Why Health Workers?

For all of us, health is one of the most important factors affecting quality of life. Far too many people suffer needlessly worldwide from preventable and curable diseases and health conditions.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in sub-Saharan Africa, where millions lack access to doctors and basic care. This means that over 50 % of mothers give birth without help from skilled attendants. Children continue to die from malaria, TB, and other diseases that are now rare in the US and other industrialized countries.

Everyone deserves access to basic health care. But we cannot change the reality for millions without getting at a root cause of this crisis: the extreme lack of doctors, nurses, and other trained healthcare workers.

The shortage of healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa is particularly severe. Sub-Saharan Africa has 10 % of the world’s population, 24% of the world’s disease burden, and less than 1% of the world’s expenditures for healthcare. In Tanzania, for example, where the Touch Foundation is tackling the issue, there are approximately 1,300 doctors to cover the country’s population of 40 million – that is just one doctor for every 30,000 people.