Africa faces health worker shortage.

Thirty-one countries in sub-Saharan Africa will face an overall shortage of 800,000 health workers by 2015, according to a recent study.

Published in the Aug. 6 Health Affairs, the study used a forecasting model to estimate the supply and need for doctors, nurses and midwives in 39 African countries for 2015. In addition to the massive health worker shortage in 31 countries, the study estimated the additional annual wage bill required to eliminate the shortage at about $2.6 billion.

"The development of the health sector work force in low-income countries has suffered from years of neglect," the study's authors wrote. "Many African nations struggle with corruption, political instability and ineffective institutions, which drain them of resources to train and maintain adequate numbers of health care professionals. Moreover, these professionals sometimes migrate to high-income countries that pay higher wages."

In the African countries with the worst projected shortfalls, the study estimated the total need for doctors, nurses and midwives to be about 1.1 million, but supply is estimated to be only 371,000, or 32 percent of the needed health work force.

The answer is not only better funding, according to the report, but also a shifting of the health work force mix of doctors, nurses and midwives. The study's authors recommended worker incentives and increased training capacity as well. They said changing the skill mix and redistributing tasks among health workers "holds some promise for alleviating shortages." For example, "a large increase in the number of mid-level and community health workers, who can provide support for doctors, nurses and midwives, could be a partial solution."