Confronting the health care worker crisis to expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment: MSF experience in southern Africa
Medecins Sans Frontieres
2007
"This report focuses on the impact of human resource shortages witnessed by MSF teams in four southern African countries - Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and South Africa. While the focus is largely on nurses in rural areas, it should be acknowledged that health staff is lacking across the spectrum-from docotrs to laboratory technicians to pharmacists- at all levels of care. The report also describes how MSF teams and local partners are trying to overcome staff shortages to reduce waiting times and increase access to care. The experiences described in this report illustrate the need for an effective emergency response at the national and international level. Without fundamental change, the perspectives for expanding access to ART and improving quality of care are bleak. And the cost of inaction is clear: hundreds of thousands of people with HIV/AIDS will die unnecessarily because there will not be the necessary personnel to provide the life-saving care and treatment they need."
