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According to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, the world is far behind in meeting the Sustainable Development Goal of “Universal Health Coverage” by 2030, which is just over three years away. More than half of the global population) still lack access to the essential health services they need. And between 80% and 90% of the 4.6 billion people thus concerned are in the Global South.

One of the main reasons for this is the global shortage of health and care workers, who constitute the backbone of healthcare delivery. Yet, international migration of health and care workers essentially involves the migration of skilled healthcare workers from these countries to wealthier countries in the Global North.

The shortfall of healthcare workers required for UHC by 2030 is 11 million. And this might very well be an underestimate. But more worrisome is that this shortfall is markedly skewed. The countries and regions of the world with the greatest disease burden have significantly higher proportions of this shortage. For example, Africa, which has 19.09% of the world population but bears a quarter of the global disease burden and over three quarters of public health emergencies worldwide, has a shortfall of 6.5 million healthcare workers out of the total of 11 million.

One reason for this situation is that wealthier countries of the Global North can draw on health and care workers from the Global South. A care arbitrage emerges, enabling wealthier nations to achieve substantial cost savings, being what they would otherwise have spent on domestic training for healthcare professionals.

A report issued by the British All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health and Security in March 2026, for example, noted that the NHS saves up to £14bn every year by recruiting doctors and nurses from the Global South. To address this injustice, the APPG has called for co-investment in which Britain (and we could add; other countries in the Global North who similarly benefit from international migration) should invest in training more doctors, nurses and other health professionals in the Global South.

Others have also pointed out that the problem is much more complex. The health and care workforce in Africa and other developing countries/regions is being depleted by outward labour migration. But we are also witnessing a large number of unemployed health professionals e.g., up to 700,000 in Africa.

The WHO has tried to address the situation in several ways. It has redlined countries with its Health Workforce Support and Safeguard List. The WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel which was adopted in 2010 and reviewed for the third time last year, also sets a universal framework for fair and ethical health worker migration. These are progressive steps. But, with the (in)actions of states, these might have only made a dent in addressing the problem.

Questions for the discourse:

The webinar will examine the issues by addressing the following questions:

• To what extent has the WHO Code of Practice been able to promote the fair and ethical international recruitment of health and care workers? How could this be improved upon? What are the challenges?

• How can co-investment help to increase training and as well decent work for health and care workers in the countries of origin?

• What are the root causes of the paradox of shortage and surplus of health and care workers in the global South and particularly so in Africa?

• How do migrant health workers experience the situation and what do they want policy makers and all other players to do to safeguard them in countries of destination?

Speakers

• Dr Agya MAHAT, Technical Officer, Health Workforce, WHO

• Margaret CAFFREY, Technical Director, Health Systems Strengthening, GHP ( TBC)

• Dr Eleanor HUTCHINSON, Professor, Anthropology and Public Health, LSHTM

• Ananya BASU PSI Asia Pacific Health Organizer/Focal point, migration

Ahead of the 79th session of the WHO Health Assembly, this series of G2H2 policy debates offers a platform for civil society to engage with  key questions concerning global health, connecting policy discussions with their implications for health systems, communities, and equity worldwide. Spanning from the assessment of “hot” topics to be addressed at the upcoming WHA, to a detailed analysis of other burning technical or political matters that have been left out, each session will feature selected speakers which will guide us into an enriching discussion.