WHO works to improve access to healthcare by increasing the availability of resources, strengthening health workforce capacity, and improving the quality of health services. The WHO Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health seeks to address the challenges facing healthcare systems and ensure that universal access to quality health services.

The strategy focuses on five key areas: improving access to healthcare, strengthening the health workforce, enhancing health workforce planning, improving health workforce performance, and promoting health workforce equity. It also focuses on increasing the number and quality of health workers, improving health workforce planning, enhancing health workforce performance, and promoting health workforce equity.

In May 2022, WHO and its partners published the Action Plan: National workforce capacity to implement the essential public health functions including a focus on emergency preparedness and response (2022-2024). This roadmap aligns WHO and partner contributions and sets out a five-year vision to strengthen capacity across all WHO Member States for a multidisciplinary workforce to undertake the essential public health functions including emergency preparedness and response.

The Action Plan focuses on the immediate activities and deliverables anticipated in the first two-year period of the Roadmap, from July 2022 to June 2024, to meet the following targets:

• By the end of June 2023, all tools and guidance are available for country contextualization and endorsed by the participating organizations.
• By the end of June 2024, at least 100 countries have benchmarked themselves on the three action areas and developed action plans for implementation.