Skill shortages and skill gaps in the healthcare sector are costly and contribute to significant unmet medical care needs. In many countries, there are not enough health and care workers, and many of the existing health and care workers do not have the skills needed to carry out the tasks and responsibility required by the healthcare system. The limited offer of flexible career and training pathways are preventing many adults from upskilling and reskilling to enter the health and care workforce. This work builds on previous initiatives undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the area of skills for the health and care workforce. It aims to highlight new and innovative policies to encourage and enable career transitions to the healthcare sector for entry-level occupations and to support informal health and care workers in formalising their skills and experience, with the objective of expanding the health and care workforce.
This report provides an overview of practices to increase flexibility in career and training pathways in a selection of OECD countries and low- and middle‑income countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa. The analysis is based on extensive desk research and interviews with relevant institutions and stakeholders.
The work for this report was carried out jointly by the OECD and the ILO. The authors of the report were Dzana Topalovic (OECD), Rodrigo Fernandez (OECD) and Pedro Moreno da Fonseca (ILO). The work was supervised by Glenda Quintini (Head of Skills and Future Readiness division, OECD) and Maren Hopfe (Technical Specialist Health Services Sector, ILO). The report benefitted from helpful comments provided by colleagues from the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs: Stefano Scarpetta (Director), Francesca Colombo (Head of Health division) and Gaetan Lafortune (Health division). It also benefitted from comments from colleagues from the World Health Organization (WHO): Meredith Fendt-Newlin and Werner Cordier.
This report was produced with financial assistance from the ILO-OECD-WHO Working for Health Multi-Partner Trust Fund. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official views of the OECD Member countries, the ILO, or the Working for Health Multi-Partner Trust Fund.