EXHIBITION 2013
Solving the global doctor shortage
Why is there a Global doctor shortage?
The Global Doctor Shortage is a worldwide problem that is becoming worse. It is happening because primary care students are choosing to become specialists. A specialists is a person that excels in only one thing. If this continues, there will not be a big enough variety of doctors in the world. Out of 1,700 doctors in training, only 365 of them pursued the career of being a primary care doctor. This is a problem.
What is the Global Doctor shortage?
The global doctor shortage is the worldwide limit of doctors. Since there is a limit of doctors, many countries don't have enough health professionals to give important care that is needed. 57 countries have a shortage of over 2.3 million physicians, nurses, and midwives. Experts usually call this problem the "invisible problem" because it is not talked about as much as the other problems the world faces. In 1998 54% of U.S. medical pursued primary care, but now it has dropped to 20%.
Is there a solution to the doctor shortage?
Doctors are getting incentives such as shorter work hours, better conditions , and more money. Hopefully this will make more people want to become a doctor. A global organization was formed to help with this problem, this organization is called the Global Health Workforce Alliance. It works with different countries to help educate and employ health workers. They will do this by solving urgent problems that doctors face like there working conditions. The doctors will try to reach an effective agreement with their employers.
donate to the global health workforce alliance to help solve the problem
If you want to help solve this problem then log on to http://www.who.int/workforcealliance/en/ and click Members & partners then select global in the section marked List of Members and Partners by region. Pick an organization and then choose to donate to it.