International News

Africa Health Workforce Plan 2035

September 1 , 2026 13 hrs 0 min 20 0

African health ministers adopted the Africa Health Workforce Agenda 2026–2035 to add at least 3 million health workers by 2035.
The plan aims to halve the projected health-worker shortage through better planning, training, employment and retention.
Africa had 5.72 million health workers in 2024, while at least 943,000 trained health professionals were unemployed.
The plan follows a “Plan, Train and Retain” approach, focusing on workforce planning, quality education, job creation and better working conditions.
By 2035, it aims to increase health-professional density from 27 to 47 per 10,000 people and reduce the average unemployment rate from 27% to 13%.
The agenda was adopted at the 76th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa in Addis Ababa.