Human health resources are key to HIV treatment in Africa

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7558.98-a

BMJ 2006;333:98 (8 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7558.98-a

Letter

Human health resources are key to HIV treatment in Africa

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Deeks singled out drug availability and limitedresources in terms of equipment as some of the constraints facingAfrica with regard to antiretroviral treatment.¹ Globally, financialresources are not regarded as the main immediate constraintanymore, the lack of human resources for health being regardedas the single most serious obstacle to the roll out of antiretroviraltreatment.^2-5

Not only is the number of health professionals for nationalhealth systems in general insufficient but there is even a greatershortage of staff involved in antiretroviral treatment. Thefew human resources available are maldistributed, most staffresiding in urban areas. When this is coupled with unsatisfactoryworking conditions characterised by overwork, lack of support,burnout, and lack of equipment, people are simply overwhelmed.The production of health professionals by institutions of higherlearning is not on the increase as might be expected, and thecapping of the number of . . . [Full text of this article]