Collection

The primary care medical workforce crisis in the European region: a call for evidence and analysis papers on causes, impacts, and solutions

Human Resources for Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on The primary care medical workforce crisis in the European region: a call for evidence and analysis papers on causes, impacts, and solutions. This Collection aims at pulling together the evidence from the particularly affected European countries on root causes of a crisis in the medical workforce, its impacts on population health and access to services, as well as on the effectiveness of existing policies and interventions. This Collection supports and amplifies research related to the following Sustainable Development Goals: 3 – Good Health and Well-being, 10 – Reduced Inequalities, and 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. About the Collection Primary care services are key to population health and for the efficient and equitable organisation of national health systems; this is why they are often financed through public funds. Primary care doctors (also known as General Practitioners – GPs - or family doctors) are instrumental for the delivery of preventive services, continuity of care, and for the referral of patients through the system. These doctors are also the single largest health expenditure at the core of such services. Although recruitment and retention of primary care doctors have historically been challenging, shortages are now exacerbated by higher demand of services from aging populations and increased burden of chronic diseases. Concurrently, the supply of GPs is constrained by rising retirement rates, in connection with internal and external migration, worsening working conditions, and budget cuts. Misalignment between national education sectors and labour markets is becoming apparent, compounding existing shortages of such critical and in-high-demand resources. With their predominantly publicly funded health systems and in the aftermath of COVID-19, European countries appear to be on the cusp of a long-burning primary care crisis, with almost every country reporting shortage in GPs workforces, long waiting lists for doctor appointments, unfilled vacancies in the medical labour market, and additional pressures on other parts of national health systems. This Collection aims at pulling together the evidence from the particularly affected European countries on root causes of such a workforce crisis, its impacts on population health and access to services, as well as on the effectiveness of existing policies and interventions. Original research papers are invited documenting the state of the primary care medical workforce in the European region, the impact of shortages on population health and access to services, as well as the effectiveness of reforms, policies and interventions aimed at mitigating the effects of the crisis. Only articles will be considered presenting primary or original analysis of secondary qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods evidence from the World Health Organization’s European region[1]. Commentaries or opinion pieces will not be included in this Collection. Ultimately, the aim of this article Collection is to contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 3, 10 and 16, and provide an evidence basis for the identification of policy solutions to present and future primary care crises in higher and lower-income countries. [1] See a list of the WHO Euro region countries at: https://www.who.int/europe/about-us/about-who-europe#:~:text=The%20WHO%20Regional%20Office%20for,Atlantic%20to%20the%20Pacific%20oceans.

Editors

  • Giuliano Russo

    Queen Mary University of London, UK Giuliano Russo is a senior lecturer in global health at Queen Mary University of London and associate editor for the journal Human Resources for Health. Giuliano has over 25 years of professional experience in academia, public and private sector, having worked in the past for the University of Lisbon (Portugal), the World Bank, the Overseas Development Institute (UK), the Government of Mozambique, the Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica (Mexico), as well as for SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (Spain and European Headquarters). A health economist by training, his recent work has focused on pharmaceutical

  • Julian Perelman

    NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal Julian Perelman holds a PhD in Economics from Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, currently associate professor at the Nova National School of Public Health (NOVA University Lisbon), and Vice-President of the Portuguese Commission for Health Technology Assessment (CATS), at the Drugs and Health Products National Authority (Infarmed, IP). He coordinated the Mission Framework for the Sustainability of the Health Budget Program (under supervision by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance), from 2018 to 2020. He authored more than 90 publications in indexed scientific journals and one book; he

  • Tomas Zapata

    WHO Regional Office for Europe, Denmark Tomas Zapata is a medical doctor specialised in Family Medicine. Dr Zapata is a health services and health workforce expert with more than 13 years of experience in policy advice, research and programme implementation, including long term international work with WHO, UNFPA and Doctors of the World based in Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Bangladesh and India. He has conducted several analyses focusing on integration of services, primary health care, health workforce policy and health labour market analysis among others in African, Asian and European settings. Currently, Dr Zapata leads the Health Workforc

  • Milena Šantrić-Milićević

    University of Belgrade, Serbia Dr Milena Šantrić-Milićević is professor in social medicine, public health and health management at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, and Visiting Professor at Al-⁠Farabi Kazakh National University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Care, Almaty, Kazakhstan. As a human resources for health expert, Dr Šantrić-Milićević was member of the European committees developing the methodology for health workforce planning (EU/JAHWPF), policy options addressing the medical deserts (EU/AHEAD), and health workforce policies (WHO GHWN TG). She acted as an expert on migrations/mobility in EU/JAHEE and in Pillars of

Articles (2 in this collection)