Global health leaders meeting in Geneva this week called on governments to treat investment in health professionals as a strategic economic priority rather than a fiscal burden, warning that sustainable development and stronger health systems depend on it.
The call came at a side event hosted by the World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA) on Tuesday during the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva. The event, titled “Health Is Wealth: Why Investing in Health Professionals Pays Off,” brought together senior figures from across the global health professions to make the case that health expenditure delivers measurable economic and social returns.
Howard Catton, Chair of WHPA and Chief Executive Officer of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), anchored the argument in workforce data.
“Where we have higher health workforce density, we have longer life expectancy,” he said.
Catton noted that health professionals make up roughly 75 percent of the global health workforce and stressed the need for coordinated action across professions to ensure that national and global health agendas prioritise decent working conditions, high-quality care and reduced health system costs.
The event also featured early career perspectives from emerging health professionals, with speakers highlighting how the quality of work environments and institutional support for the next generation entering healthcare will shape the future of global health systems.
At the WHA this week, WHPA is urging World Health Organization (WHO) member states to adopt the draft Strategy on the Economics of Health for All, a proposed framework designed to build economies that systematically deliver health and well-being. The Alliance argued that achieving such an economy is impossible without sustained, strategic investment in the people who deliver care.
Panel speakers included Mike Landry, President of World Physiotherapy; José Luis Cobos Serrano, President of ICN; Jenny Gallagher, President of the International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (IADR) representing FDI; Virginia Olmos, Vice President of FIP; and Jacqueline Kitulu, President of the World Medical Association (WMA). Early career representatives from physiotherapy, nursing, medicine and pharmacy also addressed the event.
WHPA represents more than 47 million health professionals across 179 countries and territories, bringing together global organisations for dentists, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and physicians. All of its member organisations hold official relations with WHO.
