Topic:
Country: Albania
Delegate Name: Eva Gavin
Committee: World Health Organization
Topic: Addressing Healthcare Worker Shortage
Country: Kingdom of Albania
Delegate: Eva Gavin, Forest Hills Northern High School
Albania understands the crucial role that medical professionals play in guaranteeing patients’ access to high-quality care and attaining positive health results. But Albania, like many other nations, has serious problems with a lack of healthcare workers, which makes it difficult to provide basic medical care and affects attempts to get universal health coverage. Albania recognizes the pressing need to address the shortage of healthcare workers by concentrated efforts and ongoing investment in the healthcare workforce and is dedicated to improving global health equity.
Albania is facing a scarcity of healthcare professionals in multiple domains, such as medicine, nursing, midwifery, and allied health. The shortage is caused by a number of factors, such as the loss of qualified healthcare professionals, insufficient training resources, low rates of employee retention, and an uneven distribution of healthcare professionals across urban and rural areas. These issues have been made worse by the COVID-19 epidemic, which has raised workloads, attrition, and burnout among healthcare professionals.
Albania has taken a number of initiatives to improve the workforce and solve the issue of having a lack of healthcare professionals. In order to improve healthcare delivery, these initiatives include growing healthcare professional training programs, enhancing working conditions and benefits to attract and retain qualified personnel, and making investments in technology. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, Albania is also actively participating in regional partnerships and collaboration to exchange best practices and build the capacity of the healthcare staff.
Albania focuses heavily on the value of funding educational and training initiatives to increase the number of competent healthcare workers in the country. In order to meet changing healthcare needs, this involves increasing the number of students enrolled in medical and nursing programs, improving the relevance of the curriculum, and offering scholarships and other incentives to draw and keep students in the healthcare industry. Albania is in favor of retention techniques in order to reduce labor loss and employee attrition in the healthcare industry. This involves improving working conditions, giving competitive pay and benefits, presenting chances for professional growth, and creating a positive work atmosphere that puts the needs of its employees and their career fulfillment first. In order to address the shortfall of healthcare workers in areas where services are scarce, especially in rural and remote locations, Albania supports focused recruitment and deployment initiatives. Offering cash rewards, housing subsidies, and chances for career growth are a few ways to encourage medical professionals to practice in places where there is the most need. Albania is aware of the potential for improving healthcare delivery and reducing physician workload pressure by assigning tasks and duties to healthcare professionals who are not physicians, such as nurses, midwives, and community health workers. To guarantee that quality and safety standards are maintained, appropriate monitoring, training, and regulatory frameworks are needed. In order to achieve universal health coverage and advance global health fairness, Albania reiterates its commitment to addressing the shortage of healthcare workers. Albania seeks to boost health outcomes for all of its residents by strengthening healthcare systems, expanding access to high-quality healthcare services, and investing in the healthcare workforce through targeted initiatives. We can overcome the difficulties caused by the lack of healthcare workers and create solid healthcare systems that can adapt to the changing requirements of our populations by working together at the national, regional, and global levels.
Works Cited:
“Year of Health and Care Workers 2021.” Www.who.int, www.who.int/campaigns/annual-theme/year-of-health-and-care-workers-2021#:~:text=INVEST%20in%20the%20people%20who. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.
—. “Health Workforce.” Who.int, World Health Organization: WHO, 7 Aug. 2019, www.who.int/health-topics/health-workforce#tab=tab_1.
