Global Healthcare Workforce Stakeholder Insights to Inform Effective and Equitable Academic Partnerships

Background: The WHO currently estimates the global healthcare worker shortage at 7.2 million health workers. By 2030, this shortage is projected to increase to 10.2 million health workers, with the African region facing a critical shortage of around 6.1 million workers. The deficit of the health workforce significantly impacts the ability of low- and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) to achieve equitable access to primary health care and specialty care. Despite the urgent need, building workforce capacity remains a formidable challenge due to the lack of funding and training and minimal retention strategies in LMICs. Academic partnerships between LMICs and LMICs as well as high-income countries (HICs) play an important role in addressing health inequities through skills development. The purpose of this study is to inform best practices for building sustainable and equitable health partnerships. Methods: An 89-question cross-sectional online survey using convenience sampling developed through iterative review among global health workforce experts assessed six key areas related to global health capacity building and collaboration. Data collection occurred from December 2023 to February 2024 via Qualtrics, with the survey disseminated through the CUGH Capacity Strengthening Platform and CUGH newsletter. Results: A total of 123 respondents completed the survey. The majority of respondents were members of an LMIC institution (54%), and the respondents from the WHO region of Africa were most represented (65%). The findings reveal that LMIC institutions face significant challenges in building clinical training capacity, notably due to a lack of career development opportunities, overwhelming workloads, and insufficient funding, alongside systemic issues such as inadequate publicity and limited monitoring standards. Additionally, clinical capacity is hampered by factors like inadequate compensation, deficient professional development, and poor infrastructure, with regional and role-based discrepancies underscoring the need for tailored strategies that improve scholarships, mentorship, and equitable HIC partnerships. Discussion and Conclusion: This study explores the challenges in global health partnerships, highlighting that while such collaborations are essential for strengthening health systems, issues like inadequate funding, insufficient career development opportunities, and retention barriers persist. By surveying diverse professionals across WHO regions, this exploratory research identifies discrepancies between the priorities of central administrators and frontline workers and emphasizes the need for equitable, context-specific strategies to balance short- and long-term capacity-building and sustainability in health systems.