Assessing the demographic impact of HIV/AIDS on the global health workforce: implications for attainment of the health-related millennium development goals

Neeru Gupta, IDEA International Institute
Khassoum Diallo, World Health Organization (WHO)

The burden of morbidity and mortality, including AIDS-related morbidity and mortality, is heavily concentrated among the world’s poor. The health workforce has a crucial role to play in improving population health and combating HIV/AIDS. However, it is precisely in countries and regions where the AIDS epidemic has hit hardest that not only is there severe shortage of health care personnel, but those personnel would be most affected by HIV/AIDS. While a few country-specific studies have been conducted on the demographic impact of HIV/AIDS on the health workforce, little is known at the global and regional levels. This study aims to assess the global impact of HIV/AIDS on the health workforce, and the ensuing implications for attainment of the health-related Millennium Development Goals. Estimates are derived using demographic and epidemiological models drawing on data from the WHO Global Atlas of the Health Workforce as well as HIV prevalence estimates from UNAIDS.