30 Mar Health Heroes: Health workers reflect for World Health Worker Week
Each year during the first week of April, people around the world observe World Health Worker Week. We would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the amazing, often challenging work that health workers perform to keep us healthy and productive. We also call attention to the critical role health workers play as the backbone of health systems. They truly are our #HealthHeroes.
While we celebrate health workers, we also use World Health Worker Week as a platform to raise awareness of the challenges that health workers face every day. The interviews below, introduced by HRH2030 Deputy Director Andrea Poling, highlight a handful of these. Let’s work together to meet these challenges by ensuring that there are policies, data, tools, and training opportunities in place to support the health workforce and strengthen health systems!
Andrea Poling
Deputy Director, HRH2030
“Health workers are very important. They heal us when we’re sick, they deliver family
planning services, they care for people with HIV, and [the] bottom line is health workers save lives.”
>> Play video interview (running time 1:57)
>> Read transcript
Dr. Alinafe Mbewe
District Health Officer, Lilongwe (Malawi)
“My job has got an impact on HIV and AIDS patients because I look after them, especially two different ways. First of all, the HR side. I have to make sure that there are people that attend to them … Also, I have to make sure that the drugs are there.”
>> Play video interview (running time 3:37)
>> Read transcript
Sylvestre Traoré
Pharmacist, Kati Health District (Mali)
“I have many responsibilities — anything concerning medications — goes through me via the chief medical officer. I feel really comfortable in my job.”
>> Play video interview (running time 1:40)
>> Read transcript
Dr. Muntaha Gharaibeh
Professor of Nursing, Jordan University of Science and Technology
“There a lot of things that really give me the motivation and passion to work. One of them is [being] a part of the policy-making process in Jordan in relation to … professional development of healthcare professionals in Jordan.”
>> Play video interview (running time 2:55)
>> Read transcript