African Health ministers have endorsed the Africa Health Workforce Agenda 2026-2035, committing to plan, educate, employ and retain 3 million additional health workers by 2035 to tackle critical workforce shortages and expand access to quality healthcare across the continent.
The move comes as Africa has only about 46% of the health workforce it needs. Although the continent had an estimated 5.72 million health workers in 2024, it could face a shortage of more than 6 million by 2035 without urgent action.
Yet Africa faces a paradox: while health facilities struggle to find enough workers, an estimated one million trained health professionals are unemployed. In several countries, more than half of newly qualified nurses, doctors and midwives struggle to secure jobs soon after graduation.
The new Agenda seeks to close this gap by going beyond training. It focuses on workforce planning, quality education, job creation, sustainable financing and retention, with coordinated action across the health, education, finance, labour and public service sectors.
‘Educating health workers is only the beginning,’ said Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa. ‘We must also create the opportunities, the support and the conditions that enable them to serve, grow and thrive where they are needed most.’
The investment could also deliver major economic gains. Closing Africa’s health workforce gap is estimated to require an additional US$4-6 per person annually, while every dollar invested in health workers could generate up to US$10 in economic returns and around 30 times its value in broader social benefits.
The Agenda builds on the Africa Health Workforce Investment Charter and provides countries with a shared roadmap to build a skilled, supported and equitably distributed workforce.
The goal is clear: more health workers, more jobs, stronger health systems and millions more Africans able to access quality healthcare when and where they need it.