• WHO urges new training curricula to strengthen workforce
Africa is projected to face a deficit of 6.1 million health workers by 2030, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned, as it urges governments, universities, regulators, and professional institutions to adopt a new prototype competency-based curriculum designed to strengthen the continent’s health workforce.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa launched the first-ever Africa Prototype Competency-Based Curricula for ten selected health professions, describing it as a turning point in preparing health workers to deliver safe, high-quality, people-centred care from the beginning of their careers.
The launch took place in Pretoria, with satellite events across multiple African countries. According to WHO, the new curricula aim to strengthen practical skills, clinical readiness, ethical and professional judgment, emergency and primary care capabilities, and adaptability to new technologies, including artificial intelligence and digital health. They are also intended to boost graduates’ confidence to deliver quality care in diverse settings.
The Director of Health Systems and Services at the WHO Regional Office for Africa, Dr Adelheid Onyango, said the continent has “for too long trained for qualifications, not for competence,” stressing that competence is what ultimately saves lives. She noted that the curricula are designed to produce health workers who are competent, ethical, confident, and prepared to serve their communities with excellence.
WHO hopes the initiative will evolve into a continent-wide movement, calling the curricula the beginning of a new era of quality, trust, and excellence in Africa’s health workforce.
According to the organisation, the prototype curricula were co-developed through unprecedented regional collaboration involving more than 300 experts, universities, professional councils, ministries, students, and development partners.
The process was guided by the Curriculum Development Advisory Group, which includes leading education and practice specialists from across Africa. The curricula draw on the Global Competency and Outcomes Framework for Universal Health Coverage and provide a continental benchmark for relevance and quality.
WHO noted that Africa’s health workforce grew from 1.6 million in 2013 to more than five million in 2022. Despite this growth, about 27 per cent of trained health workers remain unemployed, reflecting a mismatch between outdated education models and labour market needs.
The new curricula aim to ensure that health workers trained in any African country graduate with comparable competencies, facilitating smoother mobility, reducing re-examination burdens, and supporting a more integrated continental health labour market.
The launch coincided with the Member States Consultation on the Africa Health Workforce Agenda 2026–2035: Plan, Train, and Retain, where government officials, regulators.
and health experts are designing strategies to create more jobs, reform education systems, and improve retention across the continent. WHO said the prototype curricula will serve as a foundational tool to accelerate these reforms.
Next steps, according to the organisation, include supporting Member States with implementation, developing continental accreditation standards, strengthening regulation to ensure consistent training quality, and promoting mutual recognition of qualifications across Africa.
