The Human Resources for Health Crisis in Zambia

'The Human Resources for Health Crisis in Zambia' is part of the World Bank Working Paper series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank’s ongoing research and to stimulate public discussion.

Despite reporting some health gains since the 1990s, health outcomes remain poor in Zambia and it will be very challenging to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
The Government of Zambia recognizes that the improvement of child and maternal health and the reduction in mortality from HIV/AIDs and malaria require better access to an appropriate number of wellperforming health workers or human resources for health (HRH). This paper compiles recent evidence on the Zambian health labor market and provides some baseline information on HRH to support the government address its HRH challenges. In addition, the paper analyzes the available evidence on the national health labor market to better understand the number, distribution, and performance of HRH in Zambia.The paper also explains HRH outcomes by mapping, assessing, and analyzing pre-service education and labor market dynamics and well as the core factors influencing these dynamics.

This working paper was produced as part of theWorld Bank’s Africa Region Health Systems for Outcomes (HSO) Program.The Program, funded by the World Bank, the Government of Norway, the
Government of the United Kingdom, and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), focuses on strengthening health systems inAfrica to reach the poor and achieve tangible results related to Health, Nutrition, and Population.The main pillars and focus of the program center on knowledge and capacity building related to Human Resources for Health, Health Financing, Pharmaceuticals, Governance and Service Delivery, and Infrastructure and ICT. More information as well as all the products produced under the HSO program can be found online at www.worldbank.org/hso .