as a discipline that has much to offer in addressing these issues. However, the information about capacity building initiatives in terms of teaching and training in the field of health economics in India is limited. This article attempts to address this knowledge gap through a systematic research by identifying various institutions offering courses in health economics across India, their intake capacity, areas of specialization and accreditation standards. The article also attempts to estimate the demand for professionals having expertise in health economics and intends to stimulate the discussion around pertinent issues around need and demand mismatch.
Human Resources for Health
Background Human Resources for Health (HRH) are essential for making meaningful progress towards universal health coverage (UHC), but health systems in most of the developing countries continue to suffer from serious gaps in health workforce. The Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health—Workforce 2030, adopted in 2016, includes Health Labor Market Analysis (HLMA) as a tool for evidence based health workforce improvements. HLMA offers certain advantages over the traditional approach of workforce planning. In 2018, WHO supported a HLMA exercise in Chhattisgarh, one of the predominantly rural states of India. Methods The HLMA included a stakeholder consultation for identifying policy questions relevant to the context. The HLMA focused on state HRH at district-level and below. Mixed methods were used for data collection and analysis. Detailed district-wise data on HRH availability were collected from state’s health department. Data were also collected on policies implemented on HRH...