The Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and with technical support from WHO, has launched a series of High-Level Multisectoral Dialogues to align national priorities, investments, and policies for health workforce development, supported by funding from the UK Department for Health and Social Care. The first dialogue, themed “Progress Toward a Competent, Responsive, and Equitably Distributed Health Workforce for UHC in Ethiopia,” brought together policymakers, training and accreditation bodies, global health partners, and leaders from the health, education, and finance sectors to assess progress on the Human Resources for Health Strategic Plan 2024–2030 and reaffirm the country’s commitment to delivering quality care to all communities.
Over the past decade, Ethiopia has expanded its health workforce, scaled up training institutions, enhanced licensure systems, and formalized community health workers through the Health Extension Program and health workforce investment compacts. Despite these gains, persistent challenges remain, including gaps in workforce quality, inequitable distribution, fiscal constraints, productivity issues, and evolving service delivery needs, which continue to pressure the health system and affect progress toward Universal Health Coverage.
The dialogue emphasized the need for coherent multisectoral action, data-driven decision-making, and sustained investment across the health labor market cycle, including workforce production, employment, performance management, and retention. Stakeholders identified priority reforms, strengthened coordination between ministries and regulatory bodies, and strategies to operationalize the Health Workforce Investment Compact, ensuring investments are evidence-based, aligned with national realities, and supported by shared accountability.
WHO and partners, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, highlighted the importance of cross-sector collaboration to strengthen health workforce development, retention, and strategic investment. Subsequent dialogues will focus on identifying concrete financing strategies and co-creating Ethiopia’s Health Workforce Investment Compact III to translate policy priorities into actionable commitments. Together, these efforts represent a coordinated national approach to building a competent, equitable, and resilient health workforce central to a high-performing health system.
