New WHPA strategy champions collaboration for sustainable health workforces
Press Release
New WHPA strategy champions collaboration for sustainable health workforces
Geneva, Switzerland/ Ferney Votlaire, France: 26 May 2024 鈥� On the eve of the 77th World Health Assembly, WHPA , calling for the health professions and key stakeholders to work together towards sustainable health workforces and strengthened health systems. The new strategy document will invigorate the WHPA鈥檚 role as the only alliance bringing the expertise and concerns of the key health professions to the international stage.
The strategy was launched at a reception celebrating the Alliance鈥檚 25th anniversary, held in Geneva on 26 May 2024. Among the honoured guests were senior figures from UN agencies, major health and humanitarian NGOs, and other significant stakeholders.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was represented by Jim Campbell, Director of the Health Workforce Department. Addressing the guests from the floor, he congratulated WHPA on its quarter century and looked forward to further collaboration with WHPA, based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2022.
Leaders of the five WHPA member organizations addressed the gathering from the podium, highlighting achievements in the Alliance鈥檚 history and key points in the new strategy.
Pamela Cipriano, President of ICN, said 鈥淥ur new collective WHPA strategy continues the vision of cooperation and collaboration of our founders, carrying it forward into the second quarter of the 21st century. We believe that leadership is one of the core essentials that cuts across all of our strategic goals, to achieve the SDGs and reach the goals set by UHC2030.鈥�
She was followed by Lu铆s Louren莽o, Vice President of FIP, who highlighted WHPA鈥檚 earlier ground-breaking collaborative work on counterfeit medicines, and also presented health systems strengthening as one of the new strategic goals. 鈥淎t the heart of a strong health system lies a supported and collaborative health workforce. The WHPA, alongside our partners, advocates tirelessly for the pivotal role of health professions in this endeavour.鈥�
FDI鈥檚 President, Greg Chadwick, in turn emphasized the Alliance鈥檚 work on NCDs and smoking cessation, cross-cutting health issues that can be more effectively addressed by the professions working together. 鈥淭he Alliance’s dedication to interprofessional collaboration was first formalized in a 2013 Statement on , updated in 2023. This commitment is now a strategic goal in WHPA鈥檚 new plan, reflecting our unified approach to global health challenges,鈥� he said.
For World Physiotherapy, President Mike Landry pointed out how WHPA鈥檚 campaign, its largest and longest-lasting project to date, contributed to the third strategic goal in the new strategy: Building a sustainable health workforce. 鈥淎t the heart of the campaign is a recognition of the interdependence between the working conditions of healthcare professionals and the quality of care they can provide. (鈥�) Initiatives like this are not just about making life better for healthcare professionals; they’re about ensuring better health outcomes for everyone.鈥�
Finally, 乌鸦传媒President Lujain Alqodmani closed the presentations with a focus on ethics and human rights: 鈥淰alues like equity, integrity and respect have always been central to WMA鈥檚 work, ensuring fairness and justice in all our work, and that we do what鈥檚 right and ethical according to our codes of practice. The WHPA鈥檚 new strategy shares these values, and adds a crucial one: unity, because we achieve more when we work together. I look forward to working with the rest of WHPA partners in implementing this ambitious plan.鈥�
The evening served as a call to the global health community to join with health professionals to build sustainable health workforces and strengthened health systems where health professionals enjoy due recognition for their pivotal role.
Note for Editors
The World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA) brings together the global organizations representing the world鈥檚 dentists, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and physicians and speaks for over 41 million health care professionals in more than 130 countries. The WHPA works to improve global health and the quality of patient care and facilitates collaboration among the health professions and major stakeholders.
WHPA Press contact:
Joannah C. Wengler, Manager of the WHPA Secretariat
jcwengler@whpa.org
+41 22 560 8147
乌鸦传媒 Media contact:
Janice Blondeau
janice.blondeau@wma.net
+33685225868
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